BOSTON – The Northeastern men's basketball team is back out on the road when the team finishes out the month of January beginning at Hofstra this Thursday night at 7 p.m.
The Huskies will be taking on the Pride for the second time this year after falling by just one-point in Boston a few weeks ago.
Northeastern is coming off of a 2-0 week last week that saw a huge 90-70 victory over William & Mary in Williamsburg followed by a 76-64 win against Delaware to improve to 8-1 at Matthews Arena this season.
The Huskies have turned it up, even more so, during conference action and currently rank first not only in scoring defense, but also on the offensive front in field goal percentage and assists.
NOTABLES
• This is the 98th season of Northeastern men's basketball
• Northeastern has an all-time record of 1,197-1,098 (.521) in 2,295 games
• The Huskies are 382-255 (.600) all-time in conference play including a 124-85 (.593) 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 125-99 all-time mark
• The Huskies named a new director of athletics and recreation last Wednesday morning as Jeff Konya will take over for
Peter Roby on February 1
•
Shawn Occeus also currently leads the CAA in thefts this season with 1.85 steals per game, a mark that also ranks in the top of the NCAA
• The Huskies shot an oustanding amount from the field against William & Mary -- a percentage that ranked in the top of the NCAA this season
• The Huskies have recorded eight 80-point efforts this season, tying the most in a single season during the
Bill Coen era
SCOUTING THE PRIDE
• Hofstra is 12-8 on the season and 5-3 heading into their second go-around with the Huskies
• Since the two teams met Hofstra has gone 4-2 with an OT win against James Madison at home as well as a pair of road wins over Towson and Drexel
• However, the team has fallen twice at home against Elon and on the road at Charleston
• The Pride are 5-2 at home this season
LEADING THE WAY
• Hofstra is led, once again, by Justin Wright-Foreman who is averaging 25.1 points while adding 3.4 rebounds per game and a team leading 65 assists
• Also compiling more than 10 ppg is Eli Pemberton who is averaging 15.2 ppg in 19 contests
• Rokas Gustys is once again the team leader in rebounds with 10.2 per game this season while adding 11.5 ppg
ALL-TIME SERIES
• This will be the 45th meeting between the two teams with Hofstra just slightly holding a 22-20 series lead
• The Pride have won the last five contests between the two teams, beginning with a triple overtime contest two seasons ago as well as a victory earlier this year
• 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 game that came down to the final possession,
Shawn Occeus connected from deep as time expired, but Northeastern fell by one, 71-70, to Hofstra
• Northeastern led by as much as 12 in the first half, but Hofstra battled back into the game and barely headed into halftime with a 41-40 lead after an Occeus layup was called back as time expired
• The Pride were led by Justin Wright-Foreman who finished with 27 points, 17 of those coming in the first half. Rokas Gustys finished with 15 points and 13 rebounds while Eli Pemberton added 13
• Occeus led the Huskies with 20 points on the night, his second consecutive 20-point effort. He also notched a career-high tying five steals, three assists and three rebounds.
Jeremy Miller had his first double-digit effort of the season with 12 points, while adding five rebounds
• Both
Vasa Pusica and
Bolden Brace had nine points on the night. Pusica was hampered by a hand injury he suffered in the first four minutes, though he was able to dish out five assists on the night. Brace added a team-leading six rebounds and four helpers along with a block and a steal
THE LAST TIME OUT
• The Huskies kicked off the third week of CAA play with a huge conference win at William & Mary and ended it winnint their third-straight contest with a 76-64 victory over Delaware
• The win at William & Mary marked just the second ever victory at Kaplan Arena for the Huskies (2012-13, 68-64), but came by a MUCH wider margin in the 90-70 thrashing
• During the game, the Huskies shot an incredible 71.4 percent from the field, tying the best shooting effort in the nation this season, and fourth all-time in the CAA record book
• The Huskies were led by
Vasa Pusica who had his seventh 20-point effort of the season while dishing out a career-high tying nine assists
• Three other Huskies netted double-figures including
Shawn Occeus who finished with 12 points, four assists, four steals and three rebounds,
Bolden Brace who had 13 points and five rebounds and
Anthony Green who netted 10 points and two blocks
• William & Mary, who ranked eighth in the country with a 51.0 field goal percentage as a team entering the game, were held to 46.3 shooting
• Against Delaware, the Huskies got out to a slow start, putting up just 28 points in the first half and heading to the locker rooms behind, 31-28
• But the team turned it on the second half, shooting 66.7 from the floor and putting up a season-high 48 second-half points to defeat the Blue Hens by 12
• Donnell Gresham recorded all 17 of his points in the second half, while
Vasa Pusica netted 13 of his 16 points in the second frame en route to the win
FROM THE FIELD
• The Huskies' 71.4 shooting percentage against William & Mary tied the best shooting effort in the nation this season
• The Huskies, who were 35-for-49 on the night, matched Loyola Chicago's 25-of-35 effort against Norfolk State
• The performance ranked as the fourth-best in CAA history and was the best mark in over 30 years since James Madison set a conference record with a 73.8 shooting night vs. American on Jan. 11, 1986
• The shooting effort is also the ninth best such performance in the country the last five seasons and the fifth best against a Division-I opponent during the same stretch
• The night, however, was not the best in school history
• The Huskies shot 75.0 from the field (33-for-44), also setting a New Arena collegiate record at Meadowlands Arena, in the first round of the 1984 NCAA Tournament in a 70-69 loss to VCU
• During that game, rookie Reggie Lewis went 15-for-17 from the field, the 15 field goals also an arena record, for his first collegiate 30-point performance
CAA Single-Game Field Goal Pct.
|
Pct. |
Team vs. Opponent |
Date |
| 1. |
73.8 (31-42) |
JMU vs. American |
1/11/86 |
| 2. |
73.7 (28-38) |
Navy vs. Lafayette |
1/18/84 |
| 3. |
72.5 (37-51) |
Navy vs. Fairfield |
2/6/85 |
| 4. |
71.4 (35-49) |
NU vs. William & Mary |
1/18/18 |
| 5. |
70.5 (31-44) |
Navy vs. William & Mary |
3/8/85 |
| 6. |
70.3 (45-64) |
UNCW vs. Saint Andrews |
12/3/14 |
NCAA Single-Game Field Goal Pct. (Last 5 seasons)
|
Pct. |
Team vs. Opponent |
Date |
| 1. |
74.5 (38-51) |
Campbell vs. Allen* |
2/16/16 |
| 2. |
72.5 (37-51) |
E. Washington vs. Walla Walla* |
11/19/14 |
| 3. |
72.5 (37-51) |
Morehead St. vs. Chattanooga |
11/28/13 |
| 4. |
72.2 (39-54) |
SFA vs. Abilene Christian |
1/16/16 |
|
72.2 (52-72) |
Ft. Wayne vs. Purdue-N. Central* |
1/2/16 |
| 6. |
72.1 (31-43) |
UAB vs. SFA |
12/7/16 |
| 7. |
71.9 (41-57) |
Butler vs. Maine |
11/15/14 |
|
71.9 (41-57) |
Elon vs. Washington & Lee* |
11/8/13 |
| 9. |
71.4 (35-49) |
NU vs. William & Mary |
1/18/18 |
|
71.4 (25-35) |
Loyola Chicago vs. Norfolk St. |
12/9/17 |
|
71.4 (35-49) |
Villanova vs. Oklahoma |
4/2/16 |
|
71.4 (30-42) |
American vs. BU |
1/22/14 |
|
71.4 (25-35) |
Pepperdine vs. Denver |
11/29/13 |
*-took place against a DIII school
TURNING IT UP
• The Huskies finished the 12-game non-conference season scoring 71.3 ppg while holding their opponents to 68.4, shooting .465 from the field and connecting on 101 3FGs (.348 3FG%) while holding their opponents to just 59 (.307 3FG%)
• Heading in to the conference slate, Northeastern has turned up the heat
• The Huskies lead the conference in scoring defense, while also ranking high in many offensive categories
|
Conference |
Overall |
| Category |
Stat |
Rank |
Stat |
Rank |
| Scoring Defense |
70.1 |
1 |
69.1 |
3 |
| FG Pct. |
.512 |
1 |
.483 |
2 |
| 3 Pt. FG Pct. |
.405 |
2 |
.372 |
3 |
| 3 Pt. FG Made |
10.4 pg |
2 |
9.2 pg |
3 |
| Assists |
17.3 |
1 |
15.5 |
3 |
