Harvard Upsets Yale on Last-Second Shot

For the second time in a row, Harvard used tenacious defense and timely offense to down a powerhouse Yale team. Heading into the game as a double-digit underdog, few had faith in the Crimson to pull off the upset, but thanks to 26 points from sophomore guard Robert Hinton and a last-second three by fellow sophomore guard Tey Barbour, Harvard stunned a packed John J. Lee Amphitheater crowd with a 67-65 victory.

With less than 25 seconds to go and the Crimson (12-9, 4-2 Ivy) trailing the Bulldogs (16-4, 4-2) by one, Head Coach Tommy Amaker called a timeout. In Harvard’s final guaranteed possession, the Crimson tried to give Hinton a driving lane set up by a screen by captain Chandler Piggé, but the sophomore lost his dribble and chased down a loose ball towards the left sideline.

The 2025 Ivy League Rookie of the Year turned and fired the ball to the second action, Barbour, off a pin-down screen. Barbour caught the ball from NBA range at the top of the key and calmly drilled a three off the glass to give the Crimson a two-point lead with four seconds left. While junior Yale guard Trevor Mullin got off a good look from the right wing as time expired, it rimmed out, and Harvard completed the upset.

“At times, you need to be a little fortunate, and we were with that shot, but that’s the kind of shot that Barbour makes for our team,” Amaker said. “Not necessarily off the backboard all the time, but we’ll take it.”

Harvard struggled offensively to start the game as Yale’s length proved bothersome. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 6-1 lead, with the Crimson’s only points coming off a free throw by Barbour.

Junior forward Thomas Batties III helped Harvard settle in, hitting a corner three for the Crimson’s first field goal of the game. Batties III entered the game shooting 51.4% from three, a team-high for players with more than one attempt. The three points did little to slow down Yale’s veteran leaders, as seniors Nick Townsend and Casey Simmons controlled the game early and stretched the home team’s lead up to 12-6.

Piggé made a layup, Batties III drilled his second three of the half to cut the deficit to one. From there, Harvard’s defense dominated the half, mixing in a few possessions of 2-3 zone to change the pace. This immediately confused the Bulldogs, lulling the offense into the corner before a devastating trap forced Yale’s Head Coach, James Jones, to burn a timeout.

The Crimson continued to utilize a strategy from last season against Yale—forcing the Bulldogs to the baseline. Instead of pressuring Yale into the middle, where defensive help traditionally is nearby, Harvard pushed the home team to the sides and used the out-of-bounds line as a defender. This strategy once again disrupted the rhythm of the typically potent Bulldogs offense.

Unfortunately for Harvard, its physical style of defense led to Piggé picking up two fouls a little over ten minutes into the half. Due to the foul trouble, the captain sat out the rest of the half.

Piggé was matched up with Townsend, a familiar foe. The two seniors have not only been Ivy League rivals throughout their collegiate careers, but they also competed alongside each other at the FISU World University Games in Germany this summer as part of Team USA’s 3x3 team. The American team, which boasted a roster of four Ivy League athletes, took home the silver medal.

Although its captain was on the bench, the Crimson continued to grow its lead. Harvard was up 16-15 when Piggé was sidelined, and its advantage grew to as many as nine before it headed into the halftime break up 29-21.

The lead grew in part due to strong minutes from the Crimson’s bench, primarily from hulking freshman center Kenan Parrish. The Pittsboro, N.C., native added six points and two boards while providing physicality on the defensive end.

“Having Parrish come off the bench to give us the minutes he gave us is hopefully the start of things to come for his young career,” Amaker said.

Hinton led the charge in the first half with 14 points and set the tone for the Crimson with high energy and gritty play.

The start of the second half completely turned the tables. After holding Yale to 1-9 shooting from deep in the first half, the Bulldogs made their first four shots from distance in the second half to cut the lead to one.

After seeming to score however he wanted to in the first half, Hinton struggled to get hot in the second. With Harvard’s edge narrowed 40-39, Parrish nailed two from the line to begin rebuilding the advantage. Piggé, back on the court, then went on a solo 4-0 run, and Hinton lost his defender for a wide-open midranger, tallying his first bucket of the half to stretch the lead back to nine.

Needing a response, Yale turned to Mullin. Mullin, already with one made three on the half, drilled two consecutive triples to cut the deficit down to three. Hinton then answered with a triple, and Harvard’s Head Coach Tommy Amaker called a timeout to disrupt the seesaw rhythm at 51-45.

Both teams got tight offensively as the game entered crunch time. After threatening the Crimson’s lead for the majority of the second half, the Bulldogs overtook Harvard 54-53 off a Townsend and-one.

Piggé made up for his lost time in the first half, drawing a foul and making both attempts from the charity stripe to reclaim the edge. The captain then extended his team’s lead with a drive, drawing a goaltending call.

After exchanging baskets, a deep Mullin three reclaimed the advantage for Yale before Hinton once again got to the stripe and put Harvard ahead. Mullin then fully took over for the Bulldogs, nailing a pull-up shot. Batties III matched Yale’s score with a lefty hook shot.

The Bulldogs took a timeout with 30 seconds left, trailing 64-63. Out of the timeout, Yale isolated Townsend on Parrish. The Bulldogs’ senior craftily spun on the rookie and nailed the reverse layup with 21 seconds to go—Yale’s final points before Barbour sank his game-winner.

“Just so proud of the togetherness and the fight and the toughness that our kids displayed,” Amaker said.

The win vaults the Crimson to first place in the competitive Ivy League. Harvard is tied with the Bulldogs at 4-2 in league play but now owns the tiebreaker. Yale has only lost three Ancient Eight matches in the last season-and-a-half of conference play, two of them coming at the hands of Harvard.

The Crimson return to action on Feb. 7 at Dartmouth in Hanover, N.H. Tipoff is at 5:00 p.m. EST, and the contest will be aired live on ESPN+. The matchup will serve as a rematch opportunity for a Harvard team looking to avenge its early-season loss to the Big Green.

—Staff Writer Reed M. Trimble can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @ReedTrimble1.

—Staff Writer Samuel S. Rudavsky can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X at @samrudavsky. Follow @THCSports for all of The Crimson’s sports coverage.