Who owns Harvard University? The students? The alumni? The school's secretive, seven-member governing body known as the Harvard Corporation?
Following the Crimson's loss to the Princeton men's basketball team on Saturday night, it appears as though the answer to that question is "none of the above."
Kyle Koncz owns Harvard.
The Tigers' sophomore forward set a career high in points for the second time in as many games against the Crimson this season, netting 23 to lead Princeton (10-14 overall, 8-3 Ivy League) to a 75-48 thrashing of a reeling Harvard squad (12-13, 4-8). His previous career high of 20 points had come against the Crimson in a 60-59 win on Feb. 10.
"Two games against them and two career highs," Koncz said afterwards. "I don't have anything against them, but I hope we keep playing them. I wish we could play them every time."
The 27-point margin of victory was by far the Tigers' largest of the season, as Princeton shot 62 percent from the floor to doom Harvard to its seventh straight loss. The Crimson was picked to finish second in the Ivy League Preseason Media poll back in November — behind Penn and one spot ahead of the Tigers — but Princeton is the only team heading into the final weekend of the season still capable of catching the Quakers.
Princeton and Penn – whose 68-52 win over Dartmouth on Saturday night kept it two games ahead of the Tigers in the Ivy race – take turns visiting Brown and Yale next weekend before meeting at Jadwin for the season finale on Tuesday, March 7.
Princeton needs to win both of its next two games and have the Quakers drop one of theirs if the outcome of that final game is to have postseason implications. In that case, a Tiger win would force a one-game playoff for an NCAA tournament berth.
"Everyone in the country basically wrote us off early in the season after a couple groundbreaking losses," senior point guard Scott Greenman – who finished with 11 points on the night – said. "But we never quit, and we believed in our ability, and the coaches never quit, either."
Greenman's six assists tie for the most by a Princeton player all season and were one more than Harvard managed as a team. Greeman's skillful running of the offense helped ensure that his team would never trail, building a 37-19 lead by halftime and sustaining it long enough that the Tiger bench players could see some floor time over the final two minutes.
"Once we got Scotty back, he lifted our confidence," Koncz said of Greenman, who returned, after missing four games to a back injury earlier in the season, to take the team lead in scoring, at 10.8 points per game. "When we're not doing well, he calms us down, and he shows us what to do."
Koncz on fire
Koncz knew exactly what he was doing Saturday night, knocking down nine of his 11 field goal attempts, including five of six from three-point range.
Despite having averaged just 2.4 points per game in the five contests since his last landmark performance against the Crimson — and having lost court time recently to junior guard Edwin Buffmire in the final minutes of games — Koncz came out looking to drive and shoot over defenders, not just wait for open looks from beyond the arc.
After hitting an open three to commence the scoring, Koncz kicked in three more shots from deep over the course of the first half, all of which came with a defender's hand in his face.
He finished with 14 points at halftime after draining a falling-down three from the right wing as the shot clock neared zero.
"It's nice to see [Koncz] break out and play well," head coach Joe Scott '87 said. "It's been a long time coming for him, but hanging in late in games and playing well, that's going to be important for him for the rest of his career."
Koncz did not stop in the second half, converting on three layups and knocking down yet another three to beat the shot-clock buzzer. He also finished with three assists and a career-high six rebounds to lead a bevy of Tigers who managed to fill up the box score.
No player did so more completely than junior center Justin Conway, who posted 10 points to go along with five assists, five rebounds and a career-high five steals.
Junior forward Luke Owings also continued his solid play, chipping in eight points and a game-high seven rebounds, including three on the offensive end.
Perhaps there is no longer much of a secret as to who's sitting on that seven-man board.
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