BOSTON – A lot of things happen on opening night that don’t happen at any other time in the season. A team’s opener isn’t always a barometer of what is to come for a variety of reasons, but if the season-opening 65-64 win for Northeastern is one, there could be better things ahead than one might expect from a nail-biting win over a young Boston University team.
Certainly, Friday’s outcome can be a testament to how one shot can change something more than it should. Northeastern basically stole one at home and had some of its concerns exposed, and that wouldn’t have changed if Demetrius Pollard didn’t hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer from the top of the key that was followed by fans rushing the court to mob him in the corner. But there were some positive developments that could bode well for this team, and Pollard’s shot means they also have something to show for it on the bottom line.
Northeastern didn’t look like a team that could be a sleeper in the CAA in the first half. Offensively, they showed a lack of patience and direction, part of which could be attributed to the absence of point guard Jonathan Lee with a foot injury. Defensively, they allowed BU’s guards to get in the lane often, and the Terriers also had a 23-14 rebounding edge at the break to go with a 35-26 lead on the scoreboard.
In the second half, Joel Smith saw that he had to lead this team a little more than usual. With Lee, the unquestioned leader of the team, out for a few more weeks with a foot injury, Smith had to take control. He started running the show, which is not what he naturally does, and he score more from drives than jumpers, also getting to the line often as he was 9-12 from the charity stripe en route to a game-high 20 points. He seemed more driven and it looked like he knew he had to lead the way.
“I thought Joel gave us tremendous court presence,” said head coach Bill Coen.
Behind Smith and the steady play of Reggie Spencer, who had 18 points on 7-9 shooting and grabbed 7 rebounds, the Huskies slowly rallied. Northeastern led almost seven minutes into the game, then never led again until a Quincy Ford free throw made it 53-52 Northeastern with under six minutes left. Spencer scored 12 points in the second half and put the Huskies up by two with just over a minute and a half to go, before the Terriers would regain the lead and set up Pollard’s heroics.
Spencer was one player the Huskies needed more from entering the season, and they got that on Friday night. He had a big game against the Terriers in last season’s opener, so it was nothing new in a sense, but what was new was his offense. The Huskies will be fine if he rebounds and gives them a few baskets, but he showed much better offensive fundamentals as he looked more fluid and showed better footwork inside. He scored on plays he never would have a year ago, indicative of a player who looks ready to make the kind of jump Coen said a player needs to make from freshman to sophomore year.
“I thought he was the stabilizing factor,” Coen said of Spencer, who spent the summer in Boston. “He kept us in it, and I thought he was the anchor to start the comeback.”
Then there was Pollard, one of two guards last season who were available to the Huskies but didn’t play much off the bench. He did have a couple of nagging injuries along the way, but the simple reality is that neither he nor classmate Marco Banegas-Flores, who started the game at the point, was good enough to get many minutes to relieve Lee and/or Smith. Neither was stellar on Friday night and both will need to keep improving, but if they do that the Husky backcourt will be in much better shape when Lee returns from injury.
There are undeniable concerns for this team. BU out-rebounded Northeastern 39-29 despite the Huskies having a size advantage. The offense looked like that of a team in its first game at that end. They especially struggled out of the gates in each half, and in all it was clear that not having Lee hurt this team. That’s to be expected considering how important he is to the team, but Northeastern will have to adapt without him. In addition, developing depth will be an ongoing thing for this team, and the fact that they got just five points from reserves is not something they can win with all season.
But it is just one game, and fortunately for the Huskies, they found a way to pull it out. Smith’s leadership and Spencer’s development are a good start, and once Quincy Ford gets going (he was seemingly invisible on the floor for stretches despite decent numbers of 11 points and nine rebounds) they should be a pretty good offensive team. The challenge will be to defend more like they did in the second half, when they slowed the Terriers down. And in the end, they pulled out the win for a big addition to the positives that come out of this game.
