SIU gets a well-deserved day off after their big win against Colorado on Friday and draw the Northeastern Huskies in the semi-finals of the Paradise Jam MTE with the chance to play Colorado State or Creighton on Monday for the title.
The Northeastern Huskies of Boston are 2-2 on the season with wins over Boston University at home and Duquesne in the first round of the Paradise Jam. The Huskies have losses to two respectable mid-major opponents in Colgate, who just beat Syracuse on Saturday and Georgia State.
Bill Coen is in his 16th year as Northeastern head coach. Coen is 253-224 as head coach and has led the Huskies to the NCAA Tournament twice, once as a 14 seed in 2015 where they lost 69-65 to Notre Dame and a 13 seed in 2019 where they lost 87-53 to Kansas. Coen is 2-0 against SIU with wins in 2010-11 and 2011-12 against Chris Lowery coached teams
Meet the Huskies:
Last season, Northeastern started the season 1-5 before rattling off 7 wins in a row. The Huskies ended up finishing 8-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association before losing to Drexel in the semi-finals of the conference tournament. They were led by Tyson Walker who ended up transferring to Michigan State after his Sophomore season with Northeastern. This season, the Huskies were picked 2nd in the CAA preseason poll behind Delaware.
As they've done throughout Coen's 16 years at Northeastern, the Huskies like to slow the game down and play at a very slow pace. They're 318th in the country in adjusted tempo and 331st in the country in average possession length.
What the Huskies have done well so far this year is block shots (24th in the country in Block %) and make shots near the basket (63rd in the country in 2 point %). What the Huskies haven't done well so far is take care of the basketball (322nd in the country in Turnover %) and grab offensive rebounds (332nd in the country in Offensive Rebound %).
The Huskies leading scorer and rebounder is 6'7 Redshirt Junior Chris Doherty. Doherty was a 3 star recruit out of high school and started his collegiate career at Notre Dame. He played very few minutes in both his seasons with the Fighting Irish and decided to transfer closer to his hometown of Marlborough, MA. Doherty played 16.9 minutes per game last season and averaged 5.3 points per game while starting 2 games. This season, Doherty has taken a huge step up and leads the team with 13.5 PPG and 7.5 RPG in 30.8 minutes per game. Doherty is currently 94th in the country in effective field goal %, 81st in the country in true shooting %, 80th in the country in offensive rebounding %, and 99th in the country in free throw rate.
Northeastern had 2 player named to the Colonial Athletic Association's All-Preseason 2nd team. One of which was 6'7 Sophomore guard Jahmyl Telfort from Quebec. Telfort had an impressive Freshman season for the Huskies averaging 11.8 points per game on 41.8% shooting and was named CAA Sixth Man of the Year and was named to the CAA All-Rookie team. This season, Telfort is averaging 11.3 points per game in 29.8 minutes per game. Telfort is struggling a bit with his shot so far this season but he's still getting the bulk of the shots and possessions on this Northeastern team.
The other player named to the CAA All-Preseason 2nd team is 6'6 Redshirt Senior guard Shaquille Walters. Walters is from London, England and started his collegiate career at Santa Clara where he played 21 games and averaged 3.8 points per game before transferring to Northeastern after his Freshman season. This season, Walters is averaging 11.3 points per game in 33 minutes per game and has been a lockdown defender for the Huskies.
KenPom has SIU winning this one 64-61.
Links:
Die Hard Dogs Message Board (Looks like you need to create an account to read threads unfortunately)
Bryan Mullins with Mike Reis pregame
JD Muila with Rodney Watson pregame
Dalton Banks with Mike Reis pregame
When I think of Northeastern, I think of the opening of the renovated SIU Arena and the Salukis losing in a 9:00 AM tip-off in overtime because they called a timeout they didn't have. The ending of the C-Lo era was fun.
One game at a time! Let's get another win today. GO DAWGS!!
Salukis are 1.5 to 2-point favorites in Vegas this morning.
This will not be a cakewalk. If the Little Rock game taught them anything, it is not to take any team lightly. Go Dawgs! Saluki Nation has your backs.
Northeastern is very big and long, our bugaboo. So this will be a tough match-up.
I'm super jacked for this game. But I'm not 100% sure we're going to win, so I guess I'm a bad fan according to Jabman....
Is the game televised? I don't see it on ESPN anywhere, + or 3?
I’m excited about this game too. To get a win here and have a shot at the championship vs a very talented team Monday.
Is the game televised? I don't see it on ESPN anywhere, + or 3?
It’s on ESPN3. Creighton vs Colorado State starts on 3 at 4:45.
So there is almost no way SIU will actually start at 7. I expect the first semifinal to be close too.
Probably looking at 7:15 for us.
Thanks, probably just not up on the schedule yet..
Bryan Mullins with Mike Reis pregame:
https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=5902&type=Archive
JD Muila with Rodney Watson pregame:
https://siusalukis.com/watch/?Archive=5903&type=Archive
Dalton Banks with Mike Reis pregame:
@rockin-dawg having a title concern is one thing call out to lose another and never called anyone a bad fan so get it right
I expect the first semifinal to be close too.
Probably looking at 7:15 for us.
Creighton trailing by 14, < 1 min left.
If you're gonna reply to me in the forums, please quote what I wrote that you're replying to so I have a clue...thanks! 😀
