ELON, N.C. – The Northeastern men's basketball team (19-10, 11-5 CAA) will make its first-ever visit to Elon on Thursday for a 7 p.m. matchup against the Phoenix (12-17, 4-12 CAA) at Alumni Gym. With two games remaining in the regular season, the Huskies remain tied for first place in the CAA standings.
STORY LINES• Northeastern will face Elon at Alumni Gym for the first time in program history on Thursday. The teams met for the very first time on Jan. 31 at Matthews Arena in an 80-61 win for the Huskies. Junior
Zach Stahl tied a career high with 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting to pace four Huskies in double-figure scoring. Northeastern shot 59.6 percent for the game and out-rebounded the Phoenix by a 39-27 margin.
• Freshman
Devon Begley scored a career-high 12 points the last time these teams met on Jan. 12. Begley knocked down three 3-pointers and went 4-for-7 from the field overall. The Huskies are 7-0 this season when Begley scores at least six points in a game.
• The Huskies are coming off an 83-73 overtime win over Drexel on Feb. 21 at Matthews Arena. Northeastern led, 61-50, with three minutes to play, before a 12-1 Drexel run tied the game with less than a second remaining. The Dragons' Mohamed Bah had a chance to put DU ahead with a free throw in the final second, but his attempt rimmed out and the teams went to OT tied at 62-apiece. Junior
David Walker took over from there, scoring 11 of his career-high 25 points in the extra session to help NU earn a win on senior day.
• On Monday, Walker was named the CAA Player of the Week after averaging 23.0 points, 5.5 assists and 4.0 rebounds in a pair of wins last week. Walker scored 21 points and dished out seven assists on Feb. 18 vs. William & Mary, before dropping a career-high 25 points against Drexel three days later. Walker went 12-for-12 at the foul line against the Dragons and sank 17-of-18 free throws during the week.
• Northeastern converted a season-high 31 free throws (31-for-39) against Drexel on Feb. 21. The last time NU made 30+ free throws in a game was on March 8, 2014 when the Huskies knocked down 32-of-44 foul shots in the CAA tournament against the Dragons.Â
• Five Northeastern players scored in double-figures on Feb. 21 against Drexel, marking the third time this season NU has had five players score at least 10 points each in a game (Dec. 20 at Santa Clara, Jan. 17 vs. Charleston). The Huskies' starting five accounted for 75 of the team's 83 points against the Dragons.Â
• The Huskies rank 19th in the nation in field goal shooting with a 48.0 percent clip this season. Northeastern has shot 50 percent or better in 12 of 29 games and owns a 12-0 mark in those contests, including a 9-0 record in CAA games. Senior
Scott Eatherton leads the team with a 59.6 percent shooting clip, which ranks 11th nationally.
• Northeastern is 11-0 this season when it scores 70 points or more in a game. Conversely, the Huskies are 8-10 when scoring 69 points or fewer.
• A win on Thursday would give Northeastern its third 20-win season under head coach
Bill Coen, and the 14th 20-win season in program history.
• A win on Thursday would give Northeastern its eighth true road win of the season, which would tie for the 16th-most in the NCAA this season.
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