PHILADELPHIA—Northeastern and Drexel will meet for the 53rd time in series history on Saturday in Philadelphia. The Huskies, who opened the CAA season with a win over UNCW, will be looking for their 16th CAA regular-season win in their last 20 games. Tip-off at Drexel's Daskalakis Athletic Center is set for 2 p.m., and the game will be carried live on Comcast SportsNet New England, Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic-plus, Comcast Network (Philadelphia), and SportsNet New York.


Story lines
• Northeastern and Drexel will meet for the 53rd time in series history on Saturday in Philadelphia. The Dragons lead the series, 36-16, but NU has won the last two head-to-head meetings.

• Northeastern has won 11 of its last 13 games played in the month of January. NU is 37-14 (.725)  in January games since 2009.

• Northeastern has won 15 of its last 19 CAA regular-season games.

• Northeastern has played one of the nation's toughest schedules. The Huskies' non-conference schedule was rated the 42nd strongest in Division I in the most recent rating by CBS's Jerry Palm.

• Scott Eatherton is tied for the NCAA lead in double-doubles. The 6-8 junior is averaging 16.8 points and 10.0 rebounds per game and has 11 double-doubles on the season.

• Eatherton ranks nationally in eight different statistical categories, including four top-50 rankings—double-doubles (first), rebounds per game (15th), total rebounds (19th), and field goal percentage (45th).

• David Walker and Reggie Spencer also appear in the national rankings. Walker is 16th in minutes per game, 55th in steals per game, and 60th in total steals, while Spencer ranks in rebounds per game and total rebounds.

About the Huskies
A year ago, Northeastern turned a challenging non-conference schedule and a disappointing December into a championship run. The Huskies, who were picked to finish fifth in the CAA a year ago, raced to a 14-4 record and the regular-season CAA title. This year's squad—picked sixth in the CAA—has played one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules and now is poised to again make a run in the CAA. Scott Eatherton, who leads the nation in double-doubles, is averaging 16.8 ppg and 10.0 rpg. David Walker is second in scoring at 11.7 ppg and leads the team in assists (2.9). Reggie Spencer is third in scoring (10.1) and second in rebounding (7.6).

Notables from the last time out
Notes of interest from Northeastern's most recent game, a 79-68 win over UNCW:
> Scott Eatherton posted his NCAA-leading 11th double-double of the season
> Eatherton scored at least 20 points for the eighth time this season
> Reggie Spencer secured his second double-double of the season (Nov. 22 vs. Charlotte)
> Spencer corralled a career-high 15 rebounds
> NU has won 11 of its last 13 January games overall
> NU is now 6-1 all-time against UNCW at home
> NU is 5-1 in overtime games over the last two seasons
> Northeastern had two players post double-doubles in the same game for the second time this season (Eatherton and Spencer, Nov. 22 vs. Charlotte)

Joyful January in the CAA
With Wednesday's victory over UNCW, Northeastern now has won its first CAA game in the month of January in five of the last six seasons.

First CAA game in the month of January

Jan. 3, 2009	William & Mary	60-44, W
Jan. 2, 2010	James Madison	73-61, W
Jan. 3, 2011	at James Madison	69-75, L
Jan. 2, 2012	at Towson	57-48, W
Jan. 3, 2013	at George Mason	84-74, W
Jan. 8, 2014	UNCW	79-68 (OT), W

Lifting the lid
Northeastern is 5-4 in CAA openers since joining the conference before the 2005-06 season. The Huskies are 6-3 in their first CAA home game and 4-4 to-date in their first CAA road game of the season.

Northeastern in season's first CAA road game

Dec. 3, 2005	at James Madison	86-83, W
Jan. 6, 2007	at William & Mary	57-60, L
Jan. 2, 2008	at Towson	71-77, L
Dec. 6, 2008	at James Madison	60-55, W
Dec. 5, 2009	at Drexel	47-49, L
Jan. 3, 2011	at James Madison	69-75, L
Jan. 2, 2012	at Towson	57-48, W
Jan. 3, 2013	at George Mason	84-74, W

Drexel: A look at the series
Northeastern and Drexel will meet for the 53rd time in series history on Saturday. The Huskies trail the Dragons in the all-time series, 16-36. NU, though, has won two straight games in the series. The Huskies defeated the Dragons in thrilling fashion in Philadelphia when Quincy Ford nailed a double-clutch, buzzer-beating 3-pointer to force overtime in a 63-58 win. NU then swept the season series by claiming a 59-52 win in Boston. The Huskies are 6-19 all-time against the Drexel in Philadelphia. (A game-by-game series history can be found on page four of the game notes.)

Bouncing back
With Wednesday's win over UNCW, Northeastern improved to 7-1 in games following a loss of 20 or more points since 2008-09.

Schedule unkind
Northeastern is in the midst of a brutal CAA stretch of five games in 11 days. The travel-happy Huskies will play back-to-back home games only once all season.

Flip the calendar, flip the script
Bill Coen's Northeastern teams have traditionally used challenging December schedules to launch successful January campaigns. The Huskies have won 11 of their last 13 games played in the month of January. NU is 37-14 (.725)—and 19 of their last 24—in the month since 2009. The Huskies won just one December game a year ago before racing to an 8-1 January and the CAA regular-season title.

Turning the calendar under Coen

	December	January
2006-07	2-4	4-7
2007-08	2-4	4-5
2008-09	3-5	9-1
2009-10	3-5	9-1
2010-11	2-6	3-7
2011-12	1-5	7-3
2012-13	1-4	8-1
2013-14	1-5	1-1

Eatherton leads nation in double-doubles
Scott Eatherton is tied for the national lead in double-doubles (Roscoe Smith, UNLV). The 6-8 junior collected his 11th double-double of the season on Wednesday against UNCW (20 points, 10 rebounds). He posted four straight double-doubles from Dec. 4 to Dec. 21 to become the first NU player to accomplish the feat since Shawn James in February 2006. Eatherton's double-double in the season opener against Boston University was the first for an NU player since Dec. 29, 2012 (Quincy Ford at UAB) and the first for a player in his NU debut since Nov. 11, 2011 (Reggie Spencer at BU).

Eatherton: Making the case
Scott Eatherton has quickly established himself as an early frontrunner for CAA Player of the Year. The junior forward, who is in his first season on Huntington Avenue after transferring from St. Francis (Pa.), ranks in the top two in the CAA in five categories. He currently leads the nation in double-doubles and also holds the number two spot in the CAA in rebounding, field goal percentage, blocked shots, offesnive rebounds, and defensive rebounds.

Eatherton in the CAA rankings

Scoring	16.9	7th
Rebounding	10.0	2nd
Field goal pct.	.562	2nd
Blocked shots	1.9	2nd
Offensive rebounds	3.5	2nd
Defensive rebounds	6.5	2nd

Double-figure Davey
David Walker has scored in double figures in nine of 15 games this season, including a career-high 19 points at VCU and 18 points in NU's 79-68 win over UNCW. Walker, who reached double figures six times as a freshman, has become a more aggressive offensive force for the Huskies as a sophomore.

Reggie rebound
Reggie Spencer collected a career-high 15 rebounds in the Huskies' win over UNCW on Wednesday. That came just three games after a 13-rebound effort on Dec. 22 at Tulane. It was Spencer's third double-figure rebounding game of the season and the eighth of his NU career. His career night against UNCW was his eighth straight game—and 13th in 14 games—with five or more rebounds.

Playing the best...
Northeastern has played one of the nation's toughest schedules. The Huskies' strength-of-schedule was ranked 15th in Division I through games of Dec. 12 and 42nd in the most recent rating by Jerry Palm of CBS Sports. Seven of NU's first eight games were against teams that advanced to postseason play a year ago, and four of the early-season opponents were ranked or receiving votes in the AP or Coaches polls at the time of the game.

...and playing them close
Coen's young squad has been within striking distance in nearly every game this season. The Huskies have led or been tied in the second half of all but two games. In eight of its losses, NU has been within five points or less in the game's final five minutes, and only two losses have been by double digits.

#CardiacCanines
Bill Coen's Huskies earned the nickname "Cardiac Canines" a year ago after registering seven double-digit comebacks to claim victory. The comeback kids completed the largest rally in nearly 100 years of Northeastern basketball when they erased a 24-point deficit to beat George Mason in the CAA semifinals. This year's Huskies climbed back from a 14-point second half deficit to defeat Georgetown and a 20-point second half hole to best Milwaukee.

Northeastern's double-digit comebacks

2013-14
Nov. 20	vs. Georgetown (63-56) *	-14
Dec. 21	vs. Milwaukee (62-59) *	-20
2012-13
Nov. 9	Boston University (65-64)	-10
Nov. 13	at Princeton (67-66) *	-18
Nov. 23	vs. Belmont (74-71) *	-16
Jan. 12	at Towson (70-59)	-12
Feb. 6	at Hofstra (62-57) *	-10
Feb. 27	at Georgia State (90-84, OT)	-13
March 10	vs. George Mason (69-67) *	-24

* Trailed by double-digits in the second half

Youth movement
The graduation of two highly-decorated seniors a year ago in Jonathan Lee and Joel Smith has ushered in a youth movement on Huntington Avenue. NU's roster includes just one senior and underclassmen account for nearly 50 percent of minutes played.

Class	Minutes	Percent
Senior	18	0.6%
Junior	1,509	49.9%
Sophomore	1,086	35.9%
Freshman	412	13.6%

Cleaning the glass
NU has out-rebounded its opponents in nine of 15 games this season. The Huskies accomplished the feat only nine times in 30 games a year ago. For the first time since Nov. 30, 2011, Northeastern collected 40 or more rebounds in consecutive games, grabbing 41 caroms in the opener against Boston University and 40 on Nov. 13 at Stony Brook. Most recently, NU hit the 40-rebound mark against Fairfield (Dec. 15), out-rebounding the Stags by 13.

Where they rank
Three different Northeastern players rank nationally in 11 total statistical categories, led by Scott Eatherton, whose name appears eight times. Eatherton ranks in the NCAA top-50 in four categories and he ranks in the top three in the CAA in six categories.


Coen ranks among best in career CAA wins
Bill Coen continues to establish himself as one of the most highly regarded coaches in the CAA. Coen is currently eighth on the CAA's list of all-time winningest coaches. He is one of just three current CAA coaches to have cracked the top 10.

Winningest coaches in CAA play (CAA regular season and tournament games only)
1. Jim Larranaga (George Mason, 1998-2011) 183
2. Blaine Taylor (ODU, 2002-13) 148
3. Bruiser Flint (Drexel, 2002-present) 137 *
4. Dick Tarrant (Richmond, 1982-93) 106
5. Tom Pecora (Hofstra, 2002-10) 98
5. Charles "Lefty" Driesell (JMU, 1988-97) 98
7. Jerry Wainwright (UNCW, 1995-2002) 97
8. Bill Coen (Northeastern, 2006-present) 79 *
9. Jeff Capel, Jr. (ODU, 1995-2001) 77
10. Tony Shaver (William & Mary, 2003-present) 68 *
* Active

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Northeastern will welcome the College of Charleston to Matthews Arena for the first time. The Cougars are in their inaugural CAA season. Tip-off on NBC Sports is set for 7 p.m.


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