Indiana will play before a friendly crowd in Indianapolis on Sunday afternoon.
But their mid-major opponent is no pushover. Harvard arrives at Gainbridge Fieldhouse with a resume that says they’re pretty good at the very things that gives IU trouble.
For the 40th straight season and 113th time overall, IU Men’s Basketball will play in Indianapolis when it takes on the Crimson. Here’s everything you need to know about a dangerous matchup for the Hoosiers.
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Game Day Essentials:
Harvard (5-1) vs. Indiana (4-1)
- Tip Time: 4:30 p.m. Eastern, Sunday
- Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse (20,000), Indianapolis, Ind.
- Television: BTN (Matt Schumacher, Robbie Hummel)
- Stream: Fox Sports
- IU Radio Network: IU Radio Network
- Point Spread: Indiana is around an 7.5-point favorite
- KenPom Projected Score: No. 80 Indiana 73 – No. 131 Harvard 68
- Series: Indiana leads series, 1-0
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Harvard’s Tommy Amaker
In 16 seasons, Tommy Amaker has reinvented the Crimson into an Ivy League power with a national presence. He has directed Harvard to a period of unprecedented prosperity in the form of seven Ivy League championships (2011-15, 2018-19), four NCAA tournament appearances (2012-15) and seven 20-win seasons (2010-15, 2020).
Amaker is the all-time winningest coach with the Crimson, surpassing Frank Sullivan with a 74-66 win at Boston College on Dec. 7, 2016.
With Amaker at the helm, Harvard has garnered seven All-America honors, 16 All-District distinctions and 37 all conference accolades. At the Ivy League level, Amaker has helped the Crimson earn 16 first-team all-league selections, four rookies of the year, two defensive players of the year, and three players of the year.
Harvard’s results and roster
| 11/6/2023 | UMass Boston | Lavietes Pavilion | W 78-50 | Box Score | |
| 11/10/2023 | at Rice University | Houston, TX | W 89-76 | Box Score | |
| 11/14/2023 | Northeastern University | Lavietes Pavilion | W 80-56 | Box Score | |
| 11/17/2023 | at University of Massachusetts | Amherst, MA | W 78-75 – OT | Box Score | |
| 11/18/2023 | at Boston College | Chestnut Hill, MA | L 64-73 | Box Score | |
| 11/22/2023 | at Colgate University | Hamilton, NY | W 76-70 | Box Score |
Harvard’s game notes (via Harvard Athletics)
• Sophomore forward Chisom Okpara led four Crimson in double-figures with a season-high 21 points as Harvard beat Colgate, 76-70, on Nov. 22, improving to 5-1 on the season, including three road victories. First-year guard Malik Mack tallied 16 points and a career-high eight assists, and senior forward Justice Ajogbor posted a career best 15 points.
• First-year guard Malik Mack has established himself as one of the nation’s top first-year student-athletes. He stands as the nation’s leading scorer among first-years at 20.2 points per game. Overall, he ranks 41st in the NCAA in scoring and ranks as one of two first-years in the top 50 in points per game. His 32-point effort at UMass (Nov. 17) stands as the top scoring output from a first-year in a single game this season in the nation.
• Senior forward Justice Ajogbor stands as one of the nation’s top shot blockers, ranking first in the NCAA in total blocks (19) and seventh in blocks per game (3.17).
• Sophomore forward Chisom Okpara has tallied 16.0 points and 6.2 rebounds per game on the year, scoring in double figures four times and reaching the 20-point plateau twice. He ranks seventh in the Ivy League in points per game, 12th in rebounds per game, and fourth in blocks per game (1.2).
• Sophomore guard Chandler Piggé has posted 10.2 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game, scoring in double figures in each of three games. He ranks sixth in the Ivy League in rebounds per game. He has connected on 14-of-14 free throw attempts this season. Piggé posted his first collegiate double-double on 15 points and 11 rebounds at Massachusetts (Nov. 17). He dropped a career-high 23 points on 8-of-12 field goals and 6-of-6 free throws with five rebounds in Harvard’s win at Rice (Nov. 10).
• Junior guard Louis Lesmond has averaged 10.2 points and 3.3 rebounds per game on the year, while shooting 40.5 percent from 3-point distance. He ranks second in the Ivy League and 29th in the NCAA in total 3-pointers made (17) and third in the Ivies in 3-pointers made per game (2.8).
• First-year forward Thomas Batties II holds several meaningful family connections to Indiana University. His great grandfather Dr. Mark D. Batties II M.D. was one of the first African Americans to graduate from Indiana’s medical school while his father Thomas L. Batties Sr. earned B.S., MBA, and J.D. degrees from Indiana.
Harvard’s KenPom notable numbers:
(out of 362 teams)
Tempo – No. 229 (Offense No. 137 / Defense No. 322)
Offensive Efficiency – No. 167
- Harvard is No. 10 in the country at 3-point percentage, making 41.3 percent of their shots from long range. They don’t shoot a lot of threes relatively speaking. 3-point attempts make up 36.2 percent of total field goal attempts (No. 200).
- Primarily fueled by the high-level 3-point shooting, Harvard’s effective field goal percentage (54.3) comes in at No. 55.
- The Crimson don’t get to the free throw line much. Their free throw attempts are only 27.2 percent of their field goal attempts — No. 285.
Defensive Efficiency – No. 113
- Harvard is No. 35 in effective field goal percentage defense (43.8 percent). They’ve been good against twos (44.1 percent, No. 38) and threes (29 percent, No. 84).
- The Crimson are one of the best shot-blocking teams in the country, with a 15.8 percent block rate.
- Problematic areas so far have been a low forced turnover rate (14.6 percent, No. 313) and high allowed offensive rebound rate (35.1 percent of misses, No. 323).
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