The men’s basketball team (7-24, 2-16 CAA) lost to the William & Mary Tribe (20-12, 10-8 CAA) 84-77 Feb. 26, Hampton University (13-19, 7-11 CAA) 76-65 Feb. 28 and Monmouth University (19-15, 11-7 CAA) 89-83 March 3, closing out the CAA season in last place of 13 teams.
Against William & Mary, sophomore guard Ryan Williams recorded his career and the game high 29 points, including seven three-pointers. He was joined in the double figures by senior forward Youri Fritz, who recorded his third double-double of the season with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Junior guards Mike Loughnane and JB Frankel also scored 14 and 10 points, respectively. This game also marked head coach Bill Coen’s 200th CAA win, making him the first coach in the conference to ever achieve this milestone.
The Huskies took an early lead against the Tribe, with the score at 7-4 after the opening three minutes of play. The teams remained close, but the Tribe edged the Huskies going into the break, 35-32. Wiliam & Mary then extended this lead with an 11-1 run for a 12-point lead at 66-54. The Huskies fought to close the gap to two possessions, but foul troubles sent the Tribe to the line to seal the victory at 84-77.
On Feb. 28, the Huskies fell to Hampton. The first half was a tight contest, with the lead remaining at fewer than five points until Northeastern went on an 11-2 run to end the first half in the lead at 38-33. The Huskies shot 53.5% from the field in the first half but would be stifled by the Pirate’s defense in the second half as the shooting worsened significantly to 26.5%. Hampton would ice the victory from the line, scoring nine of 10 free throws in the last two minutes and finishing the game at 76-65.
The final game of the regular season was against Monmouth University. The Huskies made a blazing start, scoring five three-pointers in the opening five minutes to lead by eight points at 17-9. The Hawks then went on a blinding 24-7 run over the last six minutes of the half to go into the break with a 10-point lead at 52-42. With just over a minute to go, Loughnane stole the ball and scored a driving layup to make the gap just three points at 84-81. Monmouth forced the Huskies into errors and went three-for-five from the line to finish 89-83.
The Huskies then faced the No. 12 seed North Carolina A&T (11-19, 4-14 CAA) in the first round of the CAA championship tournament March 6 at the CareFirst Arena in Washington D.C. This was Northeastern’s first win since its Jan. 15 victory against Elon University.
The Huskies took an early four-point lead before five points by redshirt sophomore forward Zamoku Weluche-Ume put the Aggies in the lead at 9-8. The two teams went back and forth, and Northeastern tied the game at 11, 13 and 15 points with 12 minutes left to play.
The game was nip and tuck for the next two minutes until the Huskies grinded out a six-point lead with a layup from Frankel and a three-pointer from Loughnane off an A&T turnover.
Junior guard William Kermoury scored a signature three to take the gap to double digits with the game at 32-22 with just under four minutes of play remaining.
The Huskies finished the first half with a 16-point buffer after Loughnane and Kermoury both scored three-pointers.
The Huskies shot 53.3% from the field in the first half, and Loughnane went 3-4 from the three-point line. The team also had 12 defensive rebounds, holding the Aggies to only 38.5% from the field.
The team’s accuracy would slightly decrease in the second half, with the Huskies going 46.9% from the field. Meanwhile, the Aggies improved their scoring up to 43.3%.
Northeastern maintained a double-digit lead throughout the second half with the gap as high as 20 points at 87-67. The Aggies were able to claw back five points on the Huskies thanks to a 3-pointer by junior guard Mujahiid Burton and a layup by junior guard Trent Middleton Jr.
This win advanced Northeastern to the second round for the first time in three years. The Huskies faced the No. 5 seed Drexel University (17-16, 10-8 CAA) March 7.
The game opened back and forth, with the lead changing hands twice before a Drexel 13-2 run resulted in a 10-point lead, 16-6.
The Huskies tried to respond, with freshman forward Ty Francis scoring a dunk and Kermoury adding a layup to take the Huskies into double digits at 18-10.
The Dragons piled on the pressure with another 13-2 run over the next three minutes, leading by 19 points with just under seven minutes left in the half.
Drexel completely outpaced the Huskies in scoring, going 56% from the field compared to Northeastern’s 36%. This accuracy, combined with going eight for 12 in 3-pointers, put Drexel out in front by 17 points at the half, 39-22.
Northeastern was much improved in the second half, scoring 51.4% from the field. Loughnane scored 22 of his career-high 29 points in the half. He went three for three in his 3-pointers and was perfect from the line, scoring all 10 attempts.
Drexel held on to a double digit lead for 13 minutes in the second half until a 3-pointer by freshman guard Xavier Abreu put the Huskies within three possessions at 59-50. Thirty seconds later, a Loughnane 3-pointer capped off a 17-4 run for the Huskies with just over four minutes left.
The Dragons were able to stretch the gap out to 10 points with a 6-2 run, but with 26 seconds left, Loughnane scored a free-throw to put the Huskies within four points at 77-73. Senior guard Eli Beard was at the line three times, scoring five of his six attempts to take the game out of Northeastern’s hands.
Freshman center Liam Koelsch scored a career high of 14 points, and Abreu added 13 points to finish as the Huskies’ top scorer. Abreu scored 364 points in his rookie campaign and was named as part of the CAA’s all-rookie team for the season.
This season was difficult for the Huskies, who battled injuries including three season-ending ones to senior guard LA Pratt, redshirt freshman freshman forward Xander Alarie and freshman guard Miles Newton. Additionally, the team moved out of its home — the historic Matthews Arena — halfway into the season.
The Huskies averaged 74.9 points per game, compared to opponents’ 81.0, but bettered opponents in assists with 15.4 per game compared to 14.2. Overall, this was an improvement on last season’s 70.1 points per game and 13.0 assists per game. The team also had less turnovers per game, averaging 11.5 compared to last season’s 12.5.
Defensively, the Huskies suffered with the absence of a shot blocker, like former Husky Collin Metcalf, recording 92 blocks this season compared to 151 last season.
