Northeastern at BU Tonight Is the 154th Meeting, the Huskies Lead the Series 77-76, and 18 of the Last 19 Were Single-Digit Games
BU returns Kyrone Alexander from a season-ending injury. Northeastern brings back Rashad King from a year at LSU after a 7-24 season.
College basketball season in Boston starts tonight with one of the city's oldest rivalries: Northeastern at Boston University, 7 p.m., streaming on ESPN+.
Northeastern leads the all-time series 77-76, dating to 1920-21, and 18 of the last 19 meetings have been decided by single digits, 10 of them by five points or less, according to BU's game notes. Last year's game went to overtime, one of eight in the series, and BU won 76-75.
Joe Jones begins his 16th season with 251 wins, the most in program history, according to BU Athletics. The Terriers finished 17-17 last season, went 9-2 in their last 11 and reached the Patriot League title game. They were picked to tie for third in the Patriot League preseason poll.
The big addition is a return. Senior Kyrone Alexander, a 2025 All-Patriot League second-team pick, suffered a season-ending injury in last year's opener. He's on the preseason all-league team for the second straight year. BU also returns starters Azmar Abdullah (8.3 points per game) and Sam Hughes (9.0), who scored 21 with five threes in last year's opener against Northeastern, the most by a Terrier freshman in an opener since Daman Tate in 2020-21. Donte Tisinger Jr. averaged 6.4. BU has seven newcomers, including transfers from Penn and Brandeis.
The Huskies went 7-24 last season, 2-16 in the CAA, and were picked 11th in the CAA preseason poll. Graduate student Rashad King, who spent last season at LSU after three years at Northeastern, made the preseason All-CAA first team. He averaged 5.8 points at LSU and played all 32 games, BU's notes said. Senior Mike Loughnane returns after averaging 10.2 points.
Both head coaches have more than 15 years at their schools, a rarity in the transfer-portal era.
Alexander's first minutes back are the story for BU. For Northeastern, the question is whether King's return and Loughnane's scoring make last year's record look like an outlier. History says it'll be close.
BU goes on the road for two games, starting at Brown on Friday.
