NEWARK, Del. – After closing out 2014 with a comeback win at Richmond, the Northeastern men's basketball team (8-4) will look to open 2015 on a positive note when CAA play commences Saturday at Delaware (1-10) at 2 p.m.
STORY LINES• Northeastern and Delaware will meet for the 46th time on Saturday with the Blue Hens leading the overall series, 26-19. In the teams' most recent meeting, Delaware eliminated Northeastern from the 2014 CAA tournament with an 87-74 victory in the semifinal round. The Blue Hens have won four straight in the series and have not lost to Northeastern since Jan. 19, 2013 in a 74-70 Huskies win at the Bob Carpenter Center.
• The Huskies are coming off a gutsy comeback win over Richmond, 58-57, on New Year's Eve in Richmond, Virginia. Northeastern trailed by 13 points in the second half, but held the Spiders to just one field goal in the final 4:44 to close the game on an 11-2 run. Sophomore
T.J. Williams scored a career-high 20 points and hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 18 seconds left to give NU its first lead since 2-0.Â
• Williams' 20 points vs. Richmond surpassed his previous career-high of 17, which the sophomore set on Feb. 20, 2014 against Towson. Williams also set a new career best with five 3-pointers (5-of-6) against the Spiders, while adding six assists and six rebounds.
• The Huskies notched their second double-digit comeback of the season on Wednesday vs. Richmond, rallying from a 13-point second half deficit to win 58-57. Earlier this year, NU came back from 11 down to defeat Boston University by a 71-65 count. Since the start of the 2012-13 season, Northeastern has posted 12 double-digit comebacks.
• Northeastern's win over Richmond on Wednesday was the Huskies' first victory over an Atlantic-10 opponent since Dec. 1, 2004, an 84-68 triumph over Massachusetts.
• Redshirt junior
Quincy Ford scored 12 points against Richmond for his fifth straight double-figure scoring performance. Over his last five contests, Ford is averaging 13.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game.
• Head coach
Bill Coen needs one win to tie Karl Fogel for the third-most all-time victories at Northeastern with 131. Coen owns a 130-137 record (.487) with the Red & Black since taking charge of the program in 2006.
• Northeastern leads all CAA teams in free throw shooting with a 74.6 percent clip. The mark is also good for the 21st-best FT percentage in the country this season.
• Northeastern ranks first in the CAA in rebounding defense with 28.8 rebounds allowed per game. According to Kenpom.com, the Huskies are allowing an offensive rebound on just 24.4 percent of their opponent's possessions, good for the fourth-best mark in the nation.
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