PROVIDENCE — When Keno Davis arrived at Providence College last spring, it wasn’t easy filling in the few remaining holes in the 2008-09 schedule.

The Friars needed to schedule several games prior to an already penciled-in trip to the 76 Classic next week in Anaheim, Calif. Finding a game to open the season developed into a major problem, so much that Providence eventually signed a contract with Northeastern that gave the Friars an opening game plus another home game in two years in exchange for a trip to Matthews Arena next season.

PC hasn’t played the Huskies in Boston since 1931.

After losing to the Huskies, 70-66, on Saturday night, Davis admitted that he’d have preferred to open his season with an opponent that wasn’t so dangerous. The Friars played well in spurts and rode an aggressive full-court press to come back from an 11-point, second-half deficit. But the Huskies’ Matt Janning, Eugene Spates and others made critical shots in a 44-point half that was enough to deliver the upset win.

“The thing that’s important as a coach is you have to look at this game and say that, with the effort in the second half, we’re going to get better as a team,” Davis said. “In that second half, if Northeastern hadn’t made a couple shots or a couple of calls had gone our way, we win that game by five or six points and we come away feeling pretty good about ourselves.

“It doesn’t mean we’re any better as a team. We need to improve as a team.”

That improvement needs to begin tonight when PC returns to the Dunkin’ Donuts Center for a game against Dartmouth College.

The game is the first of three for the Friars over the next five days. And while grabbing wins over the Big Green, Sacred Heart and Maine is mandatory, so is increased growth in cohesion, consistency and a getting a firmer grasp of what Davis is trying to get his players to accomplish at both ends of the court.

“Sometimes teams need to take a loss early to get them going and locked in and focused. Hopefully that happens to us,” he said. “I would’ve rather won and learned that way, but one of the best things is we play this week Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday, so we won’t have to feel sorry about ourselves for very long.”

While Northeastern has the pieces necessary to challenge for an NCAA Tournament berth out of the Colonial Athletic Association, Dartmouth is expected to struggle in the Ivy League. The Big Green opened its season with a 63-48 loss to Army.

But at this point of the season, continued improvement is what Davis is looking for from his team. Some players, most notably Jonathan Kale (15 points, 5 rebounds) and Marshon Brooks ( 6 rebounds, 2 blocks), delivered a strong effort, but too many others struggled.

While Geoff McDermott struggled with foul trouble and was limited to 27 minutes, he attempted only five shots and does not seem like a perfect fit in Davis’ offense just yet.

“As talented a player as Geoff is, we have to figure out how to get him the ball more and find a way for him to score more,” Davis said.

This week will also be a big one for point guard Sharaud Curry. He made just one of eight shots against Northeastern, and his only hoop was a layup with five seconds left. Curry did have six assists and is moving well on his right foot that was broken and cost him last season.

Asked after the game about Curry’s struggles, Davis said, “It’s tough to put it on one guy. Obviously this team could use a point guard, and Sharaud is a talented one. When you come back from such a serious injury, I’d hate for the fans or the people to get on him.

“Nobody wants to win more than he does. Nobody works harder. No point guard in the country is working harder than he does to try to come back from this injury. When you come out, if you don’t have that first explosive step or you don’t knock down the shot, it could be that you’re just a little bit away. You’ll see him continue to improve throughout the season.”

kmcnamar@projo.com