BOSTON – The Northeastern men's basketball team is looking to improve to 2-1 in the CAA when they host Elon Friday night at Matthews Arena at 7 p.m. in a game that can be found on CollegeSportsLive.
The Huskies enter the game having won six of their last eight games and are in the midst of a three-game stretch at Matthews Arena where they are 5-1 on the season and have beaten their opponents by an average of 18 points, falling just once by a one-point margin.
Following Friday's game, the Huskies will wrap up the homestand on Sunday afternoon against James Madison at 2 p.m., in another game that can be found on CollegeSportsLive.
The last time out,
Shawn Occeus tallied his second-consecutive 20-point effort against Hofstra on Tuesday afternoon, connecting on four 3FGs in the game for the Huskies.
NOTABLES
• This is the 98th season of Northeastern men's basketball
• Northeastern has an all-time record of 1,192-1,097 (.521) in 2,289 games
• The Huskies are 377-254 (.597) all-time in conference play including a 119-84 (.586) 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 120-97 all-time mark (more on page 4)
• Northeastern and Elon meet for just the seventh time in program history in a series where the away team has actually had the upper hand (more on the series on page 2)
• The Huskies have an individual leading the CAA in thefts as sophomore
Shawn Occeus currently holds that position with 2.0 steals per game, a mark that ranks in the top of the NCAA (more on page 3)
•
Anthony Green is shooting a remarkable 69.6 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)
• 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 PHOENIX
• Elon is 10-5 on the season and is off to a 2-0 start to the conference year heading into Friday night's contest with Northeastern
• The Phoenix finished the non-conference season 8-5 with three of their games going into overtime, including a 3OT win over FIU and a double-OT victory over St. Peter's
• The two teams have faced a couple of similar non-conference foes as both squads earned wins over Boston University while both fell to Furman
• Elon is on a three-game win-streak heading into the game with Northeastern taking victories at home from Drexel and Towson in their first two CAA games of the year
LEADING THE WAY
• Elon has five different players averaging 10+ ppg this season led by Dainan Swoope who is averaging 14.9 points while also dishing out 55 assists on the year
• Also compiling more than 10 ppg is Tyler Seibring (12.7, 6.2 rpg), Brian Dawkins (11.5), Dmitri Thompson (10.8) and Steven Santa Ana (10.2)
ALL-TIME SERIES
• This will be just the seventh meeting between the two teams in a series that is split 3-3 in the past
• The away team has won two games on their opponents home court while falling just once
• Elon has taken the last two games in Boston including a defensive 51-49 affair last season
LAST TIME VS. ELON
• Thanks to 40 points from
Bolden Brace, a triple double from
T.J. Williams and two overtime periods, Northeastern outlasted Elon 105-104 at Alumni Gym
•The Huskies had a two-point advantage, but with time winding down in regulation, Tyler Seibring hit a fadeaway jumper to even the score at 81-all and send the game into overtime
• With the Huskies holding a three-point advantage in the first OT period, Dainan Swoope drilled a three to even the score at 95-all
• And in the final OT period, with 2.2 seconds left, the Phoenix tried to run the same play down 105-104, but
Jimmy Marshall's defense altered Seibring's game-winning try and the Huskies escaped with the win
• The 40-point effort by Brace was just the third 40-point game in Northeastern history, the other two were recorded by Northeastern greats Jose Juan Barea (41) and Reggie Lewis (41)
• The majority of Brace's 40 points came from behind the arc as he hit a school record 10 3-pointers on the night, breaking the last record set by Marcus Barnes and Demetrius Pollard who each had eight
• Williams' triple double was the first in 11 seasons as he with 26 points, a career-high 12 assists and 10 rebounds in the game
• He was also 10-for-10 from the free throw line and has 185 FTs this season eclipsing Lewis' 184 during the 1985-86 season
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
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• After his 31-point effort against James Madison, redshirt junior
Vasa Pusica was named CAA Player of the Week (Jan. 2)
• Pusica finished with 9-of-14 shooting from the field, while also adding five rebounds and four assists in the outing
• The Belgrade, Serbia native becomes the Huskies' first CAA Player of the Week since
T.J. Williams earned the accolade on Dec. 26, 2016
GETTING DEFENSIVE
• NU is 30-4 since the start of the 2012-13 season, and 40-6 since 2011-12, when holding an opponent to 59 or fewer points, including a perfect 2-0 in 2017-18
• Under Coen, the Huskies are 83-21 (.798) when keeping opponents under 60 points
• The Huskies scoring defense in 2017-18 ranks third in the conference (68.7 ppg) while the team's 3FG defense ranks first in the CAA and 14th nationally holding their opponents to just .294 shooting from behind the arc including a 1-of-9 night for the Dukes Saturday
STEALS ON STEALS ON STEALS
• Through 14 games, the Huskies have robbed their opponents 97 times or 6.9 times per game
• The mark ranks 2nd in the CAA and 125th nationally
• 10 of Northeastern's 12 roster players have recorded a steal on the year, led by
Shawn Occeus' 28 and
Vasa Pusica's 16
• Occeus, in fact, leads the CAA in steals with 2.0 per game, a mark that also ranks 52nd nationally, while Pusica's mark ranks 11th (1.1 spg)
• Occeus has led the Huskies in steals in 10 of the 14 games on the season
• While, in six of 14 games this season, Occeus' has tallied at least 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 39-of-56 from the field this season for a field goal percentage of 69.6 percent
• The mark doesn't currently rank nationally, Green is 14 field goals shy of being eligible, but if he was that would rank fourth 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 and 3-of-4 the last time out against Hofstra
• The seven made FGs were a career-best while the 15 points accumulated tied his career high
