CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Harvard opens its 2026-27 campaign by playing host to Cambridge neighbor, MIT, on Monday. Tip-off at Lavietes Pavilion is set for 7 p.m. ET, and will air live on ESPN+.
Quick Hits
- The opener vs. the Engineers is one of three home games scheduled in the month of November. After facing MIT, the Crimson will embark on a four-game road stretch that will take it to Chicago, across town to Northeastern, and Washington, D.C. The home-road split features three home games vs. six on the road.
- Harvard enters the new season with high expectations, finishing in second place in the Ivy League's preseason media poll. The Crimson earned 146 points and collected seven first-place votes, totals that trailed only Penn (157; 11 first-place votes).
- The Crimson is coming off a 2025-26 season that saw it finish with a 17-12 record and reach the semifinals of the Ivy League Tournament. Back from that squad is 2026 unanimous All-Ivy League First-Team pick Robert Hinton and second-team choice Thomas Batties II.
- Hinton is the team's top returning scorer from last year (16.8), with Tey Barbour ranking second at 13.6 points. The Crimson welcomes back 10 of its top 11 scorers from 2025-26. Harvard also returns its top two rebounders from last season in Batties II (5.4) and Barbour (5.2).
- Tommy Amaker, who was inducted into the Washington D.C. Sports Hall of Fame this past summer, begins his 20th year leading the Crimson and is on the verge of 500 career victories. After stops at Seton Hall and Duke, along with the past 19 years at Harvard, Amaker enters the season opener with a 497-345 career record (30 seasons).
- Amaker's team enters the new year ranked No. 12 in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 Poll. Two other Ivy League schools find itself in the poll as well, with Penn at No. 6, and Princeton at No. 20. Future opponent, Saint Mary's (Dec. 22), checks in at No. 10.
- Looking back at last season, Harvard's 17 victories were its most since it won 21 games in 2019-20. The Crimson's 10-4 mark and second-place finish in Ivy League play matched its best showing since that same 2019-20 group.
- This the second consecutive season in which Harvard has opened with MIT. Last year, the Crimson cruised to the 79-50 home win, which improved its series record vs. the Engineers to 56-10 all-time. Harvard's enters the contest having won 18 straight vs. MIT.
- Harvard has won eight straight lidlifters and has not dropped Game No. 1 since an 80-70 setback vs. Stanford in Shanghai, China, in the 2016-17 opener. During its eight-game season-opening winning streak, four have come against MIT.
- The Crimson played one public exhibition as a tune-up for the year, an 82-74 home loss to Massachusetts on Oct. 23. First-year Jason Singleton came off the bench and led all players with 23 points on 10-of-11 shooting and six rebounds in 24 minutes. Hinton (13 points), Batties II (11 points) and Barbour (10 points) also reached double figures in scoring.
- This season marks the 116th in program history and the Nov. 2 game date is the earliest any Harvard campaign has started. Prior to this year, the earliest any Crimson season has started occurred in 2024-25, when it faced Marist on Nov. 4, 2024.
