NOTEBOOK: Chambers Shines as Harvard Men's Basketball Downs Columbia

With the Harvard men’s basketball team (19-9, 11-3 Ivy) down two to Columbia (12-16, 4-10) with 35 seconds to go, sophomore forward Steve Moundou-Missi ripped a rebound out of the air, quickly passing the ball to freshman point guard Siyani Chambers. Chambers surveyed the court and took off down towards the Columbia basket.

“[Harvard coach Tommy Amaker] said that, if they missed, he wanted me to come down and try to get something early,” Chambers said. “When Steve came down with the rebound, he gave it to me, and I saw a crease and went for it.”

Shooting past a defender, Chambers followed Amaker’s call to the letter. Absorbing contact, the freshman laid the ball up off the backboard as the referee blew a whistle. Tie game. After the ensuing Chambers free throw, Moundou-Missi picked off a pass and his fast break dunk put the Crimson up three.

Three more free throws, one by Moundou-Missi and a pair by sophomore forward Kenyatta Smith, gave Harvard a six-point advantage it would not give back in a 56-51 victory. As the timeout bell blared, the arena’s PA announcer came on with another piece of Crimson good fortune: Yale had just defeated Princeton, 71-66, for the second time this season, putting Harvard back in first place in the Ivy League standings.

LOCKED AND CHAMBERED

After finishing with only five points last Saturday in a 75-72 loss to Penn, Chambers rebounded with his most efficient game of the season on Friday. The rookie tallied 16 points on five-of-six shooting from the field and six of seven from the line, adding two steals and three assists to round out the night.

Amaker said the freshman’s play on the offensive end helped bail out a struggling Crimson squad—co-captains junior Laurent Rivard and Christian Webster combined to shoot three for 13 from the floor. On the other side of the court, Chambers was tasked with containing senior Lions guard Brian Barbour, who ended the game with 11 points.

“Siyani’s play overall was amazing,” Amaker said. “I thought he was daring and fearless in addition to having to guard one of the better guards in our league. He did a nice job of guarding him and not fouling him. Barbour is good at drawing contact and Siyani’s discipline on defense was really big for us.”

REBOUNDING ISSUES PERSIST

After giving up 13 offensive rebounds and being outrebounded by 13 overall the weekend before against Princeton, Harvard came out and was once again soundly beaten on the boards. Despite starting a much smaller lineup than Princeton, Columbia finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds, 11 of which came in the second half.

To combat this, Amaker went to a two-big lineup early in the first half and used it for a solid portion of the game. According to Amaker, playing both Smith and Moundou-Missi, who combined for 16 of the team’s 26 rebounds, was crucial to the victory.

“I think that one of the things is that we need Steve on the floor,” Amaker said. “[Smith] gives us a different presence in blocking shots but we wanted to go bigger with two traditional post guys. We didn’t always rebound the ball well with that lineup [today], but it gives us our best chance to rebound.”

Amaker said that the team’s focus on shutting down Lions guard Steve Frankowski—who scored 27 points in the two teams’ first meeting but was kept off the board on Friday—opened up rebounding lanes for the Lions.

“We certainly didn’t want to leave him and give him open looks,” Amaker said. “Sometimes when you fixate, you open up the floor for other guys and that’s what they exploited. That space left them with offensive rebounds that they grabbed.”

A FINAL STAND

On his Senior Night, Webster was the sole Crimson player honored before the game. Webster has been the most successful player in Harvard history with 89 wins and now needs only 3 points to get to 1000 for his career. Amaker said that Webster has stepped up this season in his new role as co-captain and the sole senior on the team.

“I love Christian,” Amaker said. “He’s been an amazing addition to this program. I knew he would be and we were thrilled when he decided to come to Harvard. He has had a terrific career and I can’t say enough about he kind of person he is and the crucial and clutch plays that he has made throughout his career. There is no question that he has brought a lot to Harvard and to Harvard basketball.”

—Staff writer David Freed can be reached at davidfreed@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @CrimsonDPFreed.