The Game: Towson Tigers (9-7, 2-1 CAA) vs. Northeastern Huskies (6-10, 1-2 CAA)
When: Saturday, January 13 – 12:00 p.m.
Where: Matthews Arena – Boston, Mass.
Broadcast: Broadcast on FloHoops, Audio broadcast on TowsonTigers.com (Spiro Morekas)
Series: Northeastern leads 28-21
TOWSON, Md. – Towson men's basketball will look to continue their winning ways on the road at Northeastern on Saturday afternoon. The Tigers are coming off a hard-fought overtime win against Stony Brook on Thursday night 73-64.
Tyler Tejada put the Tigers in front for good late in overtime as the Tigers ended the game on a 9-0 run.
The game against the Huskies will air on FloHoops with the audio broadcast will be on TowsonTigers.com with Spiro Morekas on the call.
This will be the 50
th all-time matchup between the two schools with the Huskies leading 28-21. Last year the Tigers defeated Northeastern 72-63 in Towson. The Tigers have won four of the last five meetings.
LEADER OF THE PACK:
The reigning Skip Prosser Man of the Year,
Pat Skerry enters his 13
th season on the sidelines leading the Tigers. Skerry and the Tigers are coming off another 20-win season that saw Towson reach the Coast Athletic Association (CAA) Semifinals, finishing third in the standings during the regular season.
The Massachusetts native has rebuilt the Tiger program, which has the highest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the CAA. Over the last ten seasons, Towson has won 18+ games seven times. He currently has 199 wins at Towson and can become just the third head coach to win 200 games at Towson.
Skerry has used his platform as a head coach to start Autism Awareness in college basketball. What started as two guys with an idea has turned into a national event where hundreds of coaches wear the prominent blue puzzle piece pin. The effort put forth by Skerry was recognized as he was honored with the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Guardians of the Game Service Award.
FACTS AND FIGURES:
The Tigers have been amongst the nation's best on the offensive glass in 2023-24. Towson ranks fifth in offensive rebounding at 15.6 per game. They also rank 15
th in rebound margin, outrebounding opponents by just under 10 per game.
Head coach
Pat Skerry became the third coach in program history to record 200 wins with the Tigers in a 97-46 win against Arcadia on December 30. Skerry is tied with Terry Truax for second with 202 wins and 29 behind Vince Angotti for the all-time record at Towson.
CHARLES IN CHARGE:
The big man in the middle for the Tigers,
Charles Thompson, is back for his fifth season at Towson and is looking to cap his prolific career by leading the Tigers to a CAA championship. Thompson is coming off another strong campaign that saw him earn CAA All-Defensive Team and All-CAA Second Team honors last season after averaging 12.2 ppg and 8.0 rpg shooting 56.5 percent from the floor.
Thompson ranks in the top 10 in program history in six different categories. He is the all-time leader in games played and is currently third in field goal percentage (.551), fourth in blocked shots (176), fourth in rebounds (863), sixth in minutes played (3,379), sixth in starts (99) and is 19th in scoring (1,178).
HOME COURT ADVANTAGE:
Towson has had a major home court advantage over the last nine years at TU Arena. Since moving into the arena from the Towson Center in 2013, the Tigers have gone 99-41, including a 27-4 record in the last two plus years. Towson has had a winning record in home games in seven of the nine seasons, including winning the 2022 CAA regular season title against Delaware at home.
The Tigers broke the school record for consecutive home wins against Stony Brook on January 11 when Towson won their 15
th straight home game dating back back to the 2022-23 season. The last Towson loss at TU Arena was on December 31, 2022 in a 76-74 overtime loss against Charleston.
NATIONAL EXPOSURE:
The Tigers will play eight total regular season games in front of a national television audience including four Coastal Athletic Association games in January and February. The Tigers will play Elon (February 12, 9 p.m.) and Charleston (February 24, 12 p.m.) on CBS Sports Network at TU Arena and will be on the road on CBS Sports Network against Delaware (January 27, 2 p.m.) and Hofstra (February 3, 6 p.m.).
In addition to the CBS Sports Network games, Towson will open the season on Pac 12 Network against Colorado and will have all three games at the Charleston Classic air on the ESPN family of networks.
The Tigers will also air on local linear television with seven home games on Monumental Sports Network (formerly NBC Sports Washington) as well as their game against UMBC on MASN. Towson also announced on December 14 that three games (Jan. 25 vs. Drexel, Feb. 8 vs. Delaware, Feb. 22 vs. Monmouth) will also air on MeTV, a digital subchannel of WBAL.
SCOUTING THE OPPONENT:
Northeastern comes into the Saturday matchup at 6-10, 1-2 CAA after picking up a big 71-68 win against Hofstra on Thursday. The Huskies led by 19 at halftime but Hofstra nearly erased the deficit with a chance to tie late but their comeback effort fell short. Three Huskies are in double figures led by Chris Doherty at 12.4 ppg. He is also grabbing a team-best 6.8 rpg shooting 54 percent from the floor. Luka Sakota and Joe Pridgen are also in double figures at 10.9 and 10.0 ppg respectively.
UP NEXT:
The Tigers will remain on the road with a big matchup at Charleston on Thursday, Jan. 18. Tipoff with the Cougars is set for 7 p.m. on FloHoops and TowsonTigers.com.
