By Brian Willwerth
It’s time for our weekly look at the men’s basketball teams in the Boston area.
The BU Terriers and Northeastern Huskies both picked up big conference wins this week.
We’ll start with Northeastern, which knocked off Georgia State Wednesday night at Matthews Arena, 60-57.
Jonathan Lee was one of three NU players in double-figures. He had a game-high 19 points. The Huskies also got 14 from Quincy Ford and 13 from Joel Smith. NU has won four in a row, and six of its last seven.
The Huskies (5-2) remain competitive in a very tight CAA conference. They’re one game behind first-place George Mason and Old Dominion. Northeastern is one of five teams within one game of each other atop the standings. They have another big game coming up this weekend against a Drexel team that’s also 5-2 in conference play.
I was among the sparse crowd at Agganis Arena Monday night when BU picked up a significant conference victory against Albany. Head coach Joe Jones has this team playing at high level, especially on the defensive end of the floor. The Terriers also shot a season-high 51% from the field.
After being named America East Player of the Week last week, D.J. Irving continued his torrid play against the Great Danes, pouring in 17 points. At 4-1, BU is just a 1/2 game out of first place, and takes a four-game winning streak into Thursday night’s game against the UNH Wildcats in Durham. After a weekend trip to Hartford, the Terriers’ next home game will be Tuesday, Jan. 24 against UMBC, and yes, Noontime Sports will be there for that one.
Harvard keeps rolling along, having won seven of its last eight. The Crimson will be on the road this weekend with games at Dartmouth and Yale.
Harvard hasn’t played since last Saturday, when the Crimson rolled to a 21-point win at home against George Washington. Harvard is now 15-2 on the season, and still ranked (No. 24) in the Coaches’ poll.
