By Dan McLoone, News Staff

Northeastern needed Chris Avenant.

Sure, he may not have been the conventional senior captain of a team in terms of playing time, but Avenant was a leader and respected presence on a team that needed it with all of the adversity that it went through during the year. With his career on Huntington Avenue officially finished after Monday’s Colonial Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament semifinal loss to top seeded University of Delaware, it is fitting that he be thanked one final time.

For all of the mental and physical hardships that come with competing in competitive sports at any level, especially the collegiate ranks, there may be no tougher thing for a player to do than lead from the bench. As the lone senior on a team filled with talent, Avenant saw an increase in his role from previous years, appearing in a career high 22 games this season, but he still was not a key part of the Huskies’ game plan.

Accepting a lesser role, especially for a veteran player who has been around a program for so long, takes an extreme team-first mentality and requires that a player does not let their ego get in the way of the team’s overall performance. It can be easy for a player who is not getting significant playing time to become disruptive. Just look at the famous 1991 Michigan men’s basketball team, which started five freshmen, dubbed “The Fab Five,” late in the season, causing some rifts with the displaced upperclassmen starters.

While Avenant never lost a starting role, it still required a great deal of unselfishness for him to go from a senior captain who was named All-Metro League first team and nominated as a McDonald’s All-America in high school to a senior captain who scored 28 points all season for Northeastern.

Head coach Bill Coen understood exactly what Avenant meant to his team this year, expressing his gratitude towards the senior after his senior night game against Drexel University on Mar. 1.

“It’s very very difficult to lead when you don’t have a prominent place on the team in terms of game play,” Coen said, “but he had a very prominent place on our team in terms of our locker room and keeping our guys focused on what really matters.”

Avenant set career highs in many statistical categories this year, including 10 points against The College of William & Mary, but it was his emotion on the sidelines during games that really left its mark, as he fueled his team’s energy in big moments. He was also a fan favorite, with his energetic play and team-first attitude infecting teammates and fans alike

For a team that lost their pre-season All-CAA player to injury and did not live up to the expectations that were set by their success last year, Avenant was the emotional glue that kept the squad together through rough patches and losing streaks, all while seeing an average of five minutes of court time per game.

He has sacrificed a lot during his time at Northeastern, but has been a greater leader than the program could have ever asked for. So thank you, Chris Avenant. Thank you for what you’ve done for the Huskies community.