There wasn’t any one negative to pinpoint about the Northeastern men’s basketball team’s 72-53 loss to Hofstra (18-8, 11-2 CAA) on Wednesday evening.

The Huskies (8-15, 4-8 CAA) just weren’t the better team in Matthews Arena.

“Tonight we had some open, makeable shots; we had some missed layups; left some points on the free throw line,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen. “If you’re going to beat a team that’s confident, you got to play both ends and you got to score the ball efficiently.”

Northeastern certainly wasn’t efficient, shooting 17-of-58 (29.3%) from the field and taking a ton of contested mid-range jumpers and tough layups in the lane. The Huskies had plenty of open looks that just didn’t fall either.

They were led by junior wing Jahmyl Telfort, who scored 16 points on just 5-of-13 shooting and no three-pointers. He was the only Husky to enter double digits.

On the defensive end, however, Northeastern looked like it could play with the Pride. Hofstra came in boasting possibly the conference’s best offensive player in redshirt senior guard Aaron Estrada — who averages a CAA-best 21.2 points a game — and Northeastern limited his looks well, holding him to 13 points. 

Estrada didn’t score in the first 17 minutes of the first half, but finally opened up and scored eight straight points to end the half.

“I thought we did a good job on that end,” Coen said. “We played a real, physical and inspiring portion of the game in the first half and gave us a chance.”

Northeastern kept it close until the last three minutes of the first half, but it was more of a credit to the defensive effort than any offensive play. Hofstra took an early eight-point lead, but Northeastern brought it back to a tie game with 10 minutes to go in the first half thanks to Telfort’s 14 first-half points.

Chase’s pull-up falls! The #HowlinHuskies are within four at the Under-4, 29-25… pic.twitter.com/slaYamDFyV

— Northeastern Men’s Basketball (@GoNUmbasketball) February 8, 2023

Coming out of the break, it was all Hofstra. Northeastern redshirt senior forward Chris Doherty — who provides an inside dimension for the Huskies — quickly racked up his fourth foul with just under 15 minutes to play and had to sit for an extended period.

Without Doherty present to battle with Hofstra graduate student forwards Warren Williams and Nelson Boachie-Yiadom, the Huskies had to settle for jumpers and failed to knock them down as the Pride coasted to a win.

It wasn’t the worst performance the Huskies have put on this year, as they outrebounded the Pride 41-36 and redshirt junior wing Joe Pridgen grabbed 13 boards. Freshman point guard Chase Cormier also showed signs of life as the primary ball-handler, playing 27 minutes, scoring eight points and knocking down two triples.

“We were trying to beat [Hofstra’s] defense down the court, and [Cormier’s] the best we have at pushing the tempo,” Coen said. “He did score a couple baskets in the first half and we were hoping he would give us a spark that way.”

The Huskies travel to the Carolinas for a two-game road stand that begins with a Saturday matchup at UNC Wilmington Saturday, Feb. 11 at 7 p.m.