NOTEBOOK: Men's Basketball Unable to Overcome Early Cold Streak Against Arizona

SALT LAKE CITY—The clock has struck midnight for the Harvard men’s basketball team.

The 14th-seeded Cinderella was overmatched physically and talent-wise on both sides of the ball by sixth-seeded Arizona, which cruised to a 74-51 victory in the NCAA Tournament’s third round on Saturday night.

Coming into the contest, Harvard had not shot worse than 36.7 percent from the field in a game all season—and that was in a victory, on Dec. 29 against Cal.

But the Wildcats swarmed the paint and locked down the Crimson’s three-point shooters all night, as Harvard shot just 27.6 percent.

Harvard’s top two scorers from Thursday night’s victory over New Mexico—sophomore wing Wesley Saunders and junior co-captain Laurent Rivard—were just two for 17 combined.

Saunders, the team’s best finisher, was held to single digits in scoring for the first time all season. The sophomore failed to convert over and over again on Saturday, as numerous shots rimmed out while the Wildcat big men contested nearly everything.

“They’re [tall] around the rim, and...[it] made it difficult to finish,” Crimson coach Tommy Amaker said.

Meanwhile, Rivard—who entered the contest having shot 11 for 16 from three in two career tournament games—was a focal point of the Arizona defense from the start. The Wildcats limited the sharpshooter to just one-for-six shooting from downtown.

“They locked down on him,” Amaker said. “There was a point of emphasis for their team not to lose him, not to be able to find him in transition.... They did an outstanding job of guarding our shooters from the perimeter.”

After watching the Crimson’s game against the Lobos, Wildcats coach Sean Miller designed a defense he felt would specifically contain Rivard, using perimeter players to defend him rather than a power forward, as New Mexico had.

“A lot of people guarded him with their four-man, and that pick and pop was killing [them],” Arizona guard Mark Lyons said. “So, Jordin [Mayes] and Nick [Johnson], we put them on [Rivard]. Every time he set a screen we switched and did the things we were supposed to. Coach’s philosophy—we followed it and it worked out for us.”

With Rivard out of the picture, the Crimson had little chance to match the red hot Wildcats, who shot a season-high 60 percent (9-of-15) from three—well above their season average of 36.7 percent and tied for Arizona’s best-ever performance in a tournament game with at least 10 attempts. On the whole, the Wildcats shot above 55 percent for just the sixth time all year.

“Arizona played an outstanding ballgame,” Amaker said. “They deserved to win.”

SPURT ALERT

Harvard’s offensive struggles began from the start, as the Crimson missed its first 12 shots from the field.

Harvard’s first field goal—a Siyani Chambers three-pointer—did not come until 7:44 had elapsed, and by then, the Crimson was already down 17-2.

Amaker said the ice cold beginning—something Harvard had endured against Connecticut and Memphis earlier this season—was his worst nightmare.

“You’ve probably got to get off to a good start against a team like that, and we had our chances,” Amaker said. “We had some open opportunities early, and once we missed some, we kind of got our heads down, and they took advantage of it.”

Arizona responded to Chambers’ three by going on another 11-4 spurt to stretch its lead to 21 and in essence put the game away before the break, as Harvard had just three field goals in the game’s first 15 minutes.

“The shots we missed at the beginning were open,” co-captain Christian Webster said. “We should have made them. If we [had], maybe the game would have been different. But the [Wildcats’] length was a problem.”

THE LYON KING

Arizona was sparked by the superb performance of Lyons, who tied a career-high with 27 points on 12-of-17 shooting.

“Mark is filled with confidence,” Miller said. “When he gets his confidence going, it’s contagious on our entire team.”

Facing the potential final game of his career, the senior point guard put his team on his back, weaving through the Harvard defense and getting to the basket with ease throughout the night.

“[He] attacked the bigs, attacked the ball screens, trying to get to the paint,” Chambers said. “He did what most great guards do—tried to make plays for himself, get two people to guard him, and make plays for his teammates. That’s what he did that I thought was very, very effective.”

That was something Lyons also did in his first tournament game this year, against No. 11 Belmont, when he poured in 23 points.

In so doing, Lyons earned another berth to the Sweet Sixteen, a point in the tournament that he had previously reached three times with Xavier, for whom he played before transferring to Arizona before this season.

“Today my teammates got me great shots,” Lyon said. “It’s great to be back in the Sweet Sixteen and trying to advance.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu.