BOSTON – Kyrone Alexander had been here before. A Preseason All-Patriot League selection, a crosstown dogfight between his Boston University Terriers and the Northeastern Huskies with an opportunity to set the tone for a breakout season. Suffering a season-ending injury in the same fixture just a year prior, Alexander authored a friendlier story this time: 19 points and a team-high 36 minutes en route to a 93-85 season-opening victory over the visiting Huskies.
Meeting for the 154th time in series history, Northeastern and BU entered the 2026-27 campaign on the heels of two very different seasons. After closing the 2025-26 regular season with 12 straight losses before suffering a second-round conference tournament exit, Northeastern hoped to spoil the new season for a Terrier team fresh off reaching its first Patriot League tournament final since 2020.
Bolstered by the return of graduate student guard Rashad King, the Huskies sought to add an offensive spark to a team that had posted the worst scoring margin among Coastal Athletic Association teams and returned just about 30% of its scoring from the season prior.
“We’re very excited to have Rashad back; he was a great teammate, an excellent performer, [a] really good player for us,” said Northeastern head coach Bill Coen. “To have a mature guy in the locker room and a guy who has experienced things is such a bonus.”
Back for a second stint along Huntington Avenue, King made an immediate impact with 21 points and two assists. A staple in Coen’s lineup, King averaged north of 36 minutes per game in 2024-25 as the 17th-most used player in the nation. Monday, four personal fouls limited him to 29 minutes on the floor in his homecoming.
Northeastern began the game slowly, falling into an early 7-2 deficit when Terrier sophomore forward Sam Hughes slammed home a fast-break dunk. Hughes, whose 68 triples were the most by a BU freshman since 2000, was held to just one field goal from behind the arc and accumulated the majority of his 15 points by way of aggressive cuts and layups.
The Terriers pieced the Huskies apart in the opening stanza, adding nine points through junior forward Michelangelo Oberti’s dominant performance in the paint. Boston University also shot 50% from beyond the arc on six attempts, establishing its threat from deep. Northeastern struggled to compete in the first half, shooting 2-for-14 from three-point range and adding just five points across its three centers.
Heading into the break, BU held a commanding 46-36 lead and led by as much as 17 in the opening frame. Fueling the Terriers’ ability to pull away early were 10 second-chance points, which healthily outpaced the zero Northeastern scored before the intermission.
“We really kind of lost the game on the backboard,” Coen said. “They had the chance to really kind of impose their will on the backboard, and that’s something we have got to get straightened out. I thought ultimately that was the difference from the game.”
Northeastern came out of the gates flying to start the second half, clawing back to put the game within reach. Coen’s Huskies found success through tenacious, high-pressure defense and an offense that lived within the arc, adding 12 points off turnovers in the second half alongside 48 points in the paint – twice as many as it cashed in the opening 20 minutes.
“I thought we froze against [the zone] in the first half,” Coen said. “We got ourselves organized at halftime and were able to get some really quality looks and make a run at it.”
Numerous newcomers saw the floor for Northeastern, with freshman Dorian Grosber leading all Huskies with 36 minutes. Grosber engineered the offense from the elbow, often holding the ball as King and senior guard Mike Loughnane created space via overlapping cuts.
Loughnane, named team captain ahead of his second season as a Husky, played the role of offensive engine for a Northeastern team that refused to bow out. Leading a fast break charge with under seven minutes to play, Loughnane found junior guard Ryan Williams in the corner for a three-pointer, giving the Huskies their first lead since the first half at 75-73.
Unfortunately for Northeastern, the thrill was short-lived. The Terriers went on a 14-5 run in the next four minutes, adding a handful of free throws at the end of the contest to see out a season-opening win. Junior guard Azmar Abdullah led the scoring with 21 points, while Alexander led the Terriers with three offensive rebounds. Boston University found the edge on the glass, pulling 36 rebounds to
Northeastern’s 25 and capturing 40% of all rebounds at Northeastern’s end of the floor.
“I think they got some second-chance points and some chances at the line, imposed their physicality on us, and that was the difference down the stretch,” Coen said.
For the Huskies, Monday’s loss offered a glimpse of what the future could look like for a team built from a fresh recruiting class and numerous transfers, returning only five players and rostering just three upperclassmen. The Huskies travel south to take on Virginia next, continuing non-conference play before CAA basketball returns in late December.
Chase Alexander is a writer and broadcaster with WRBB Sports. Check out his personal portfolio here and feel free to follow him on LinkedIn and X (Twitter).