NoEast
Posted by TTHS on February 9th, 2008
The Tribe starts a 3-game road trip by travelling to Boston to face the Northeastern University Huskies at Matthews Arena. The Huskies are 5-2 at home this year with wins over ODU and UDel, plus losses against Hofstra and JMU. They are 6-6 in conference and have an RPI of 170. Pomeroy gives them a 72% chance of beating the Tribe this Saturday, and has them finishing the year at 9-9 in conference.
Matt Janning is not only my favorite non-Tribe player in the CAA, he is an all-conference candidate and is scoring 16.4 points per game. He is shooting 35% from the 3 on the year and about 80% from the foul stripe. He is easily the Huskies’ most potent player, and they become average very quickly if he gets slowed down.
Nkem Ojougboh, a sophomore 6-9 center, is second on the team in scoring with 11.3 points a match and first on the team with 7.2 boards. He has 18 blocks on the season and is shooting 43% from the field, both of which should be a little higher for a center. If Pete Stein plays his normal defense I don’t see Ojougboh being a problem.
While the Tribe team is the “team of destiny”, and the Huskies have been average this year, I really don’t like playing at their gym. It is no coincidence that they are significantly better at home than they are on the road, and it will probably continue on Saturday with a close NU win.
WM: 65
NU: 69