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What happened?

After an overtime victory in Carbondale, Illinois last November in the ESPN College Hoops Tip-Off Classic, the Southern Illinois University Salukis returned the trip to Boston on Northeastern’s homecoming weekend. In another closely contested game, Northeastern used its size to out-muscle a physical Southern Illinois team. The size was closer to that of the University of Massachusetts, but the talent level and experience weren’t as high.

Kauri Black got both himself and the team started with a big dunk less than a minute into action, and the Huskies got going with a 6-2 run to start the game. Southern Illinois fought back and quickly tied the game, but didn’t take their first lead until Diamond Taylor’s 3-pointer just over 7 minutes into the game. Chris Lowery’s team would go on a 7-0 run that led them to their largest lead of the game, a 6-point advantage, just about halfway through the opening period.

The next two-plus minutes saw the teams trade turnovers and fouls until a putback dunk by Reggie Spencer, a Kauri Black steal that led him to a slam of his own, and another dunk by Spencer came back-to-back-to-back over the course of two minutes to spark Northeastern’s 8-0 run. After a layup and three free throws from SIU’s Kourtney Goff, Quincy Ford his his first career three-pointer. At the break, NU was hanging onto just a three point advantage, 31-28.

Black once again came out strong in the second half, starting things up with a jumper before Mamadou Seck nailed a pair from the charity stripe. Lee, Seck, and Kashief Edwards would trade baskets, and Justin Bocot got all four of his points for the game within a 20-second stretch on a couple of free throws and a layup. The Huskies followed with a 9-2 run, including 5 points from Jon Lee, Joel Smith’s first points of the game on a jumper, and a Kauri Black lay-in.

Smith’s triple gave Northeastern an eight point lead with 11:23 on the clock, but the Salukis would chip away and eventually tie the game up at 49 less than three minutes later. After the tie, eight of Northeastern’s next ten points would come at the line with Jon Lee making the only layup in that time. Seck took his fourth foul with 6:51 left, and immediately took a seat for the next two minutes. Once he got back on the court, Bill Coen sent his team after Seck and he was disqualified with his fifth foul just 33 seconds after his return – and with 4:07 remaining in the contest. His jumper just before he was taken out for good would be the last field goal scored by SIU, with six of the team’s final eight points coming at the line after they tied it up.

With less than two and a half minutes to go, Jon Lee committed a foul that sent Dantiel Daniels to the line where he brought SIU within three. However, those would be the last points of the game for the Salukis while Lee and Spencer would each add a pair of free throws to extend the lead to seven. After losses to Ohio Dominican (D-II) and St. Louis, this marks the first time Southern Illinois has started the season 0-3 since 1963.

More on the game… Read more…

Andy Towne Audio, Basketball, Press Pass Southern Illinois

After the team’s first win in over a month, Jim Madigan talked about what went right and what his team had improved on during the week leading up to the game.

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Steve Quailer said that there was a player’s only meeting during the week, and thought that the Huskies played as a more cohesive team during the game.

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WRBB Sports Hockey, Press Pass Providence

What happened?

Unlike Friday’s epic, instant classic OT win at Boston University which went down to the final minute, Monday’s contest at UMass was pretty much decided in the first eight minutes. From the opening tip it was clear the Minutemen were the taller, stronger, faster and more confident team than the Huskies.

Undersized but speedy point guard Chaz Williams set the tone for UMass, scoring two points and dishing three assists in the game’s opening five minutes. NU struggled to create quality shots and began the contest connecting on only 2 of 13 field goals, quickly falling behind 19-4 just past the second media timeout. The defense looked lost as well, as miscommunication and a lack of execution allowed the hosts plenty of open looks, with UMass converting on 6 of its first 12 shots. The rough start plagued the Huskies, who never got closer than nine points the remainder of the period and entered halftime trailing by 12.

Referees played a major part in the second half, allowing Northeastern a window of opportunity for a comeback. The Minutemen were whistled for seven fouls in the first five minutes of the half, and reached the double bonus as early as the 12:37 mark. Though the Huskies deficit increased to as many as 17 in the second stanza, a visibly more determined red and black squad responded with a 10-0 run, which included a thunderous dunk by Jon Lee, who was fouled intentionally by Maxie Esho. Joel Smith finally connected on the team’s first three-pointer of the game with 10:28 remaining, cutting the lead to as few as six points.

But just as Northeastern fans were having flashbacks to Texas State and UNC-Asheville, the pendulum swung back in favor of UMass. Lee and Smith both had long distance looks that would have cut the lead to a single possession, but both shots rimmed out by the slimmest of margins. Amazingly, the Huskies would go a full 10 minutes before hitting their next field goal, a lay-up by Ryan Pierson with 70 seconds remaining. The Minutemen, meanwhile, returned to their opening form, locking down defensively and frustrating the visitors while pushing the pace offensively and getting either easy lay-ups and dunks or wide open threes. Though Northeastern went to the free throw line 16 times in the final 10 minutes, the freebies were not enough to sustain an attack and UMass pushed the lead as high as 20 before settling in for an 83-67 win.

Player of the Game:

Though he stands at only 5-foot-9, the play of Williams is impossible to overlook. The UMass floor general finished with 20 points and 10 assists in a solid 34 minutes of action. Williams’ court vision was what stood out the most, as he routinely found open teammates cutting to the basket and laid perfect passes to them every time. Northeastern’s guards struggled to get a handle on Williams, whose quick lateral movement and no-look passes kept the Huskies a step slow all night. UMass coach Derek Kellogg picked up a hidden gem when he got the sophomore to transfer in.

UMass’ Terrell Vinson also turned in a solid performance, dropping 14 points in a team-high 37 minutes of action. Vinson’s ability to drive to the basket, as well as pull up from beyond the arc, made him a threat the entire night.

On Northeastern’s side of things, both Lee and Smith finished with 15 points, but combined to go only 7 of 22 from the floor in an otherwise quiet night. While the junior captains’s final statistics look on point, neither seemed to come up with the big plays on offense and defense when the Huskies really needed them to. Unlike in the opener at BU when both were instrumental late in the game, Lee and Smith could not will their team to overcome the Minutemen.

The Takeaway:

Monday’s setback served as a reality check of sorts for the Huskies. After Friday’s thrilling win and overall solid performance, many NU fans were likely envisioning a turnaround season on Huntington Avenue. While it is obviously way too soon to squash these thoughts, the UMass loss at the very least shows that NU’s turnaround will be a work in progress.

Aside from the talent disparity that was major factor in the outcome, my initial observation was that the Huskies simply weren’t ready to go when the ball went up just past 7 p.m. When the team went through warm-ups at Case Gymnasium on Friday, it was apparent NU came to play. Players were loud and energetic, and seemed to have a bounce in their step. During big moments the bench would stand up and clap or yell to teammates, and overall were electrified by the opening game atmosphere. On Monday, the same level of intensity didn’t seem to be there from the beginning, and it showed throughout. Much of this could be attributed to the smaller and quieter Mullins Center crowd, which totaled only 2,664 in size in a 10,000-seat venue. Whether this was a factor or not, Northeastern must find a way to get motivated for every game, regardless of when or where it is played.

Another noticeable difference was the tempo. The BU contest was run-and-gun all night, each squad looking to push the pace and score quickly. Northeastern did little running on Monday, instead setting up in a motion offense and struggling to work the ball open. It will be worth noting how much running the Huskies do this season, and whether or not they have the stamina to do so for a 30-game schedule.

The height differential also seemed to give NU fits. UMass matched up with five players at 6-7 or taller, and the size and length of the Minutemen forced Northeastern to be less aggressive in challenging the defense. I would have liked to see the team attack the basket more and force the issue, especially considering UMass was in early foul trouble in the second half.

As expected with a taller foe, the big men made nowhere near as big an impact in game two. Reggie Spencer scored 16 points Friday, but had only seven on Monday. Kauri Black dropped 12 points against the Terriers but managed only seven against the Minutemen. Kashief Edwards only dipped from eight points to six points, but saw his minutes go from 28 at BU to 18 at UMass, a sign of his ineffectiveness. The most telling stat of the height mismatch: NU went from a plus-20 on the boards against BU to minus-three against UMass.

Quotes of Note:

Bill Coen: “I thought when they jumped on an early lead [Williams] almost limited the way we could attack them even pressuring them because he is a one-man press breaker. He creates so many easy baskets for himself and for his teammates. He’s really going to make them go this year.”

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Patrick McHugh Audio, Basketball, Press Pass UMass

What happened?

It was a back-and-forth game that saw 12 ties and 14 lead changes, many in the fast-paced, high-energy first half. The crowds for both teams and the players fed off of each other’s energy, creating a thrilling environment to start off the basketball season.

Kauri Black put the Huskies on the board first with a layup only 13 seconds into the game, then an Alwayne Bigby layup made it 4-0 to match what would be the team’s largest lead of the first half. Boston University would later go on an 11-0 run to take a 7-point advantage with 6:28 to go in the first half, the Terriers’ largest lead of the game. Towards the end of the period, Joel Smith broke the 7^th tie of the game with a Joel Smith jumper, then the teams traded blocked shots in the final minute. The half came to a close with D.J. Irving driving to the basket, but he lost control of the ball and neither team picked it up in time to attempt a shot before the buzzer.

Northeastern led for most of the 2^nd half, taking an 11-point lead with 4:53 left to go in regulation. The Terriers got going with a D.J. Irving layup at 4:01 to spark a 12-0 run. Matt Griffin’s 3-pointer gave BU a 1-point lead with 1:05 on the clock before Joel Smith nailed a pair of free throws to put NU up 64-63. Alwayne Bigby sent Darryl Partin to the line and Partin hit the first of his free throws but missed the second. Jon Lee then had an opportunity at the line but missed with 10 seconds to go. He made up for it with a block on the other end, swatting away a D.J. Irving attempt for three with 2 seconds remaining that would have given the Terriers the victory.

In overtime, Boston University had a pair of 3-point leads, last as late as 1:58 before Kashief Edwards nailed a pair of free throws to open up a 12-2 run that closed the game. Of Joel Smith’s 20 points, 6 game in the extra 5 minutes including 4 free throws in the last 11 seconds.

Player of the Game:

Joel Smith led the Huskies in both scoring (20) and rebounding (12). He also had 5 assists, 2^nd on the team behind Jon Lee’s 6, and a mean block on Patrick Hazel in the 2^nd half. He didn’t find the basket until he hit his first two of ten free throws (he went 10-10 from the line on the game) with 5:34 left in the first half, but his game took off from there. His on-court leadership was evident even before that, taking charge of the team from the opening tip. He played 43 of the game’s 45 minutes.

Reggie Spencer also deserves a mention, notching a double-double in his first collegiate game – the first double-double in a Northeastern debut since Chaisson Allen in 2007 (11 points, 10 rebounds). He was on the court for big minutes, especially in the second half. With Kauri Black fouled out, Spencer filled in some critical minutes with 16 points and 10 boards, leading the team with 2 blocks before he was also disqualified.

The Takeaway:

First, the play of the big men – especially the freshmen. Kauri Black was aggressive in the paint, posting a very respectable 12 points and 8 rebounds in 19 minutes of play before his 5^th foul. The fouls were an issue for him all season long last year, and he has shown that his time on the court is too valuable for him to be sitting on the bench. Kashief Edwards was also a strong presence, despite posting only 8 points and 3 rebounds (2 offensive). Quincy Ford also had a solid game, and, like Spencer, was able to fill in minutes down the stretch when he was needed due to foul trouble. It’s been at least two seasons since Northeastern dominated the glass as well as they did, pulling down 52 rebounds to BU’s 32. Twice in 2010-11, the Huskies grabbed a total of 19 rebounds. On Friday, they had 19 offensive boards.

Ryan Pierson was the least effective big man on the floor for NU after being the best for most of last year. However, it was only the second time he has come off the bench, after he didn’t start against Furman last year due to sickness (and was not present for the game at George Mason due to family matters). It’s possible that he is more comfortable when he can get started right away, which wasn’t the case on Friday. Spencer, Black, Edwards and Ford all stepped in to make up for Pierson’s lost production.

Overall, it was a solid team effort with four players reaching double-digit scoring and four with at least eight rebounds. The team totaled 14 assists on 28 made field goals (62 shots, 45.2%), led by Jon Lee’s six. It’s the team culture and the ability to have everybody contribute that will win games for Northeastern this season. They’ll need to continue that, as well as the strong post play, to be competitive in every game – although they do have the pure talent to beat a number of teams.

Quotes of Note:

Bill Coen: “I have a guy on my staff named Antonio Reynolds-Dean…When he asked me what we needed, I said ‘find somebody that looks just like you, plays just like you, blocks shots like you. We were very, very fortunate to convince Reggie to come up to Boston all the way from Alabama.” Hear all of his comments:

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Joe Jones: “I was not surprised by the glass. We went into the game knowing that was probably gonna tell the tale of who was gonna win the game – who controlled the backboard. Obviously, they did.” Hear his comments, along with those of senior Darryl Partin and sophomore D.J. Irving:

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Andy Towne Audio, Basketball, Press Pass BU

Huskies coach Jim Madigan discusses Friday’s last-second loss to Boston College, the second straight game the Huskies have been defeated late.

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WRBB Sports Hockey, Press Pass BC

On Monday night, the Northeastern basketball suited up and played in front of an audience for the first time in the 2011-12 season. It was just an intra-squad scrimmage, but it gave everybody – media, fans, and coaches – a chance to see what the team looks like on the floor.

Before I get into analysis, I’ll remind everybody that it was just a scrimmage and the Matt Smith rule needs to be taken into consideration. Smith was known for dominating these scrimmages, then never seemed to be able to carry his preseason performances into games that counted. I don’t think we saw anything last night that will fall into that category, but that’s just an opinion and there are at least 30 games to be played before all is said and done on the season.

First, the teams. The “red” team consisted of Chris Avenant, Marco Banegas-Flores, Alwayne Bigby, Kauri Black, Devin Figueroa, Ryan Pierson and Joel Smith. The “black” squad was Alex Bates, Kashief Edwards, Quincy Ford, Jon Lee, Demetrius Pollard and Reggie Spencer. The black team came out with the win, 61-53.

I don’t have a box score to look at, which for a scrimmage is perfectly fine. Remember: Matt Smith. It’s about what we see during the game, not just the numbers. However, GoNU.com’s game recap does provide us with the scoring leaders: Edwards led all scorers with 19 while Jon Lee contributed 16, and Quincy Ford (12) and Demetrius Pollard (10) also reached double figures for Team Black. Alwayne Bigby led the red squad with 16 and Kauri Black netted 13. Reggie Spencer (black) was the only rebounder to reach double-digits, with 10.

After last year’s struggles with rebounding and an inside game, that’s what I focused most of my attention on. It’s also what I was most impressed by. When the teams first came out, my initial impression was that the black team was built for rebounding, while the red team was built for offense despite having some size in Kauri Black and Ryan Pierson. Though they’re both defensive players, neither has shown much in the way of rebounding in games that count. Though they scored more points (thanks to John Madden, we know the team with the most points wins the game), it was because of strong rebounding and defense that the black team was able to come out on top. That’s a good sign for the season. Four of the six newcomers wore the black uniforms on Monday, and three of those four are expected to help primarily inside (Pollard the exception).

We had a pretty good idea of what we were getting in Kashief Edwards, as he has already played three collegiate seasons at Niagara. Playing in the CAA will be different than playing in the MAAC, but he’ll be a Chaisson Allen-like rebounder. He’s only 6’5, 195 pounds, but he wasn’t afraid to go after the ball and seemed to know where it would go – both off the offensive and defensive glass. Another note about Edwards: he seemed to work very well with Jon Lee. Edwards was mostly consistent throughout the game, though seemed to get a little bit more flashy and made some very exciting plays towards the end with great moves, strong rebounds, and a dunk.

Sticking with the black team, Quincy Ford is a name that will be familiar to many people around the CAA by the time the season ends. After the game, head coach Bill Coen described Ford’s strengths as “size, length and ball-handling skills,” and all of those were evident. His game was solid all-around, and he has the potential to be an impact player in the league. Since Coen seems to like having a freshman start (Ryan Pierson, Alwayne Bigby, and Chaisson Allen all started as freshmen in the last 4 years), I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ford among the first five on the floor. At the very least, he’ll likely be competing with Kashief Edwards and Kauri Black for the spot. If he doesn’t get it on Friday, he could earn it later in the season.

Reggie Spencer wasn’t as noticeable on the floor, but quietly scooped up the rebounds – which, as I’ve said, is important and is what the team needs. Demetrius Pollard also made some big plays, including a block on Ryan Pierson for which he hardly had to jump. His 3-point shot was solid, and he had a couple of good looks from outside (by my count, 2 makes from distance without too many misses). He may not rack up big numbers, but he’ll be good for the ‘pass before the pass.’ His on-court awareness good, seeing teammates and seeing plays develop. Jon Lee was as we expected him to be, playing well both offensively and defensively and acting as the floor leader.

Moving to the other end of the court, Kauri Black was very impressive. He has been criticized by many, including me, for shying away from contact and not being aggressive in the paint. At least for one night, he put those concerns to rest. However, this is the one thing I’m cautious about getting too excited over and the Matt Smith rule needs to be kept in mind. Black is comfortable with the players he was going up against, which may have given him more confidence to go harder to the basket. He did earn a few trips to the free throw line with his aggressiveness, though didn’t convert well on the opportunities. We’ll keep an eye on this through the first few games of the season, but it certainly appears as though he’s headed in the right direction.

Alwayne Bigby returned from the foot injury that sidelined him for most of last year, and has developed a pretty nice shot. It’s clear he spent some time in the gym over the summer, and he was able to knock down a couple 3-pointers that we didn’t see in his freshman year (he was 3-for-11 from beyond the arc in his rookie campaign). In the first half, Bigby seemed to have some trouble controlling the ball when he received passes. His second half was much better overall. Joel Smith also gave us about what was expected. His shot still looks as sweet as it did towards the end of last year, although he clearly wasn’t the focus of the game.

The other big man on Team Red was Ryan Pierson, though he wasn’t all that noticeable and his improvement from last season didn’t appear as he looked a little rusty. There’s no doubt he needs to bring his rebounding numbers up. He finished well under the basket, but the mid-range jumper that he relied on quite a bit last year didn’t seem to be there. Based on what we saw from the other players during the scrimmage, I think an 8-point/6-rebound per game season would be acceptable from Pierson, and I absolutely think he has the ability to do that. As long as he can keep getting better as he did through all of 2010-11, he should be able to hang onto his starting spot – but there will be competition.

Marco Banegas-Flores was limited by a groin injury in the second half, and the team’s ball-handling suffered. With the effect his absence had on the squad, it looks like he’ll be a solid point guard off the bench, able to spell Jon Lee for a few minutes at a time. He’ll probably end up as the starting point man once Lee graduates, unless the staff brings in someone else next season. Bill Coen wasn’t worried about the injury, saying he was taken out for precautionary reasons and will be good to go for Friday (with the help of trainer Art Horne).

Devin Figueroa had a nice shot, but needs to work on his defense. He was making Jon Lee look good whenever they were on the court together, as Figueroa was assigned to cover Lee and the c0-captain was able to blow by him with ease. Chris Avenant played with energy as always, but committed a foul about 30 seconds after he entered the game for the first time. He followed with a few more later in the game. I wouldn’t expect too much from him, and he’ll probably always be good for a cheap foul or two.

Though it was only a scrimmage, I would have liked to see Jimmy McCarthy use his timeouts at the end of the game to try and win the game. He was in charge of the red team (along with Director of Basketball Operations Steve Scalzi) while Bill Coen and Tom Murphy both took a seat to evaluate the team without getting involved. With about a minute to go, McCarthy’s squad was down 6 and there was no effort to make a comeback. It didn’t matter who won the game, but it would have been good experience both for his players to try and take back a close game at the end. It also would have given the opponents an opportunity to practice end-game defense. Based on past games, both of those situations are in need of work. The team needs to know how to win when it’s down late, and needs to know how to hang onto a lead.

On a similar note, there were only a few times when the shot clock ran all the way down (three that I can remember). It was good to hear the offensive players who weren’t holding the ball yell “shoot” when it got to the last tick, allowing the player with the ball to get a shot off before committing a shot clock violation. Alwayne Bigby did have a nice 3-point shot at the buzzer signalling the end of the first half.

Finally, we asked Coen about Dinko Marshavelski. While no official decision or announcement has been made on his status, we won’t see him on the court at least for a month or two. He is ahead of schedule in his rehab from a knee injury suffered over the summer, and could be available to play later in the season depending on when he gets back to 100% and if the team feels like it needs him at that point. Coen also said that at this time, he has no plans to have any of his freshmen take a red-shirt season.

Hear his post-scrimmage comments here:

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Andy Towne Basketball, Press Pass

Merrimack coach Mark Dennehy praised his team’s effort level especially late in the game to stay tough and pick up a win on the road.

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After the game, NU coach Jim Madigan liked his team’s effort level, but execution remains a serious problem.

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WRBB Sports Hockey, Press Pass Merrimack

Northeastern coach Jim Madigan talks about his team’s good effort on the road in a tight 1-1 draw at Merrimack College.

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WRBB Sports Hockey, Press Pass Merrimack

Jim Madigan talks about his team’s continued struggles on the road and the lackluster effort in a 5-2 loss to UNH on the road.

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WRBB Sports Hockey, Press Pass UNH