Senior forward Shaquille McKissic dunks the ball in a game against Pepperdine on Saturday, Dec. 13, 2014 at Wells Fargo Arena in Tempe. McKissic and the Sun Devils defeated Harvard 56-46 on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2014. (Photo by Ben Moffat)The ASU men's basketball team (8-5) overcame a gritty Harvard (7-3) defense to take a 56-46 victory. Head coach Herb Sendek said it came down to his team’s own defense and offensive rebounding.
“Our defense created some offense, we got some transition baskets off of our defense and then we finished a number of possessions with a second shot opportunity,” he said.
Harvard’s low-post defense was spectacular. The Crimson didn’t let sophomore forward Savon Goodman squeeze by with his athleticism, and kept in front of junior forward Eric Jacobsen despite the height difference.
Harvard had 10 blocks, four of which came from senior forward Steve Moundou-Missi.
“They just don’t foul,” senior forward Shaquielle McKissic said. “It’s kind of frustrating when you may think something’s a foul, or you go in looking for contact, and it’s not there.”
ASU worked on post play and emphasized having a strong presence down low. The Sun Devils started leaning heavily on this, and Jacobsen touched the ball in the post on several early possessions. Sendek said Harvard’s athleticism and size helped them defend.
“They only blocked ten of our shots,” he said with a straight face. “And that was like an emphasis going into the game for us.”
Harvard’s offense was unable to take advantage of its defensive pressure. A game after managing just 27 total points against Virginia, Harvard was held well below its season-average of 64.6.
Only two players, guards Wesley Saunders and Siyani Chambers, posted double-digit points for Harvard. The backcourt duo combined for 23 of Harvard’s 28 in the first half.
Saunders entered the game averaging 18.3 points and is the leading scorer for Harvard. His average plummeted after scoring just four points in the Crimson’s 27-point outing against Virginia.
ASU found a way to not only contain him, but ultimately stop him. In the second half, Saunders scored only two points on 1-for-5 shooting while being guarded predominately by junior guard Roosevelt Scott.
“I feel like his defense is particularly, that’s what he thrives in,” McKissic said. “I feel like in the first half, they were making a lot of tough shots… (Scott) kind of stopped all that.”
ASU also completely negated Chambers’ impact. With junior guard Gerry Blakes guarding him for the majority of the second half, he went scoreless, missing four shots and two free throws.
Despite the offensive struggles, Harvard hung in close. The Crimson went through a seven-minute span in which they only scored four points. However, ASU’s offense wasn’t much better; they only managed to score seven in the same time span.
Once Harvard broke out of this funk, ASU led only 47-43 with seven minutes remaining in the game.
Neither team scored for almost two more minutes. With about five minutes left, Blakes and Goodman led a two-on-one fast break, resulting in a slam-dunk by Goodman.
ASU snatched the momentum and only allowed three more points to close out the game.
“The best part of who we were was on the defensive end of the floor, especially in the second half,” Sendek said.
Despite this, the point difference can’t all be credited to ASU’s defense. Though it played well, Harvard’s cold streaks were often due to their own ineptitude on offense. The Crimson got plenty of open looks and quite a few chances to get something going. Unforced turnovers killed them. There were multiple plays where Harvard would force a steal, or make a big block, and then run down court and throw the ball out of bounds.
ASU’s lineup remained intact for the second consecutive game, and while Sendek seemed pleased with it, he said the play of Goodman forces him to change the offense.
“With Savon’s emergence, it honestly requires us to reconfigure our offense and that takes some time,” he said. “It has the feel that you’re driving a stick shift for the first time.”
Reach the reporter at logan.newman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Logan_Newsman
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