CHARLESTON, S.C. – The second-seeded Northeastern men's basketball team heads into the 2018 CAA Tournament presented by Jersey Mike's on a seven-game win streak and a bye into the quarterfinal round for the fifth-straight season.
The Huskies will begin play in the tournament on Sunday, March 4 at 6 p.m. against the winner of the No. 7 Delaware/No. 10 Elon first round match up.
The Huskies will be led by CAA Coach of the Year
Bill Coen, who earned his first conference coach of the year honor, in his 12th season at the helm of the Huskies. With a win on Sunday, Coen will pick up his 200
th career victory.
In the regular season finale at Elon, the Huskies finished with an 81-59 victory over the Phoenix to earn their share of the CAA regular season title for the third time in the last six seasons. All-CAA First Team honoree
Vasa Pusica finished with a career-high tying 31 points, his second 30-point effort of the season, going a perfect 9-for-9 from the free throw line.
NOTABLES
• This is the 98th season of Northeastern men's basketball
• Northeastern earned win #1200 at Delaware (Feb. 8) and now has an all-time record of 1,205-1,100 (.523) in 2,305 games
• The Huskies are 390-257 (.603) all-time in conference play including a 132-87 (.603) record since joining the CAA in the 2005-06 season
• Northeastern has now amassed 13 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 taking the reins, NU has accomplished the best win pct. amongst current CAA teams in conference and CAA tourney play with a 133-101 all-time mark
• The Huskies finished the conference season with a 14-4 record tying the most CAA victories in school history
•
Bill Coen is focused on the Huskies' postseason play, but there is a milestone on the horizon for the 12th year head coach
•
Shawn Occeus finished the regular season leads the CAA in thefts and has done something no Husky has done since the 2010-11 season
• Prior to the game against Towson, NU honored its lone senior,
Devon Begley, on Senior Night. Begley has played in 120 career games for the Huskies during his time on Huntington Ave. and as a solo senior class has already made history
THIS SEASON VS. DELAWARE
• The Huskies earned the season sweep over Delaware with a hard-fought, 70-67 victory in Newark on Feb. 8
• In a game that came down to the final possession, the Huskies were led by
Vasa Pusica who finished with 27 points, for his 10th 20-point effort of the season
• Pusica put the game just out of reach with a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining in play.
• Delaware was led by CAA Rookie of the Year Ryan Allen who finished with 19 points while Eric Carter ended with a double-double, his eighth of the year, with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
• The Huskies picked up their first victory of the season over Delaware with a 76-64 win at Matthews Arena back on Jan. 20
• Donnell Gresham tallied all 17 of his points in the second half and, in doing so, led the Huskies to a 76-64 comeback victory over Delaware
• Gresham's first basket of the day was a layup that registered the sixth-straight Husky point of the second half which that prompted Delaware head coach Martin Inglesby to call a timeout
• The production was spread all around, once again, as the eight different Huskies that scored each finished with at least six points on the day.
THIS SEASON VS. ELON
• The Huskies picked up the season-sweep over Elon in the regular season finale on Feb. 24, a game in which the Huskies earned a share of the CAA regular season title
•
Vasa Pusica paced the Huskies for the 17th time this season finishing with a career-high tying 31 points, including a 9-for-9 effort from the free throw line also adding four assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals on the night
•
Shawn Occeus finished his night with 13 points, a career-high tying six steals and five rebounds. With his six steals Occeus now has 61 on the season, 7th most by a Husky in a single-season tying Reggie Lewis (1985-86) and Chaisson Allen (2010-11)
• The Huskies first faced the Phoenix at the beginning of January and came away with a 72-60 win at Matthews Arena
• Behind 20 points from Pusica, while holding Elon to just 18 first-half points, the team cruised to a wire-to-wire, victory
• The Huskies led by 21 points at the half, but a 25-10 Elon run to begin the second half cut that to just a six-point lead midway through the stanza
REGULAR SEASON CHAMPS
• Northeastern earned its 13th regular season conference title (10 America East, three CAA) after a 81-59 victory at Elon on Saturday night
• The regular season championship was the team's third in the last six seasons
• The Huskies entered the week a game behind Charleston in the standings, needing the Cougars to lose both to earn the outright championship, or to lose one for a share of the title
• After Charleston won Thursday night, the Huskies needed WIlliam & Mary to come up big on senior day -- which they did in overtime
• The Huskies headed into their game with Elon knowing what they needed to do, and after a hard-fought battle through the first 30 minutes, before Northeastern pulled away in the final 10 minutes of action for the win
A SLEW OF HONOR(S)
• Following a CAA regular season championship, a 14-4 conference record (tying the team's best since joining the CAA in 2005-06), and a No. 2 seed in the CAA Tournament the Huskies have earned a slew of postseason honors
• The big ones:
•
Bill Coen, CAA Coach of the Year
•
Shawn Occeus, CAA Defensive Player of the Year
•
Bolden Brace, CAA Sixth Man of the Year
• The still big ones
•
Vasa Pusica, All-CAA First Team
CAA Player of the Year Runner Up
•
Tomas Murphy, CAA All-Rookie Team
•
Shawn Occeus, CAA All-Defensive Team
THE LAST TIME OUT
• The Huskies finished out the regular season on a seven-game win streak picking up a share of the CAA Regular Season title the last time out at Elon in the team's regular season finale
• Northeastern picked up its sixth-straight victory, the 20th win of the season and their 12th home win the last time out with an 80-75 win over Towson on Senior Day
• The win locked up the two seed in the CAA Tournament -- the Huskies were selected to finish sixth this season in the preseason poll
•
Shawn Occeus led the way for the Huskies with a career-high 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal in the game and connected on a shot-clock beating three down the stretch that solidified the win for the Huskies
•
Vasa Pusica added 17 points and seven assists while
Bolden Brace quietly finished with a 10 point, 11 rebound double-double and Donnell Gresham also added 10 points in the victory
• In addition to his career-night, Occeus held Towson's leading scorer Zane Martin to just 11 points, but Justin Gorham went off for 28 points and 12 boards in the contest
• On Saturday night, in the team's seventh-straight win, the Huskies were led by
Vasa Pusica's career-high tying 31 points in a 81-59 victory at Elon
• The win gave the Huskies their best conference record since the 2012-13 season and tied the most-ever CAA conference victories (14) set in 2009-10 and again in 2012-13
21 WONDERFUL WINS
• With an 80-75 victory over Towson on Senior Day, the Huskies picked up their 20th win of the season
• The team added to that total with an 81-59 season finale win over Elon, NU's seventh-straight
• The Huskies recorded their first 20-win season since 2014-15, when the Huskies went 23-12 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament
• In addition, it was the fourth of the
Bill Coen era and the 15th in program history
• The 21 regular season victories are the most by a Northeastern program since the 1986-87 Huskies finished with a 23-6 regular season record
• Other Coen-era 20-win seasons include:
| Season |
Record |
CAA |
Finish |
Postseason |
Senior Class |
| 2017-18 |
20-9 |
13-4 |
-- |
-- |
Devon Begley |
| 2014-15 |
23-12 |
12-6 |
T-1st |
NCAA 1st Rd. |
Scott Eatherton, Reggie Spencer |
| 2012-13 |
20-13 |
14-4 |
1st |
NIT 1st Rd. |
Jon Lee, Dinko Marshavelski, Joel Smith |
| 2009-10 |
20-13 |
14-4 |
2nd |
NIT 1st Rd |
Manny Adako, Baptiste Bataille, Matt Janning, Brian McDonald, Nkem Ojougboh |
• Coen's four 20-win seasons ranks second in Northeastern coaching history behind Jim Calhoun's five such efforts (1980-81, 81-82, 83-84, 84-85, 85-86)
• Karl Fogel had three 20-win seasons in 1986-87, 90-91 and 92-93 while Dick Dukeshire had two (1962-63, 66-67) and Ron Everhart finished with one in 2004-05
CELEBRATING OUR SENIOR
• Northeastern's lone senior
Devon Begley played in his final game at Matthews Arena on Thursday Feb. 22
• Begley has competed in 120 career games for the Huskies playing in his 100th career game on Dec. 9 at home against Vermont
• Begley is also a two-time CAA Champ after bookending his career with regular season championships, the lone player left from the Huskies 2014-15 tournament championship team
• The Pearland, Texas native 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 642 career points or 5.4 ppg (more on Begley on page 13)
MILESTONE VICTORIES
• For the fourth-straight season and the fifth time in the last six seasons, NU has notched at least 15 victories
• The 15th win, came over UNCW (Feb. 3) and since then the Huskies have added a handful more, for the most wins since the 2014-15 season (23-12)
• Northeastern also earned its 10th conference victory against Towson on Feb. 10
• The now-14 CAA wins mark the fifth time during the
Bill Coen-era that the Huskies have recorded double-digit conference victories and tied the program record for CAA wins set first in 2009-10 and again in 2012-13
• In addition, the Huskies picked up their 12th home victory on Saturday afternoon against William & Mary
• The 12 wins are the most at home in the
Bill Coen era (10-2 in 2006-07) and the most by the Huskies at home since going 12-2 in 1994-95 (1 postseason win)
200 ON THE HORIZON
• Northeastern men's basketball coach
Bill Coen, in his 12th season with the program is approaching his 200th career victory
• Coen enters Sunday's game with a 199-184 career record with 133 of those wins coming during conference action
• Coen would become just the third Northeastern men's basketball head coach to hit the 200-win mark
| 1. Jim Calhoun |
250-137 |
1972-86 (14 seasons) |
| 2. Dick Dukeshire |
204-100 |
1958-71 (13 seasons) |
| 3. Bill Coen |
198-184 |
2006-pres. (12 seasons) |
• Coen is the Huskies' winningest coach in conference action with 123 career conference victories
WE'RE GOING STREAKING
• The Huskies finished out the regular season on a seven-game win-streak, beginning on Feb. 3, the longest since Northeastern went on an eight-game win-streak last season
• THAT eight-game win streak tied for the 10th longest in
school history
• THIS seven-game win-streak is tied for the 10th longest in the nation heading into this weekend of play
|
Games |
Team(s) |
| 1. |
12 |
Michigan State |
| 2. |
11 |
Gonzaga, Murray State St. Bonaventure |
| 5. |
10 |
Middle Tennessee |
| 6. |
8 |
Nicholls St., Mercer, Lehigh, S. Dakota St. |
| 10. |
7 |
NORTHEASTERN (and three others) |
• But this is not even the first win-streak of the season for the Huskies as the team put together a five-game win streak earlier this season (Nov. 30-Dec. 18)
• The last time a Northeastern squad put together two 5+ game win-streaks in the same season was back in 1990-91
• During that season the Huskies won six-games from Jan. 5 to Jan. 21 and then ended the season on a seven-game win-streak that resulted in an America East Tournament Championship and a spot in the NCAA Tournament
AWARD WINNING DEFENSE
• The CAA Defensive Player of the Year,
Shawn Occeus, currently has 61 steals on the season, 24th most in the country and a mark that ranks seventh all-time in the Northeastern record books
| 1. |
89 |
Andre LaFleur (34 games) |
1986-87 |
| 2. |
84 |
Reggie Lewis (30 games) |
1985-86 |
| 3. |
77 |
Wes Fuller (34 games) |
1986-87 |
| 4. |
71 |
Ron Lacey (33 games) |
1990-91 |
|
71 |
Andre LaFleur (31 games) |
1985-86 |
| 6. |
63 |
Chaisson Allen (31 games) |
2007-08 |
| 7. |
61 |
Shawn Occeus (30 games) |
2017-18 |
|
61 |
Reggie Lewis (31 games) |
1984-85 |
|
61 |
Chaisson Allen (29 games) |
2010-11 |
