What happened?

The backcourt trio of Joel Smith, Jonathan Lee and Quincy Ford got Northeastern off to a blazing start against Stony Brook on Saturday. The sharpshooters began the contest a perfect seven of seven from three point distance, pushing NU to a 35-28 lead with 2:23 remaining in the opening half. With a combined 27 points from these three it appeared as though the Huskies would enter the locker room with a comfortable lead. In the final 35 seconds, things deteriorated rapidly for the hosts. Seawolves guard Dave Coley turned a missed Northeastern jump shot into a layup and was fouled on the play. Though he missed the ensuing free throw, Stony Brook got the offensive rebound and cashed in with a three pointer with four seconds remaining in the half. The Huskies quickly tried to inbound the ball to get a final shot off, but Smith was stripped on the entry pass and Coley banked in a turnaround jumper as the buzzer sounded to knot the score at 35.

Both squads looked sluggish to begin the second half before back-to-back threes by Smith pushed the Huskies to a seven point advantage. Northeastern stretched the lead to as many as nine with under six minutes remaining. Turnovers, poor rebounding and foul trouble doomed the Huskies from there on out, however. After a Coley three cut the deficit to two with 3:14 to play, consecutive giveaways by the Northeastern offense allowed Stony Brook to take the lead. On the second turnover, Lee raced up court and wrapped up Coley, getting whistled for an intentional foul. The Seawolves tacked on six points in a row thanks to offensive rebounds off missed free throws and forcing Lee to foul out with 2:17 to go. The Huskies got as close as three but Coley made his final six shots from the free throw line to complete Stony Brook’s comeback.

Player of the Game

I’m going to split player of the game honors between Smith and Kauri Black. No complaints from Smith, who dropped a team-high 20 points on seven of 12 shooting, including six of 10 from long range. While big scoring efforts are expected from Smith, that isn’t the case for Black, who chipped in 10 points on five of six shooting. It was the first time since November that Black has scored in double figures. In addition to the 10 points Black also led the Huskies with five rebounds in 30 minutes off the bench.

The overall player of the game honor has to go to Coley of Stony Brook. The sophomore guard entered Saturday’s contest averaging 9.5 points-per-game but dropped a career-high 21 points, including 11 in the final minute of each half.

The Takeaway

This one was about as frustrating as it gets for Huskies fans. Unlike the loss at William & Mary in which Northeastern played poorly all game, Northeastern played quite well Saturday against Stony Brook. The dogs had a lead of seven in the first half and nine in the second half. Bad decisions, bad execution and bad work on the glass at the end of each half ruined what should have been a win. I think it stings more for fans when it looks like the win is imminent but gets ripped away in crunch time.

It’s a shame the Huskies wasted such a good shooting effort. Smith, Lee and Ford were on fire to begin the game and Stony Brook didn’t have an effort. Those absurd long range numbers (7-7 to begin the game) aren’t going to occur that often, so you’d like to cash in on them when they come.

It’s officially time to say it: this time has a rebounding issue. What had been a relative strength of the team early in the season has become a problem. NU has been outrebounded in its last six games and is consequently 1-5 in these games. The problem lies in the defensive rebounding category. The Huskies are allowing opponents to collect way too many second and third chances on offense. The Seawolves grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, a number that is plain and simple just too large. The problem should be a quick fix, with an emphasis on boxing out, attacking the ball off the rim and tracking down long rebounds. I also think the guards should be more involved in the effort. If that means sacrificing possible fast break points, so be it. The rebounding disparity has to be fixed, fast.

If there is a positive in this loss it’s that Northeastern again slowed down a top scorer. Senior Bryan Dougher entered the game averaging 13.7 points-per-game, but managed only six points on six shots. We’ve seen this play out before with the Huskies limiting Hofstra’s Mike Moore and Louisiana Tech’s Cordarious Johnson, two scorers who led their team in scoring going into the game but who struggled against NU. Again the Huskies held off a top scorer, which bodes well for the team’s defensive outlook the rest of the way.

Quote of note

Bill Coen, on what his team lacked in Saturday’s loss: “The one thing that was absent pretty much all afternoon from the opening jump was our effort on the backboards. I didn’t think we matched their intensity or their physicality down low, and that allowed them to make a run at the end of the half and a run at the end of the game. Those two periods really cost us the basketball game.”

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Patrick McHugh Audio, Basketball, Press Pass Stony Brook