On the offensive end, Amaker emphasized that it would be critical to get off to a fast start on the road. Facing what he called “maybe the tallest starting five in the country,” the coach said he could often choose to play two of his three big men—sophomores Kenyatta Smith, Steve Moundou-Missi, and Jonah Travis—at the same time, something he has been reluctant to do this season.

Harvard’s Ivy-best three-point shooting, led by co-captains Laurent Rivard and Christian Webster and freshman Siyani Chambers, will also need to be on point against the squad that has allowed a league-low 57.0 points per game.

“It’s going to be a team effort the whole way around,” Saunders said. “We’re just going to have to go out and do it together.”

If it can do just that, a win at Jadwin would mark another significant milestone for a program that has experienced many over the past few seasons.

“[I’ve told the team], let’s do something cool that this team can hang its hat on,” Amaker said. “Like never winning an Ivy title, it’s one of those weird things. We got that off the plate, and maybe at some point, hopefully on Friday, we’ll get this off the plate [as well].”

For Saunders, that is a very appealing goal.

“It’s an opportunity for us to step up,” he said. “It’s a good test to measure our improvement over the year.... Hopefully we can go down there and finally get a win. Hopefully we can make some history.”

—Staff writer Scott A. Sherman can be reached at ssherman13@college.harvard.edu. Follow him on Twitter @scottasherm.