The excitement has only just begun.
With conference play in full swing, the Northeastern men’s basketball team find themselves in an exciting race for first place in the America East Conference. After downing the University of Maryland-Baltimore County and the University of Hartford last week with an average margin of victory of 18 points, the Huskies (11-6, 5-1 AE) are tied with Boston University for second place in the conference, and trail Vermont by just a game.
While the UMBC Retrievers (5-10, 2-4 AE) tried to welcome NU to their RAC Arena in Baltimore, Md. Saturday night, they got an unexpected welcoming of their own by NU sophomore Jose Juan Barea.
Barea, who was named AE co-player of the week for the second time this season, welcomed the newest member of the America East into the conference by dropping a 29-point, seven-assist bomb on them en route to an 81-62 Husky win. Barea’s assault included 5-for-8 shooting from downtown with three of those five coming on consecutive trips down court in the last three minutes of the game.
With junior guard Marcus Barnes, NU’s leading scorer, sitting out the second game of his two-game suspension stemming from a controversial play against Vermont, Javorie Wilson and Sylbrin Robinson picked up the slack by adding 20 and 17 points, respectively.
Robinson as usual led the Huskies in rebounding, pulling down eight, while Wilson grabbed six in the winning effort. The win was the Huskies’ third straight and fifth in conference play.
Last Wednesday night at Solomon Court, in front of 937 fans, Barea played the first installment of his “How to win AE Player of the Week” instructional video by putting up 23 points and five assists as NU beat visiting Hartford (4-8, 0-4 AE), 76-59.
Wilson added 14 points in the winning effort and freshman Bennet Davis had another solid performance, scoring 10 and pulling down six boards, while filling in for injured center Cornellius Wright.
“I thought we had our best team effort tonight,” said NU coach Ron Everhart. “We had guys that normally have limited minutes really step up and play hard for us.”
The win improves the Huskies home record to 7-0, the best home mark since the 86-87 season and with the amount of fans, proved that NU might actually have a home court advantage these days.
“It makes it more fun to play when there are a lot of fans cheering for you,” Barea said.
For a program that has always played under the shadow of the hockey team, seeing a good crowd goes a long way.
“It’s nice to see [a lot of fans] when you walk out,” Wilson said. “It’s nice to see that there are people that appreciate what we are doing for the university, and hopefully we can get it so there are no seats left.”
It has yet to be determined if the Northeastern student body has taken a true liking to the men’s basketball team, but if any game can be a measuring stick, this weekend’s game against bitter rival BU should yield an answer. Not even thinking about the Huskies heart breaking loss to the Terriers in the semi-finals of last year’s conference tournament, this game has all the makings of an instant classic.
The tie for second place in the conference is remarkable, but add the Huskies undefeated home streak and you’ve got a game that reeks of March Madness, something NU fans haven’t smelled in a long time.
The last time the Huskies lost at home was in their final regular season game of the 2002-2003 season, to the very same BU Terriers.
The Huskies play host to Binghamton Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in Solomon Court, but will move to Matthews Arena for Saturday’s battle with BU at 3:30 p.m.
