Toothless Harvard trounced

SALT LAKE CITY— Sometimes, it’s rough being the smartest guy in the room.

Harvard freshman point guard Siyani Chambers knows.

He’ll be heading back to Harvard missing part of his front tooth — all part of a wicked basketball lesson provided by Arizona in a 74-51 crushing of the Crimson on Saturday in the NCAA tournament. Mark Lyons matched a career high with 27 points to lead the sixth-seeded Wildcats (27-7), who showed how a real hoops school does it when March rolls around.

“The history of Arizona speaks for itself,” coach Sean Miller said. “This time of year, we not only represent ourselves, but all the great players and teams of the past.”

This will be Arizona’s 15th appearance in the Sweet 16. The Wildcats are heading to Los Angeles for a West Regional matchup against Sunday’s winner between Ohio State and Iowa State.

And Harvard — well, it’s back to class, though Chambers may want to stop by the dentist’s office first.

“We got the rebound, we were on a fast break, I went in the air, came down, and before I knew it, my tooth was out,” he said, in describing the inadvertent elbow he took early in the second half from Arizona guard Kevin Parrom.

Harvard (20-10) missed its first 13 shots and 20 of its first 22 while falling behind 30-9. The Ivy League champs, who shot 52 per cent in their upset win over New Mexico on Thursday, made only 27 per cent in this one.

“We had some open opportunities early, and once we missed some, we kind of got our heads down and they took advantage of it,” coach Tommy Amaker said.

Laurent Rivard, the Canadian guard who made five three-pointers in the upset Thursday, shot 1for-6 this time. He missed two early, then shot two airballs in the second half and finished with three points.

“They played me different than New Mexico did,” Rivard said. “Stayed on me, forced us to finish inside. That changed the game.”