BOSTON – Northeastern showed something Monday night in demolishing Hofstra at Matthews Arena. It’s one game, but it didn’t happen in a vacuum, as some of what led to this 73-50 win has been developing for a while. If it keeps up, it won’t look like just one game later on.
What the Huskies did on Monday night is buck everything that could have been said about them a month ago, back when they were 3-4 with three straight losses and didn’t play well in any of those games. And after that, the boys on Huntington Ave are 3-0 in the CAA for the first time.
A month ago, they looked like they wouldn’t have a prayer of winning if Matt Janning struggled on offense, despite the talent that’s around him. Janning had just 10 points on 4-12 shooting and missed all four three-pointers on Monday night, although he did score eight of those points early in the second half.
At that time, Chaisson Allen didn’t seem like the most confident player in the world. He looked like your typical “potential” kid, someone you think is probably better than he’s showing. It didn’t look like a given that he would be the improved player his early practices suggested.
And at that time, whether or not the Huskies had toughness, especially inside, to compete with some of the CAA teams was an open question. Juniors Manny Adako and Nkem Ojougboh, their starters up front, are certainly skilled, but foul trouble has dogged Adako since he first set foot on Huntington Ave and something seemed to be missing with Ojougboh, who’s clearly talented and athletic but has all too often left you thinking he’s a better player than he shows.
None of that was in question on Monday night, a night when that was sure to be tested and especially the inside players. This is a Hofstra team that is loaded with big bodies, not just in sheer size but also in number. Tom Pecora has a lot of options in terms of lineups he can play in the frontcourt, so this was a game where we would see if the Husky big men could get the job done.
They did it, quite convincingly in fact. They thoroughly out-toughed and out-hustled Hofstra, and they were the more physical team.
“Going into the game, we were very concerned about Hofstra’s ability to rebound the basketball, and it’s been a focal point in preparation for this and I was very proud of our effort on the backboards,” said head coach Bill Coen.
The Pride came into the game with the 13th-best rebounding margin in the nation with an edge of nearly nine boards per game. They average almost 19 offensive rebounds per game. Last night, the Huskies, a team that was getting out-rebounded by about three per game, had a 39-32 edge on the glass, including 16 offensive rebounds. Ten of those offensive boards came in the second half, long after the tone had been set and the Huskies seemed to be in control. They simply never let up.
“Coach said they were leading in offensive rebounds in the country. They kept drilling it into us – you don’t want to be part of that stat, you don’t want to feed into it,” said Adako, who led four Huskies in double figures with 16 points and was more of a factor than his three rebounds would suggest. “We wanted to make sure tonight we end it, because they’ve been doing very well on the backboards.”
It didn’t stop there. Ojougboh had 13 points on 5-7 shooting and grabbed eight rebounds, while Chris Alvarez came off the bench for a season-high seven rebounds and Vinny Lima had a career-high six boards.
“Manny Adako and Nkem really did a nice job on the backboard and established our low-post game and controlled the game early,” said Coen.
And that’s how the Huskies won despite Janning and Allen combining to go 6-23 from the field, just two days after they combined to go 12-17 against William & Mary.
Helping Ojougboh lead on the glass was Allen, who was just 2-11 from the field but was the best player on the floor. He had eight boards, five assists with no turnovers and six steals, and always seemed to be around the ball. Entering the season, there was no question about his potential, especially since he showed an improved jump shot in early practice. But there were some early games that left you wondering if he would start to reach it. Now his confidence is clearly up, and he’s been solid in all three CAA games. He shot 12-18 from the floor in the first two and did everything else right on Monday night in the third game.
“He has such great court presence, and he gives everybody else confidence when the ball is in his hands,” said Coen. “He’s very steady with it and he gets us into our offense. When he rebounds the ball on the defensive end, we can start our fast break from there, and that’s a great advantage.”
Coen also emphasized the team defense the Huskies played, especially since Allen might be the only Husky who could guard Hofstra star Charles Jenkins one-on-one. Jenkins was 1-9 from the field with six turnovers and had a career-low three points, the first time all season he has scored in single digits and just the third time in his young career.
While this is one game, it was a game where the Huskies did some things one couldn’t be certain they would after building up to it with improved play. If they bottle this effort for future games, there’s no reason to think the three-game losing streak a month ago will be a very distant memory. All of a sudden, this team almost seems to have a swagger to it, which couldn’t be said before.
“I think we’re just going out there having fun and playing our type of basketball,” said Janning. “It helps to play at home, but I think this is going to carry over. We’re running our stuff right now, we’re playing D, and that’s the best thing you can have. If you’re playing defense, you can worry about offense later.”
They don’t want to stop at 3-0, and if they’re going to make it four on Wednesday and continue the winning later, they need to do more of what they did on Monday and on a consistent basis.
