No. 9 Virginia is back in CAA play on Friday, and this time Northeastern is the team across from it at JPJ. The ninth-ranked Hoos already have one conference win after beating Drexel 89-60 on Tuesday, and another victory would push them to 2-0 in the Conference Formerly Known as the Colonial.
That is why the search around Northeastern Vs Virginia is pointed at more than just the ranking. Virginia has the record edge and the home floor, but Northeastern brings a preseason All-CAA guard in Rashad King, who scored 21 points in 29 minutes on 8-of-14 shooting in Monday’s 93-85 loss to Boston U. King was named to the All-CAA preseason team even though Northeastern was picked to finish 11th in the preseason poll, a gap that says plenty about how much the league’s coaches think the rest of the roster still has to prove.
King’s return matters because it gives Northeastern a scorer who has already shown he can carry a heavy load. He averaged 18.5 points per game in the 2024-2025 season at Northeastern, then spent a senior season at LSU, where he averaged 5.8 points per game, before coming back for a fifth year after winning a court injunction. That path explains why he is back in the middle of Northeastern’s hopes now, and why his Monday line stood out even in defeat.
There is more to the matchup than one guard, though. Northeastern’s rotation has size because everybody is 6-foot-4 or bigger, with Dorian Grosber, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, putting up 18 points in the opener and Brayden Young, a 6-foot-10 sophomore, adding 13 points and four boards. Against Boston U., Northeastern also showed it could rebound at a decent clip, finishing with a 60.0% defensive rebound rate, but it was hurt by a 22.6% offensive rebound rate and just 6-of-23 shooting from 3-point range.
That leaves Friday with a clear test for both sides. Virginia gets a chance to keep rolling at home and protect its early place in CAA play, while Northeastern gets a shot to show that King’s scoring and its size can travel against a ranked opponent. If the Hoos handle that front line, they move to 2-0 in conference play. If they do not, the league’s opening week suddenly looks a lot less tidy.
