CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – When a team like Harvard knocks off a team like Boston College, an inevitable question is, “How did that happen?” The first instinct for many is to look at the favorites and find something that went wrong, but that won’t work here. For the answer to that question in regards to Harvard’s first-ever win over a ranked team, there’s one person that needs to be talked about: Jeremy Lin.
Lin’s stat line in Wednesday night’s 82-70 win was in many ways typical of the ones he has posted this season. The Harvard junior guard scored 27 points on 11-16 shooting, handed out eight assists with just two turnovers and had six steals. He also had three rebounds and a blocked shot. For good measure, athletic communications director Kurt Svoboda insists he was robbed of another block.
It’s a typical stat line because entering this week, Lin is the only player in the country to rank in the top ten in his conference in just about every category – scoring, rebounding, assists, steals, blocked shots, field goal percentage, three-point percentage and free throw percentage.
But the numbers, while indicative of how he impacts games and certainly impacted Wednesday night’s game, don’t do him justice. It wouldn’t even be enough to say that he was the best player on the Conte Forum floor on Wednesday night.
This is a young man who was not a given to play in this game after turning his ankle in practice a few days earlier. Even before the game, though he warmed up early, it was still not a given that he would play a lot of minutes. The Crimson have their Ivy League slate right in front of them, after all, and a win wouldn’t mean a chance at an NCAA Tournament at-large bid later on, so it wouldn’t have been a surprise if they limited his minutes. They’re already a banged-up team as it is.
Lin wanted to play, though, and did he ever do it. It was a scintillating performance that long-time Boston College radio announcer Ted Sarandis called, “the best performance by a non-conference player against Boston College in a long, long time.” And instead of Lin playing limited minutes, it was his head coach, Tommy Amaker, who limited the time he spent talking to the media after the game so that everyone could talk to the star of the game instead.
Lin’s first half stats were fairly unassuming, but he helped Harvard lead by six heading into the locker room. The game was never competitive in the second half thanks largely to Lin’s efforts.
It started right away with a steal and fast break layup on the first possession after intermission. Later, a three-pointer, a steal and one of two free throws helped the Crimson open up a 43-31 lead. The Eagles scored the next five points, leading Amaker to call a 30-second timeout, and right after that, Lin stopped the bleeding with a jumper that was right on the money. Later, the Eagles would get within 49-43, and Lin hit another three-pointer to push the lead back to nine.
As the Eagles tried to mount one last rally, it was Lin who came through again. After a kicked ball extended the possession, he drove to his right with the shot clock running down, put up a jumper while floating laterally away from the right elbow and watched it go through without even drawing iron to give the Crimson a 68-56 lead with 2:19 left.
That, my friends, is what they call a dagger. It was symbolic of what he did on the night, and in particular, the second half.
“This young man has been tremendous for us in every way,” said Amaker.
That’s about all there is to it. Normally, highlight-reel dunks might grab attention, but it was some of Lin’s jump shots that had fans and also many on press row take notice. Several of his assists were on long passes that led to fast break layups, which the stat sheet will never tell anyone. The unfortunate thing is that many who were at Conte Forum were only just last night finding out that he’s excellent and can be a special player.
Lin was a little gimpy after the game, but he played 34 minutes and showed no ill effects whatsoever. You might think of it as the result of a job well done. He showed that even calling him the heart and soul of this Crimson team doesn’t really capture his importance to the team.
The Crimson got fine efforts on the evening from freshman Oliver McNally, who scored 17 points with a few clutch baskets and free throws, and senior Andrew Pusar, who had 13 points on 5-8 shooting. Lin’s classmate, Doug Miller, continued to grow with eight points and nine rebounds. They were certainly part of this win, as were the others who were in the game, and Lin was quick to give them a lot of credit.
But the best player on the court, the one who made Harvard’s first win over a ranked team in its history a reality, was Jeremy Lin. Conversations about this game, and indeed about this Harvard team, start and end with him.
