BOSTON – The Northeastern men's basketball team is escaping the cold and heading south this weekend where they will face the College of Charleston and UNCW.
The weekend begins on Thursday night in Charleston with a 7 p.m. meeting with the Cougars at TD Arena followed by a 7 p.m. contest at UNCW on Saturday night.
Northeastern is coming off of a 3-1 week to start the conference season and has won a pair of games heading into Thursday's meeting at CofC.
Last season in Charleston, Northeastern stunned the then-No. 1 Cougars as
Bolden Brace came away with a buzzer-beating basket to defeat Charleston at home 73-72.
The Huskies are 3-1 all-time in Charleston, heading into the ninth ever meeting between the two teams.
NOTABLES
• This is the 98th season of Northeastern men's basketball
• Northeastern has an all-time record of 1,194-1,097 (.521) in 2,291 games
• The Huskies are 379-254 (.599) all-time in conference play including a 121-84 (.590) record since join-ing the CAA in the 2005-06 season
• Northeastern amassed 12 regular season conference championships and eight tournament titles in-cluding 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, North-eastern has accomplished the best win percentage amongst current CAA teams in conference and CAA tournament play with a 122-97 all-time mark (more on page 4)
• The last time out,
Shawn Occeus led the Huskies with an 18-point effort while also adding five assists and three rebounds in the outting, the third time this season he has finished as the team's leading point-getter
• Occeus also currently leads the CAA in thefts this season with 1.9 steals per game, a mark that also ranks in the top of the NCAA (more on page 3)
•
Anthony Green is shooting a remarkable 71.2 percent from the field in 2017-18 a mark that should rank first in the CAA and in a tie for fourth nationally (more on page 3)
• The Huskies have recorded six 80-point efforts this season, on pace for the most during the
Bill Coen era (more on page 3)
• Northeastern just finished up a three-game stretch at Matthews Arena where they are 7-1 on the season and have beaten their opponents by an average of 16.4 points, falling just once by a one-point margin (more on page 4)
SCOUTING THE COUGARS
• Heading into its first meeting with the Huskies, the College of Charleston is off to a 11-5 start to the season, but a 2-2 start to the conference year
• The Cougars finished their non-conference slate with a 9-3 record facing teams at the Great Alaska Shootout
• Charleston is 7-0 at home this season facing the likes of Siena, Western Carolina, and a pair of CAA teams in Towson and Delaware
• The Cougars have fallen in their last two games on the road at Drexel (87-82 in OT) and at Towson (73-62)
LEADING THE WAY
• Once again, Charleston is led by Joe Chealey who is averaging 17.9 points while adding 4.3 assists per game and 95 free throws
• Grant Riller is also up there averaging 16.1 ppg and coming back off of injury for the conference season, Jerrell Brantley is averaging 16.8 ppg while pulling down 6.5 rpg
• Nick Harris has played and started in all 16 games and is averaging 6.8 ppg and 6.9 rpg
ALL-TIME SERIES
• This will be the ninth meeting between the two teams in a series that the Huskies lead 5-3
• Northeastern is just 2-2 at home against Charleston, including a defeat the last time out, but have a 3-1 record on the road at Charleston and have won the last two contests there including a thrilling walk-off victory in their last trip
•
Bolden Brace gathered in a rebound along the baseline, and while falling down threw up a shot that fell as time expired for the 73-72 win
• The play ended up as the No. 1 play of the day on SportsCenter
LAST TIME VS. CHARLESTON
• On Senior Day at Matthews Arena, Northeastern fell to Charleston 85-71 Saturday
• The Huskies had five different double-digit scorers, the fourth time this season they have achieved this feat, but were unable to stop a hot shooting Charleston line up who shot 62.7 percent from the field during the game led by three Cougars
•
T.J. Williams led the way for the Huskies for the 20th time this season with an 18-point, four rebound effort
• He was 7-of-7 from the free throw line and moved into second place all-time on the Northeastern free throw single season chart with 175 makes this season
• Northeastern was 12-of-14 from the charity stripe on the day, making their first 11 attempts
• Following Williams were
Anthony Green who put up 13 points and was a perfect 5-for-5 from the field while
Bolden Brace had 11, and
Alex Murphy and Max Boursiquot tallied 10 points apiece
• Murphy had a near triple-double pulling down eight rebounds and dishing out six assists on the day
• Three different Cougars accounted for 84 percent of the production for Charleston on the day as Joe Chealey led all scorers with 29 points while Grant Riller and Jarrell Brantley each had 21 on the day
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
• The Huskies continued their CAA opening week on Tuesday night against Hofstra, falling 71-70 in a game that came down to the final basket
• For the second-straight game,
Shawn Occeus finished with 20 points while filling up the stat sheet with 5 steals, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists
•
Jeremy Miller broke out for his first double-digit scoring effort of the year with 12 points while making 5 rebounds on the night
• In their third game of the week, the Huskies finished with a wire-to-wire victory over Elon at Matthews Arena on Friday night
• Led by 20 points from
Vasa Pusica, his sixth 20-point effort of the season, as well as 12 points from
Devon Begley, the Huskies held Elon to just 18 points in the first half en route to the 72-60 victory
• In their final game of the week, the Huskies took on James Madison for the second time in eight days and came away with an 80-67 victory
• Led by
Shawn Occeus' 18 points, on 6-of-7 shooting from the field, 4-of-5 from behind the arc, Northeastern got behind early 5-0, and after back-to-back treys never relinquished the lead
• The team accumulated 14 treys on the day while adding 24 assists on 29 baskets
TAKING ADVANTAGE
• One of the most notable things about this Northeastern basketball team is their ability to create and-one opportunities
• This season, through 16 games, nine different Huskies have created 23 such situations
• Northeastern has also connected on the free throw in 20 of the 23 opportunities
• The leader of the pack is
Shawn Occeus who has not only created six and-one opportunities, but has completed the three-point play on five of the six chances
•
Devon Begley and
Tomas Murphy have each headed to the charity stripe for the free throw four times, while
Anthony Green has done so thrice,
Vasa Pusica has twice, and
Bolden Brace, Donnell Gresham,
Derrick Cook and Max Boursiquot all have once
• The Huskies had four such plays against Kent State, adding the free throw in each of them, the most in a single game this season
FROM THE CHARITY STRIPE
• Through the first 15 games of the season, redshirt junior
Vasa Pusica has connected on 64 free throws (on 78 attempts)
• In three-straight games from Dec. 18 to Dec. 30, Pusica 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 16 games, Williams made 103 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
• As a team, the Huskies have accumulated a .744 free throw percentage which ranks second in the conference and 60th nationally
• Last season, the Huskies .681 free throw percentage ranked ninth in the conference besting just Drexel (.667)
• As a team the Huskies did not miss from the free throw line in two games (17-17) and made 21-straight free throws beginning against JMU (Dec. 30) and ending against the Dukes (Jan. 7)
RACKING UP THE POINTS
• Through the first 16 games of the season, the Huskies have already recorded six 80-point games and are averaging 72.4 points a contest
• To put that into perspective, it took the first six seasons of
Bill Coen-led teams to achieve that feat
• That doesn't mean the Huskies have let up any on defense, this year's scoring defense ranks third in the conference (68.1 ppg) while the team's 3FG defense ranks second in the CAA and 37th nationally holding their opponents to .308 shooting from behind the arc
• The past two seasons, the Huskies finished with eight such games, while adding three 90-point finishes and last season recorded the first 100-point effort of the Coen era... using two overtime periods
COEN ERA POINT TOTALS
| Year |
80-points |
90-points |
100-points |
| 2006-07 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
| 2007-08 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2008-09 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2009-10 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2010-11 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
| 2011-12 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
| 2012-13 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| 2013-14 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
| 2014-15 |
5 |
1 |
0 |
| 2015-16 |
8 |
3 |
0 |
| 2016-17 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
| 2017-18 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
| Total |
40 |
9 |
1 |
WINNINGEST CAA COACHES
• In 12 seasons at the helm of the Northeastern program, Coen finds himself at the top of the CAA with some all-time greats
CAA Season/Tournament Games Only
CAA Victories
| 1. |
Jim Larranaga, George Mason |
1998-11 |
183 |
| 2. |
Bruiser Flint, Drexel |
2002-16 |
158 |
| 3. |
Blaine Taylor, Old Dominion |
2002-13 |
148 |
| 4. |
Bill Coen, Northeastern |
2007-pres. |
122 |
| 5. |
Tony Shaver, William & Mary |
2004-pres. |
120 |
| 6. |
Dick Tarrant, Richmond |
1982-93 |
106 |
| 7. |
Tom Pecora, Hofstra |
2002-10 |
98 |
|
Charles "Lefty" Driesell, JMU |
1988-97 |
98 |
| 9. |
Jerry Wainwright, UNCW |
1995-02 |
97 |
| 10. |
Monte' Ross, Delaware |
2007-16 |
86 |
