BOSTON – On Tuesday night at Matthews Arena, the Northeastern men's basketball team will look to go 2-0 in CAA action when they take on Hofstra at 7 p.m. The Huskies are looking to go 2-0 in the CAA season against Hofstra after defeating JMU on Saturday.
The Huskies are coming off of a conference opening victory at James Madison on Saturday afternoon and will look to keep their undefeated home season in tact.
Hofstra has gained the advantage in the series history, 21-20, and has won the last four meetings with Northeastern. However, the Huskies have won six of its last seven games, only falling in the non-conference finale at St. Bonaventure.
The Huskies return to Matthews Arena where they are 5-0 on the season and have beaten their opponents by an average of 18 points.
NOTABLES
•
Vasa Pusica recorded his first career 30-point effort last time out against James Madison, and the Huskies have now had at least one 30-point effort in the last three seasons
• This is the 98th season of Northeastern men's basketball
• Northeastern has an all-time record of 1,192-1,096 (.521) in 2,288 games
• The Huskies are 377-253 (.598) all-time in conference play including a 119-83 (.589) record since joining the CAA in the 2005-06 season
• Northeastern amassed 12 regular season conference championships and eight tournament titles including a 2015 CAA title which sent NU to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in 24 years
•
Bill Coen is in his 12th season as the leader of the Huskies and since Coen has taken the reins, Northeastern has accomplished the best win percentage amongst current CAA teams in conference and CAA tournament play with a 120-96 all-time mark
• Northeastern and Hofstra meet for the 42nd time in program history while Tuesday's game marks the earliest meeting with the Pride since a Dec. 10 contest in 1994, a 74-54 victory for the Huskies
• The Huskies have an individual leading the CAA in thefts as sophomore
Shawn Occeus currently holds that position with 1.8 steals per game
•
Anthony Green is shooting a remarkable 69.2 percent from the field in 2017-18 a mark that should rank first in the CAA and in a tie for fifth nationally
• Under Coen, the Huskies are 83-21 when holding their opponents to under-60 points, a feat they have achieved twice this season
SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Heading into the game with Northeastern, Hofstra is 7-6 on the season after falling in their first CAA came against William & Mary
• Hofstra began the season 7-3 with victories over Army, Kennesaw State, and Dayton, but have lost its last three games heading into the contest with the Huskies
• Hofstra headed to No. 1 Villanova to take on Jay Wright (a former head coach at Hofstra), prior to the conference opener, falling 95-71
• The Pride are 3-2 on the road this season with their wins coming at Monmouth, Rider and Stony Brook
LEADING THE WAY
• Hofstra is led, once again, by Justin Wright-Foreman who is averaging 24.2 points while adding 3.2 rebounds per game and a team leading 33 assists
• Also compiling more than 10 ppg is Eli Pemberton who is averaging 15.7 ppg in 12 contests
• Rokas Gustys is once again the team leader in rebounds with 10.2 per game this season while adding 9.1 ppg
ALL-TIME SERIES
• This will be the 42nd meeting between the two teams with Hofstra just slightly holding a 21-20 series lead
• The Pride have won the last four contests between the two teams, beginning with a triple overtime contest two seasons ago
• Prior to the four-game slide, the Huskies won eight-straight in the series from Jan. 11, 2012 until Feb. 12, 2015
LAST TIME VS. HOFSTRA
• In a back-and-forth game that saw 12 ties and 12 lead changes, Northeastern fell to the Hofstra Pride in a 74-64 affair at Matthews Arena
• The Huskies held a 58-56 lead with 6:01 remaining in the second half, but Hofstra came up with an 18-6 run that kept the Huskies from sealing the deal
• The Pride's defense held the Huskies scoreless from the 4:39 mark until T.J. Williams' layup with 33 seconds to play
• Williams provided the Huskies with another strong effort, notching 21 points, six rebounds and six assists. The senior guard hit the 20-point mark for the 15th time this season
• Sophomore
Anthony Green set a new career-high for blocks in a game, finishing the game with four blocks. He matched is old career-best (three blocks) in the game's first four minutes
• Justin Wright-Foreman carried the load offensively for Hofstra, posting a game-high 25 points
• His dunk with 3:09 remaining gave the Pride a jolt of momentum which they carried for the rest of the game en route to the victory
• Rokas Gustys paced all rebounders in the game, hauling in 12 boards
LAST TIME OUT
• The Huskies returned from the holiday break and came out with an 81-70 victory over James Madison in the CAA opener on Saturday afternoon
• Led by career efforts from
Vasa Pusica and
Shawn Occeus, who combined for 52 of the Huskies' 81 points on the day, Northeastern won its sixth-straight conference opener
• Pusica finished the game with a career-high 31 points, five rebounds and four assists while Occeus tallied a career-best 21 points and filled the score sheet with three rebounds, three assists, three steals and a block
•
Devon Begley also added 10 points on the day while pulling down five rebounds
• The win marked the Huskies' sixth straight in a conference opener as they improved to 3-1 against JMU in CAA openers and 3-0 against the Dukes in Harrisonburg
HUSKIES IN CAA OPENERS
• After Saturday's victory over James Madison, Northeastern is now 9-4 all-time in CAA openers
• The victory marked the sixth-straight for the Huskies in CAA opening games
FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
• Through the first 13 games of the season, redshirt junior
Vasa Pusica has connected on 59 free throws (on 72 attempts)
• In the last three games, Pusica has made at least nine free throws going 12-of-14 from the line against Kent State, 9-of-9 at St. Bonaventure and 10-of-14 at James Madison
• Last season, senior T.J. Williams set the Northeastern single-season record making 202 free throws in 30 games
• Through 13 games, Williams mad 87 free throws, including a three-game stretch that saw a 9-of-11 effort against BU, 12-of-14 against LIU and 10-of-12 shooting from the charity stripe against Maine
THIRTY-FUN!
• During Saturday's victory over James Madison
Vasa Pusica notched a career-high 31 points, which extended a few Husky records
With the 30-point effort...
• The Huskies have now had at least one 30-point scorer in the last three seasons
2015-16 David Walker 3, Quincy Ford 2
2016-17 T.J. Williams 3,
Bolden Brace 1 (40 pts)
2017-18
Vasa Pusica 1
• In addition, three of those 30-point efforts have been coupled with a teammates' 20-point effort
12/31/15 Quincy Ford (30) & David Walker (26)
at Elon (CAA Opener)
11/11/16 T.J. Williams (30) & Alex Murphy (20)
vs. BU (Season Opener)
12/30/17
Vasa Pusica (31) &
Shawn Occeus (21)
at JMU (CAA Opener)
• Before David Walker's 32-point effort against Lipscomb (Nov. 21, 2015), the last Husky 30-point gcame came from Matt Janning when he sunk 34 at Rhode Island on Nov. 28, 2007, a 2916 day span between 30-point games
CENTURY MARK
• Northeastern's lone senior
Devon Begley played in his 100th career game on Dec. 9 against Vermont
• Begley, who celebrated his birthday on December 14, finished the game with eight points, two assists, two reabounds, and two steals
• The Pearland, Texas native also passed the 500-point mark on Dec. 5 against Bucknell collecting his 500th, 501st and 502nd career points appropriately on a three from the corner
• He currently has 529 career points for a 5.2 ppg average
STEALS ON STEALS ON STEALS
• Through 13 games, the Huskies have robbed their opponents 86 times or 6.6 times per game
• The mark ranks 2nd in the CAA and 155th nationally
• 10 of Northeastern's 12 roster players have recorded a steal on the year, led by
Shawn Occeus' 23 and
Vasa Pusica's 16
• Occeus, in fact, leads the CAA in steals with 1.8 per game while Pusica's mark ranks 11th (1.2 spg)
• He has led the Huskies in steals in nine of the 13 games on the season
• While, in five of 13 games this season, Occeus' has tallied three steals, a mark that he only achieved twice last season
• Last season,
Devon Begley (10 steals) led the conference in thefts en route to CAA All-Defensive Team honors
(SEMI) AUTOMATIC
•
Anthony Green has been near perfect from the field this season for the Huskies
• The junior has gone 36-of-52 from the field this season for a field goal percentage of 69.2 percent
• The mark doesn't currently rank nationally, Green is 13 field goals shy of being eligible for rankings, but if he was that would rank fifth nationally and first in the CAA
• Against St. Bonaventure, Green went 7-of-9 from the field while he was 1-for-1 with a slam at JMU
• The seven made FGs were a career-best while the 15 points accumulated tied his career high
MATTHEWS MAGIC
• In the first five home games of the season, the Huskies are outscoring their opponents 397-307 or by 18 points per game
• The Huskies are now 5-0 on the year at the old barn, Matthews Arena
• The Huskies opened their home season with their second game of the year against Wentworth
• During that game Northeastern held Wentworth to just 49-points marking the first game the Huskies held an opponent to under-50 points since a 47-44 victory at Towson on Feb. 11, 2016
• The 34-point win also tied the second-largest of the
Bill Coen era (79-45 win over Drexel on Jan. 9, 2008) and was the largest since a 36-point victory over Delaware last season
• The Huskies have now recorded a 30-point victory in the last three seasons
• Against Harvard (Nov. 30), who was receiving votes in the AP and Coaches Preseason polls to start the season, the Huskies started and finished strong to end with a 16-point win
• In their second game in three days, the Huskies kept the strong play going with an 18-point victory over Cornell (Dec. 2), 84-66
• Northeastern kept that win-streak going against Bucknell (Dec. 5) with their second-straight 18-point win, 82-64
• The Huskies defeated their second team receiving votes, in the Coaches Poll, with a 71-67 victory over Vermont on Dec. 9, 71-67
