Ivy League Men's Basketball: Harvard Prepares For Playoff Game Against Yale

By Gregory Hunt

The Harvard Crimson men's basketball team will be playing for a berth in the NCAA Tournament when it faces the Yale Bulldogs in a one-game playoff Saturday afternoon at The Palestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Game time is 4 p.m. ET. The teams finished the regular season tied for first place in the Ivy League with identical 11-3 conference records. The Crimson are hoping to advance to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row and the fifth time in program history.

"You just know these games are nail-biters," said head coach Tommy Amaker. "They usually are teams that are competing and fighting hard, and you hope that your kids are up for that kind of battle. For the most part, teams have been."

Harvard and Yale split the season series this year with each team winning on the other team's home court. Harvard won at Payne Whitney Gymnasium 52-50 on February 7 while Yale won at Lavietes Pavilion 62-52 on March 6.

"You need to be good and you need to be lucky, " added Amaker. "I think it's obvious when you get to these kind of moments that you need both of those elements to win games like this."

Like his coach, junior guard Siyani Chambers is expecting a hard-fought game.

"I think we expect an energy, intensity, a battle every possession on the boards," said Chambers. "It's a fight all the way to the end for a full 40 minutes. No one's going to let up, no one's going to give in. So we're going down there expecting a fight from them, and that's what we're going to bring to the table, also."

Senior guard Wesley Saunders thinks defense will be the key to winning this game.

"We gotta rely on our defense," said Saunders. "At the end of the day, the only thing you can control is defense. Offense, you never know if you're going to make shots or not, but I think defensively if we lock in, then I think we've proven over the years that we can do it just with defense."

Saunders was unanimously selected to the All-Ivy League first team earlier this week. Chambers and senior forward Steve Moundou-Missi were named to the All-Ivy League second team, with Moundou-Missi also getting named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year. Moundou-Missi had a career-high 43 blocked shots this season, and he was the anchor on a Crimsom team that led the Ivy league in scoring defense, giving up only 57.5 points per game. Harvard was also second in the league in opponent field goal percentage (39.9 percent) and third in the league in rebounding (34.8 per game).

Saturday's playoff game may be a low-scoring affair, given that Yale also has a pretty good defense. The Bulldogs were second to the Crimson in scoring defense in the Ivy league this season, allowing only 60.6 points per game. Yale was also third in the league in opponent field goal percentage (41.5 percent) and second in rebounding (35.7 per game).

This will be Harvard's second appearance in an Ivy league playoff game. In the Crimson's previous appearance in 2011, Harvard lost to Princeton 63-62 on a buzzer beater.

Gregory Hunt is a Boston native and a life-long fan of the Patriots, Red Sox, Bruins and Celtics. He's also particularly fond of lacrosse, IndyCar racing and women's college basketball. He currently works for Examiner.com where he serves as the Senior Manager of Content and Media Access. He also writes for Examiner.com as the New England Patriots Examiner. His work can be found on Examiner.com.