Harvard (5-5) at Furman (5-4)
Furman returns to Timmons Arena where it will play five of its next six games in the friendly confines, starting with Saturday afternoon's 2 p.m. contest against the Harvard Crimson.
The game against the Crimson is one of just four that remain against non-conference competition, as the Paladins continue to get themselves ready to face another grueling Southern Conference slate.
The Paladins return to Timmons Arena coming off their first true road win of the season, as Furman was a 97-88 win over Elon this past Wednesday night at the Schar Center. Furman had a lot of adversity thrown against it in the win and that included a good Phoenix basketball team, who had within their arsenal one of the best scoring big men in the country, in Chandler Cuthrell, who entered the game ranking sixth nationally in points per game, and he ended up with 25, including scoring eight of the first 10 for the Phoenix, as Elon jumped out to as much as an 18-point lead (33-15) only to see the Paladins come all the way back to tie the game by halftime.
Furman went on a 17-1 run to close the half to eventually catch Elon on the scoreboard, which was sparked by the perimeter shooting of Asa Thomas, who finished the game by leading five Paladin player in double figures, finishing with 21 points.
Previewing the Crimson's Probable Starting Five:
The Paladins will be facing off against the Crimson on the hardwood for the second time in as many seasons and sport a 2-0 all-time series lead against the visitors from the Ivy League. Yale was selected as the preseason favorite in the Ivy League, with Harvard picked just behind the Bulldogs in the prestigious eight-team league.
Head coach Tommy Amaker brings 5-5 team into Timmons Arena on Saturday, which lost its most recent game at UMass, 78-71, in its last outing. The Crimson have posted wins over MIT (W, 79-50), vs. New Hampshire (W, 86-75), at Army (W, 72-52), at Marist (W, 56-52) and vs. Bryant (W, 56-53). The win over Bryant, who is a perennial contender in the America East, is likely the most prestigious for the Crimson coming into Saturday's game. The win over Marist on the road, who was picked in the top half of the MAAC in the preseason, is also an impressive win.
Harvard's five losses this season have come against Northeastern (L, 60-77), at Penn State (L, 80-84), at Boston College (L, 60-73), and at UMass (L, 71-78).
The Paladins were able to claim what was a 77-63 win at Lavietes Pavilion in Boston, as PJay Smith Jr. combined for 41 of Furman's 77 points in the win, with Smith leading the way with 25 points, which included an impressive 5-for-7 shooting effort from three-point range, in what was one of his best performances of the non-conference for the Paladins in his senior campaign. Graduate student Nick Anderson's 16 points came on 5-of-13 shooting from the field, which included a 2-for-8 effort from three-point land.
All told, in last season's 14-point road win, the Paladins were able to shoot an impressive 51.9% (28-of-54) from the field and 41.7% (10-of-24) from three-point range.
Amaker's Crimson will bring a little more experience and continuity into this season's clash with Furman as opposed to the Crimson team he had a year ago when Furman paid a visit to snowy Boston four days prior to Christmas. Amaker's Harvard team of a year ago went on to finish 12-15 overall and a 7-7 finish in the league saw the Crimson finish a below program standard fifth in the eight-team league.
That Harvard team did manage to start to gain some experience and began to turn the corner down the stretch, winning five of its final seven league games to get to .500. The disappointment came in the fact that the Crimson fell just one game short of being able to take part in the Ivy League Tournament.
The Crimson lost just two seniors off of last year's squad, and while the Crimson are still a pretty young team, with six sophomores and six freshmen or "first-year" players, there is a little more experience to go to this season, as four juniors and two seniors rounds out a roster that, like Furman, has veterans blended nicely with newcomers.
The two seniors the Crimson lost off that 12-win team of a year ago, and this season Amaker has a little bit better of a feel for his team. The senior team captain for this Crimson team is forward Chandler Pigge (14.1 PPG, 3.8 APG, 3.5 RPG, 1.6 SPG), while guard Robert Hinton (16.0 PPG, 5.2 RPG) is coming off an outstanding outing last time out against UMass, as he was able to post 35 points in the losing effort last time out.
Hinton is one of the most dynamic scoring guards the Paladins will have faced so far this season. In the loss to the Minutemen, Hinton was able to connect on 12-of-22 shots from the field and was able to connect on 11-of-12 shots from the field, drawing 13 fouls in the game. Additionally, he was able to pull down eight rebounds and record a pair of steals. He also has a 34-point scoring effort against Boston College earlier this season and has totaled double figures in seven out of 10 games this season for the Crimson.
His 35 points represented a career high. Hinton was the 2024-25 Ivy League Rookie of the Year, and he comes into the contest against the Paladins leading the Ivy League in free throw percentage, connecting on 89.1% from the charity stripe.
Pigge dropped 21 points and a career-high nine assists in the four-point loss to Penn State. Pigge has reached double figures on eight occasions so far in the 2025-26 season. His best performance scoring-wise this season came against New Hampshire, as he connected on 8-of-11 shots from the field, while also dishing out six assists in that game.
The Crimson have been an excellent shooting team from three-point range this season, connecting on 70 through the first 10 games, shooting at a 35.0% clip as a team. Exactly 44 of those threes have come from two players, in junior forward Thomas Batties (12.3 PPG, 61.8% 3pt FG%) and guard Tey Barbour (11.6 PPG/leads team with 23 made threes). Batties leads the Ivy League in three-point field goal, shooting a blistering 61.8% (21-of-34) from three-point range this season, while Barbour leads the team with 23 made threes and he also leads the team in the boards, snagging 5.7 RPG. Barbour is also an excellent perimeter threat shooting 39.0% () from downtown himself this season.
Rounding out the projected starters for the Crimson is sophomore Ben Eisendrath (4.6 PPG, 2.9 APG, 2.1 RPG, 1.9 SPG), who is the team's "glue guy." Eisendrath is an excellent on-ball defender, and it will be interesting to see if he ends up drawing the assignment of trying to guard Furman's dynamic freshman guard Alex Wilkins.
Noting the Paladins:
--Freshman point guard Alex Wilkins has gotten his Furman career off to an outstanding start, as he comes into Saturday's contest against the Crimson averaging 17.2 PPG and 4.1 APG, and he had an especially strong performance in Furman's two games in Kissimmee, scoring a career-high matching 26 points in a win over Richmond and then followed that performance with a 25 points in the championship game loss to Illinois State. Wilkins had scored in double figures in eight-straight games to begin his Furman career, however, would be held to eight points against Elon after getting in early foul trouble.
--Senior guard Tom House posted a 12-point effort in the win over Elon, breaking out of a shooting slump by connecting on a momentum-changing three in the opening half, as well as going 9-of-10 from the free throw line to finish the game. House was huge part of Furman's best performance at the free throw of the entire season, as the team went 24-of-31 from the line.
--Junior forward Cooper Bowser has looked the part of being one of the SoCon's most-dominant big men, finding his way into double figures on seven of nine occasions this season, including each of the past four games. Against the Phoenix, Bowser posted 19 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two assists. Bowser is shooting a ridiculous 77.6% (45-of-58) from the field so far this season. He needs eight more blocks to reach the 100 blocks milestone for his career. Through the first nine games this season, Bowser is averaging 12.1 PPG, 6.2 RPG and 1.8 APG. His 12.1 PPG this season is a near four-point scoring improvement over the 8.3 PPG he ended the 2025-26 season averaging.
--The other part of Furman's version of the "twin towers" in the paint this season has been Charles Johnston, who has been a double-double machine so far this season, notching six double-doubles in nine games this season, is coming off a 12-point, 11-rebound performance in the win over Elon. Johnston is currently averaging a double-double per game, as he enters the contest averaging 10.7 PPG and 10.2 RPG. Combined with his six double-doubles at Furman and his 15 at Cal State Monterrey Bay, Johnston has totaled 21-career double-doubles.
--Clemson transfer and redshirt sophomore guard Asa Thomas has proven to be a big piece of the offense through the first nine games for the Paladins, and in his 21-point performance last time out against, Thomas did most of his damage from three-point range, as he connected on five threes as a part of that 21-point effort and also went 4-for-4 from the line. Thomas scored a combined 30 points over the first four games, has really become a go-to-scorer over the past five, finishing in double figures in each of the past five games. The Lake Forest, Ill., native has upped his scoring average to 16.2 PPG and is connecting at a 35.8% (19-of-53) clip from three-point range in the past five outings, and all told, is posting 12.3 PPG, 3.7 RPG and 2.0 APG through nine games this season.
--Senior wing forward Ben Vander Wal is the lone returning player off that 2022-23 Furman team, and the senior from Elmhurst, Ill., has been Furman's "ultimate glue guy" this season. He comes into Saturday's non-conference contest against Harvard averaging 6.5 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.1 SPG, and 1.0 BPG so far this season. Vander Wal does what is necessary for Furman to win games every time he takes the floor, and it was a rare made corner three that helped turn Furman's fortunes in last Wednesday's game at Elon that helped turn the game.
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