BOSTON—Northeastern will welcome UNCW to historic Matthews Arena on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. For the Huskies, the game is a welcome turn from a challenging non-conference slate to Colonial Athletic Association play. NU, 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.


Story lines
• Northeastern and UNCW will meet for the 13th time in series history on Wednesday at historic Matthews Arena. The Huskies lead the series, 7-5, and have won six of the last eight head-to-head meetings.

• Northeastern has won 10 of its last 12 games played in the month of January and 18 of its last 23. NU is 36-14 (.720)  in the month since 2009.

• Northeastern has won its first CAA game in January in four of the last five seasons.

• Northeastern has played one of the nation's toughest non-conference schedules. The Huskies' schedule was rated the 33rd 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 16.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game and is one of just two players nationally with 10 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 16.6 ppg and 10.0 rpg. David Walker is second in scoring at 11.3 ppg and leads the team in assists (2.9). Reggie Spencer is third in scoring (10.1) and second in rebounding (7.1).

Notables from the last time out
Notes of interest from Northeastern's most recent game, a 79-49 loss at Vanderbilt:
> Reggie Spencer scored in double figures for the seventh time this season
> Scott Eatherton led NU in rebounding for the 12th time in 14 games, pulling down a game-high eight rebounds
> Vanderbilt shot 62.5 percent from the floor, the highest for an NU opponent since George Mason (63.4) on March 10, 2013
> Vanderbilt held NU to a season-low 49 points
> The 30-point loss was Northeastern's worst since an 80-48 setback at Memphis on Dec. 31, 2008, in its last visit to the State of Tennessee

Joyful January in the CAA
Northeastern has won its first CAA game in January in four of the last five seasons.

First CAA game in the month of January

Jan. 2, 2006	George Mason	68-71, L
Jan. 3, 2007	Old Dominion	67-73, L
Jan. 2, 2008	at Towson	71-77, L
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

Lifting the lid
Northeastern is 4-4 in CAA openers since joining the conference before the 2005-06 season. The Huskies are 5-3 in CAA home openers.

Northeastern in CAA openers

Dec. 3, 2005	at James Madison	86-83, W
Dec. 2, 2006	UNCW	58-51, W
Dec. 1, 2007	James Madison	65-68, L
Dec. 6, 2008	at James Madison	60-55, W
Dec. 5, 2009	at Drexel	47-49, L
Dec. 4, 2010	Drexel	58-63, L
Dec. 3, 2011	Old Dominion	59-69, L
Jan. 3, 2012	at George Mason	84-74, W

Northeastern in CAA home openers

Dec. 7, 2005	Towson	89-67, W
Dec. 2, 2006	UNCW	58-51, W
Dec. 1, 2007	James Madison	65-68, L
Jan. 3, 2009	William & Mary	60-44, W
Jan. 2, 2010	James Madison	73-61, W
Dec. 4, 2010	Drexel	58-63, L
Dec. 3, 2011	Old Dominion	59-69, L
Jan. 5, 2012	UNCW	68-64, W

UNCW: A look at the series
Northeastern is 7-5 all-time against UNCW and owns and impressive 5-1 mark in games played in Boston. The Seahawks claimed a six-point win in Wilmington in the most recent meeting, but NU has won six of the last eight in the series. Wednesday's game will mark the second time the squads have met in NU's CAA opener and the third time the Seahawks have visited Matthews Arena for NU's CAA home opener. (A game-by-game series history can be found on page four of the game notes.)

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 10 of their last 12 games played in the month of January and 18 of their last 23. NU is 36-14 (.720)  in the month over the last five seasons. The Huskies, who were 1-5 in December this season, 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	0-1

Eatherton leads nation in double-doubles
Scott Eatherton is tied for the national lead in double-doubles. The 6-8 junior is one of just two players nationally with 10 double-doubles (Roscoe Smith, UNLV). He posted four straight double-doubles from Dec. 4 to Dec. 21 (Harvard, UAB, Fairfield, and Milwaukee) 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). It also was 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 three 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 field goal percentage, blocked shots, and rebounds per game. He ranks third in total rebounds, fourth in total blocks, and seventh in scoring.

Double-figure Davey
David Walker has scored in double figures in eight of 14 games this season, including a career-high 19 points at VCU and 18 points in NU's game at Tulane on Dec. 22. 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 13 rebounds in the Huskies' Dec. 22 game at Tulane. It was Spencer's second double-figure rebounding game of the season (12 vs. Charlotte) and the seventh of his NU career. He grabbed five rebounds against Vanderbilt for his seventh straight game—and 12th in 13 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 33rd 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 50 percent of minutes played.

Class	Minutes	Percent
Senior	13	0.5%
Junior	1,387	49.5%
Sophomore	1,014	36.2%
Freshman	386	13.8%

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.

Category	Player	NCAA	CAA
Blocks/game	Eatherton	82	2
Double-doubles	Eatherton	1	1
Field-goal pct.	Eatherton	45	2
Minutes/game	Walker	16	3
Points/game	Eatherton	161	7
Rebounds/game	Eatherton	15	2
	Spencer	194	10
Steals/game	Walker	55	2
Total blocks	Eatherton	79	4
Total points	Eatherton	171	7
Total rebounds	Eatherton	19	3
	Spencer	196	9
Total steals	Walker	60	3

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Up next
Northeastern will travel to Drexel on Saturday for its first CAA road game of the season. The Huskies defeated the Dragons twice a year ago, including a memorable 63-58 overtime victory in Philadelphia. Tip-off at the DAC 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.


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