Gameday Information: Boston University
When	Friday, November 13  |  7 p.m.
Where	Case Gymnasium  |  Boston, Mass.  |  Directions
Broadcast and stats	Online: Live Stream  |  Live Stats  |  Live Audio  |  Radio: WRBB (104.9 FM)
Game Notes	Northeastern (PDF)
Social media	@GoNUmbasketball facebook.com/GoNUmbasketball instagram.com/GoNUmbasketball Join the conversation, use #GoNU and #BeatBU

BOSTON - The Northeastern men's basketball is back in action and will begin its 2015-16 season against cross-town rival Boston University on Friday, Nov. 13 at 7 p.m.

The Huskies, who will begin the season against Boston University for the sixth straight season, are coming off of their first NCAA Tournament appearance since the 1991 season, a CAA regular season championship and a CAA Tournament title. 

SCOUTING THE TERRIERS
Boston University will return all members of its 2014-15 squad to the roster this upcoming season, one of three teams in the country to return each and every one of its members from the previous season (Valparaiso, Tulsa).
 
Like the Huskies, Boston University was picked to finish third in their conference this season by the Patriot League coaches. Also like the Huskies, the Terriers have matched or surpassed the expectations of the poll in the last two seasons.
 
Junior Cedric Hankerson (15.9 ppg, 2.6 apg, 4.6 rpg, 1.8 spg) was named to the Preseason All-Conference team. While seniors Justin Alston, Nathan Dieudonne and John Papale will be back for their final go-around at BU.
 
Alston ranked fifth in the Patriot League in field goal shooting percentage (.571), the 10th best performance in BU history. Dieudonne finished 2014-15 with six double-doubles and reached double figures 19 times in his junior year alone. He hit that mark a combined seven times in his first two seasons on campus. Papale has hit 192 3-pointers entering his senior year, already fifth best in the BU record books.
 
Joe Jones enters his fifth season at Boston University and has compiled a 70-57 record during that time including two postseason berths.
 
THIS SEASON: The Terriers will begin their season on Nov. 13 at home at Case Gymnasium against their crosstown rivals Northeastern at 7 p.m.
 
ALL-TIME SERIES: The two teams have a long and storied history in a series that began way back in 1920-21 at Matthews Arena.
 
Boston University holds the slight 72-71 edge in the series, but the Huskies have won eight of their last 11 games against BU, and have posted a 6-3 record under the tutelage of Bill Coen.
 
This season marks the sixth-straight season that the two teams will square off to begin the year and the first time the game has come on campus since the 2012-13 season after playing in the Coaches vs. Cancer Tripleheader at the Boston Garden the last two seasons.

The last time the two teams met at Case Gymnasium, Nov. 11, 2011, Northeastern dropped 82 points in an 82-74 overtime win over the Terriers.

LAST TIME AGAINST THE TERRIERS: David Walker poured in a career-high 23 points, on a career-best six 3-pointers, and Northeastern overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat rival Boston University, 71-65, at the TD Garden in Boston.
 
The win—part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Triple Header—was the Huskies' fourth over their city rival in the last five meetings.
 
The Terriers took a game-high 11-point lead on a layup by Dieudonne just moments after halftime. Northeastern scored 44 second-half points on 56-percent shooting to rally for the win.
 
The deciding sequence came with just over four minutes remaining in the game, when Walker connected on back-to-back threes to ignite an 11-2 NU run. The Huskies went from down four to up five and never looked back.
 
COEN vs. BU
• Northeastern head coach Bill Coen is entering his 10th season as the leader of the Huskies.
• Coen is 6-3 all-time against the Terriers since taking over the program in the 2005-06 season.
• Coen has been familiar with BU for many years, serving as an assistant under Al Skinner at the University of Rhode Island and Boston College prior to arriving on Huntington Ave.
• Coen is 10-4 all-time as an assistant/head coach against the Terriers dating back to the 1996 season.
 
QUICK HITS
• This is the 96th season of Northeastern men's basketball. Northeastern has an all-time record of 1,154-1,070 (.519) in 2,224 games.
• The Huskies are 362-244 (.597) all-time in conference play including a 104-74 (.584) record since joining the CAA in the 2005-06 season.
• The Huskies have amassed 12 regular season conference championships and eight tournament titles including last season's title which sent the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years.
• Northeastern and Boston University meet in the season opener for the sixth straight season and for the 144th time in program history.
• The Terriers have the slight advantage 72-71 in a series that dates back to the 1920-21 season, the first year of varsity basketball for Northeastern.
• Northeastern has won four of the last five meetings with BU.
• The Huskies return eight letterwinners, including four starters in Quincy Ford, Zach Stahl, David Walker, and T.J. Williams from a team that went 23-12, winning a share of the CAA Regular Season Title, the CAA Tournament title and a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the 1991 season.
• Northeastern lost two seniors, Scott Eatherton and Reggie Spencer, both of whom are playing professional basketball in Italy. Eatherton (Fortitudo Agrigento) and Spencer (Reggio Calabria) are just hours away from each other.
• The Huskies have also added five new faces to the squad this year. Massachusetts is represented well by two local big men, Anthony Green (N. Quincy) and Jeremy Miller (Milton), while Sajon Ford, brother of Quincy, Donnell Gresham Jr. and Brandon Kamga round out the freshman class.
 
HUSKIES IN SEASON OPENERS
• The Huskies are 47-48 all-time in season openers dating back to the 1920-21 season.
• Northeastern is 6-4 in its last 10 season openers, winning four of the last five.
• Bill Coen has won six of his season opening games at Northeastern.
 
NU ON FRIDAY THE 13TH
• Northeastern has played in seven games on Friday the 13th in school history
• The Huskies are 4-3 all-time on the spooky holiday playing for the first time on Feb. 13, 1948.
• The last time NU played on Friday the 13th was against Purdue on March 13, 1987 in the NCAA Tournament.
• This year's game at Boston University will be the first time the Huskies have opened the season on Friday the 13th.
 

Date	Opponent	Result
Feb. 13, 1948	Colby	L, 31-58
Dec. 13, 1963	at King's Point	W, 78-53
Dec. 13, 1968	at Maine	W, 88-81
Feb. 13, 1970	at Long Island	W, 51-48
Jan. 13, 1978	at Rider	L, 65-71
March 13, 1981	vs. Fresno St. ^	W, 55-53
March 13, 1987	vs. Purdue^	L, 95-104
Nov. 13, 2015	at Boston University	7 p.m.

^ - NCAA Tournament
 
NORTHEASTERN PICKED THIRD
• The Huskies were picked to finish third in the CAA in 2015-16 by the conference's coaches.
• Hofstra was picked to win the league while James Madison was second. William and Mary and Delaware round out the top-5
• Northeastern has matched or surpassed the expectations of the preseason polls in the last four seasons.
 

Season	Preseason Pick	Finish
2014-15	First	First
2013-14	Sixth	Third
2012-13	Fifth	First
2011-12	Ninth	Seventh

  
PRESEASON All-CAA NODS
• Two Huskies have earned CAA Preseason All-Conference honors, seniors David Walker and Quincy Ford
• Walker was named to the first team, while Ford earned second team honors.
• The 2015 CAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player, Ford was named to the 2013 and 2014 Preseason All-CAA Second Team while Walker earned honorable mention honors last season. Walker also earned a spot on the All-CAA Second Team last season.
 
CAA PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS


2015-16 CAA MEN'S BASKETBALL PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAMS
 

First Team	Cl.	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown/Previous School
Ron Curry, JMU #	Sr.	G	6-3	200	Pennsauken, N.J./Paul VI
Juan'ya Green, Hofstra*	Sr.	G	6-3	205	Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Carroll/Niagara
Ameen Tanksley, Hofstra #	Sr.	G/F	6-6	218	Philadelphia, Pa./Imhotep Charter/Niagara
Terry Tarpey, William & Mary#	Sr.	G/F	6-5	210	Stamford, Conn./Fairfield Prep
David Walker, Northeastern#	Sr.	G	6-6	196	Stow, Ohio/Stow-Munroe Falls

 

Second Team	Cl.	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Hometown/Previous School
Yohanny Dalembert, JMU^	Jr.	F	6-8	230	Port-au-Prince, Haiti/Lower Merion
John Davis, Towson^	Jr.	F	6-5	215	Philadelphia, Pa./Ss. Neumann-Goretti
Quincy Ford, Northeastern	Sr.	F/G	6-8	225	St. Petersburg, Fla./Gibbs
Kory Holden, Delaware	So.	G	6-2	180	Salisbury, Md./J.M. Bennett
Omar Prewitt, William & Mary^	Jr.	G/F	6-7	195	Mount Sterling, Ky./Montgomery County

 
CAA Preseason Player of the Year: Juan'ya Green, Hofstra

PRODUCTION TRACKER
• With the loss of Scott Eatherton and Reggie Spencer to graduation, the Huskies lose two key cogs from the 2014-15 squad.
• However, Northeastern returns four starters, and four more letterwinners to this season's team.
• The Huskies return 70.6 percent of their point scorers (1,693 points) from the 2014-15 season.
• 5,402 minutes of action will also come back to the team (76.3 percent) in the eight returning letterwinners.
• Eatherton was the team's leading pointgetter tallying 513 points (21.4 percent of the team's points in 2014-15) while Spencer netted 189 points on the year (7.9).
• The Huskies four returning starters: David Walker (469 points, 19.6 percent), Quincy Ford (364, 15.2), T.J. Williams (337, 14.1) and Zach Stahl (290, 12.1)
 
IN THE RANKINGS
• The Huskies are receiving votes in the Mid-Major Top-25 Poll entering the 2015-16 season, technically ranking 42nd (according to the poll) among mid-major programs.
• Eight different teams that Northeastern will face during the 2015-16 season find themselves ranked or receiving votes on the preesason Mid-Major Top-25 poll.
• Another three teams on the Huskies schedule are ranked on the AP Top-25 and in the USA Today Coaches Polls. Michigan State, who comes to Northeastern on Dec. 19 as a part of the Winter Showdown, begins the season ranked 13/13 while ACC foes Miami (FL) and NC State are receiving votes in both polls.
 
COMPETING AGAINST THE BEST
• Ten teams on Northeastern's schedule participated in postseason action during the 2014-15 season.
• Three teams found themselves alongside the Huskies in the NCAA Tournament.
                  • Michigan State- NCAA Final Four
                  • NC State- NCAA Sweet 16
                  • Harvard- NCAA Second Round
• Two teams earned a spot in the NIT, including NIT runner-up Miami (FL)
                  • Miami (FL)- NIT Runner-up
                  • William & Mary- NIT First Round
• Five other teams participated in the CBI and CIT
                  • Western Michigan- CBI
                  • Vermont- CBI
                  • Stony Brook- CBI
                  • Hofstra- CBI
                  • James Madison- CIT
 
HUSKIES IN THE PROS
• Since beginning at Northeastern during the 2005-06 season, head coach Bill Coen has helped 13 former student-athletes to professional contracts.
• Both of the members of the 2015 senior class are currently playing professional basketball in Italy, Scott Eatherton with Fortitudo Agrigento and Reggie Spencer with Reggio Calabria.
• Most recently, 2010 alum Matt Janning, who finished his career fourth on Northeastern's all-time points list, spent the preseason with the Denver Nuggets where he faced 2006 alum J.J. Barea and the Dallas Mavericks
• Barea is in his 10th season in the NBA, and also plays for the Puerto Rican National team coached by Louisville head coach Rick Pitino.
• 2013 graduate Joel Smith was drafted in the 2015 D-League Draft by the Canton Charge, a Cleveland Cavaliers affiliate.
 
THE WINTER SHOWDOWN
• Three games, two teams, one weekend.
• Northeastern and Michigan State will take part in a weekend of athletic events over the course of Dec. 18 and 19 at historic Matthews Arena.
• The weekend kicks off with the women's basketball game on Friday, Dec. 18 at 8 p.m.
• Saturday's double-header will begin at 12:30 when the Huskies take on the Spartans at 12:30 p.m. on NBC Sports Network and will conclude when the men's hockey team faces MSU at 7 p.m. in a game also on NBC Sports Network.
• The weekend will promote comraderie amongst each school's teams as the three squads from Michigan State will all hop on a charter together to Boston.
• All three teams will share meals and, while each team plays, the other two teams will be in the stands cheering them on.
• Next season, the Huskies will return the favor and head to East Lansing for a similar event.
• For more information head to GoNU.com/Showdown