WASHINGTON, D.C. — Charlotte wasn’t supposed to die in “Charlotte’s Web”.
I don’t make the rules; it just wasn’t supposed to happen. A character so integral to the story, who deserved so much better, simply should not have been scripted to die when she did.
The same feeling applies to Northeastern men’s basketball, who crashed out of the CAA Tournament before they could record a single win for the third year in a row. Where the previous two might have been somewhat expected, though, this one was not; the Huskies came into Saturday’s game (and the season as a whole) tabbed to do much better than they ultimately ended up doing.
This season wasn’t a wash, by any means. Northeastern showed real flashes of hope, including a record-setting start, big conference wins, and hanging tough with CAA juggernauts Charleston and Towson. Rashad King’s heroics earned him All-CAA First-Team honors, Collin Metcalf’s dominant season earned him a spot on the CAA All-Defensive Team, and the Huskies scrapped their way to a first winning season since 2020-21. There were some lowlights, sure, but it really felt like Northeastern was finally ready to turn the corner when it really matters — March.
And they did — for twenty minutes. Fueled by King’s 13 points, the Huskies took a 37-29 lead into halftime, looking cool, composed, and destined for a quarterfinal date with UNC Wilmington.
Twenty game minutes later, it was Bill Coen — not Hampton’s Ivan Thomas — who was left standing at center court, out of answers. A remarkable second-half collapse — in a way, a microcosm of Northeastern’s season — consigned the best Huskies squad in years to the same fate as those that came immediately before it, as they exited the CAA Tournament with a 70-65 loss to the Pirates.
Maddeningly, Saturday’s contest was like watching a Greatest Hits of every issue the Huskies have had all season. It started with health, where Masai Troutman and William Kermoury missed out through injury; it progressed to turnovers, where NU committed 15, several of which were unforced, and it peaked at free throw shooting, where Northeastern shot a brain-melting 10-of-21, including an individual 2-of-9 from Youri Fritz. The free throw shooting in particular was a truly inexplicable display, and one that’d raise eyebrows in preseason — let alone on the biggest stage.
Again, though, these aren’t new issues. For 31 games, the Huskies ranked among the bottom 20% of the country in both turnover percentage and free-throw percentage — two things that any coach will tell you are central to a winning basketball team — and for 31 games, they made marginal (at best) improvements in both categories. Hampton clearly took note of both flaws and took advantage of them, ending Northeastern’s season.
It was far from a foregone conclusion, though. This one started evenly, before King capped off a 9-2 half-ending run with a three to give the Huskies a 37-29 lead heading into the intermission. That gap wouldn’t last long into the second, though, with Hampton’s Noah Farrakhan scoring 13 points in five minutes en route to knotting the game at 44.
A mindless foul by King on a George Beale Jr. three sent the Pirates’ guard to the line for three tie-breaking free throws, all of which he made. In a flash, the Huskies’ eight-point halftime cushion had vanished, and it was Hampton who went in front with 13:33 on the clock.
Neither team gained much in the way of separation for the next several minutes. Northeastern had a few chances to do so, but untimely turnovers, rebounding issues, and missed free throws kept this one close.
The season-defining stretch came with 7:34 to play and the Huskies trailing by one. Sam Thomson missed a jumper, before atoning with a steal; the ensuing possession saw Fritz miss the front end of a one-and-one before Harold Woods stripped Beale on the return trip. Woods raced down the court, getting two feet in the paint before rifling a pass to a wide-open JB Frankel, who was set for a corner three — except the pass sailed five feet over Frankel’s head, thumping into the seats. On the next play, Hampton’s Xzavier Long stuck a layup — and got fouled — before Fritz finished off the sequence by losing concentration, allowing Wayne Bristol Jr. to pick his pocket before flushing it home in transition, giving the Pirates a six-point lead.
LA Pratt did his best to keep Northeastern attached, connecting on a three and a layup on back-to-back possessions, but Hampton responded with a Kyrese Mullen layup before Beale hit his second step-back, shot clock-beating, miracle three pointer of the night to push the lead back to six at 66-60.
After NU worked it back to 66-64 with 1:41 to play, Long hit two more free throws before Frankel went one-of-two. The following sequence was vaguely cartoonish, with each team doing their best to lose: Hampton turned it over on the inbounds, giving Pratt an open layup, but he hesitated just long enough for Bristol to block it out of bounds. The next inbounds went to Fritz, who also missed a layup, but the Huskies retained possession when a Pirate batted it into the baseline. This time, it was King’s turn; the junior guard finally made a mistake, clanging a fadeaway jumper off the back rim.
Hampton corralled the rebound, but Farrakhan turned it over, tossing his outlet pass out of bounds. With the score still at 68-65, and 26 seconds on the clock, Northeastern could try to force overtime with the last shot of the game.
Instead, they panicked. A jumbled offensive set fell apart, leaving King to fend for himself; with 19 seconds left, he launched an off-balance, contact-seeking three. It ricocheted off the rim, Mullen grabbed the rebound, and although he just made one of his two following free throws, it was enough to give his Pirates a two-possession edge.
Out of timeouts, Pratt scampered down the floor, but his wild layup came up short. Farrakhan grabbed the rebound, got fouled, made one of two, and with 11 seconds left, that just about did it. King’s last-ditch three fell off to the right, Hampton secured the board, and the clock struck midnight on Northeastern’s season with the final score reading 70-65.
Farrakhan and Beale led the way for the Pirates, notching 22 points apiece, each on good efficiency. Long served as the under-the-radar difference maker, though, defending one-through-five and adding nine points en route to a game-high +14 rating. Hampton flipped the script in the second half, upping the defensive intensity and making life really tough on Northeastern’s scorers.
“We decided to be a little tougher and stop giving into the physicality of the game,” said Thomas. “[In the first half], we gave in a little bit, got out of character… but today we were able to bounce back, get our mental together, and keep our composure.”
King, Pratt, and Fritz all touched double digits for the Huskies, but the lack of depth showed in a big way, with the rest of the supporting cast combining for a mere 17 points. As already mentioned, the free throw shooting was astounding — in a bad way — and there simply wasn’t enough firepower to make up for it.
It was a disappointing end to a truly incredible season for King, who led the Huskies in a variety of categories. While Saturday wasn’t his best performance of the year, it was still very good, and his contributions were again the only thing keeping his team afloat. What happens next with King is up in the air — it’s not uncommon to see All-CAA talent hit the transfer portal — but his season was one-of-a-kind.
“The biggest thing that changed for me is confidence,” said King. “I have to give a lot of credit to the coaches as well… they said they were going to lean on me and [Troutman] a lot, and I just had to step up to the challenge.”
King’s All-CAA First Team berth was the first by a Husky since 2021, and he finished with one of the more impressive seasons in school history. He led the team on and off the court, playing nearly every minute, and routinely wore the superhero’s cape for a team that really needed it.
“I’ve been at Northeastern a long, long time,” said Coen. “Rashad’s year this year was up with some of the very best that ever played here… No one was more consistent than him, no one worked harder than him… despite the loss tonight, he was there for us every step of the way.”
What happens next is uncertain, without a doubt. The landscape of college sports has changed so drastically, and transfers make each offseason a huge question mark for even the biggest of schools.
But, for now, there’ll be the lingering bitter taste of a goal not accomplished. Of a journey that never even got off the ground. Of a season that started with such promise, but ended so familiarly.
“We were really eager to take it all the way, and go to March Madness.” said King. “It’s real tough, because we put a lot of work in, and we feel like we should be there… time to get back to work.”
Thank you for following along with us for the 2024-25 Northeastern men’s basketball season. Eight long months — and a whole lot of uncertainty — separate us from next season, and WRBB will be your one-stop shop for offseason coverage until we get there.