Having won three-straight, and four of its last five, the Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team will host Ball State on Saturday afternoon, Jan. 28, at 3:30 p.m. in the second game of a Huskie basketball doubleheader. The NIU women’s basketball team will host Bowling Green at 1 p.m., tickets are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at (815) 753-PACK (7225).
The matchup against the Cardinals will also be available on ESPN3, 94-9 WDKB and The Varsity Network app.
NIU (8-12, 4-3 MAC) is coming off an 86-76 victory over MAC-leading Kent State on Tuesday (Jan. 24), snapping the Golden Flashes’ 10-game win streak, which was the third-longest in the nation at the time. David Coit (Columbus, N.J.) netted a new career-high 32 points to lead the way for the Huskies.
Coit was one of five Huskies that scored in double figures against Kent State as Darweshi Hunter (Cincinnati, Ohio) added 14 points, Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill.) scored 13 points, Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia) chipped in 12 points and Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J.) had 11 points. Thornton also had 11 assists to go with his 13 points and his points-assists double-double was the first by a Huskie since Mike DiNunno had 21 points and 10 assists on Jan. 13, 2010, against Western Michigan.
In conference play, the Huskies are third in the MAC in three-point shooting at 39.2 percent and fourth in field goal percentage at 46.6 percent, while over the past five games, NIU is shooting 50.6 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three-point range, averaging 79.0 points per game.
During that five-game stretch, is averaging 21.2 points per game, shooting 52.2 percent (36-of-69) and 42.5 percent (17-of-40) from three.
The Cardinals come to DeKalb with a 13-7 overall record, including a 4-3 mark in league play. Ball State suffered its first home loss of the season on Tuesday (Jan. 24), falling to Buffalo, 91-65. Ball State leads the MAC, and ranks sixth in the country, in free throw attempts, going to the line 24.8 times per contest. The Cardinals also lead the conference, and rank 17th nationally, in free throw makes with 16.9 per game. Ball State is second in the MAC, and 45th in the nation, shooting 37.1 percent from three-point range.
THE SERIES WITH THE CARDINALS
• NIU holds a 26-23 advantage against Ball State in games played in DeKalb while the Cardinals have a 59-40 edge all-time in the series between the two schools.
• Last season, the two teams split a pair of games with both teams winning on the road. Ball State claimed a 74-67 victory in DeKalb (Jan. 27, 2022) while NIU was victorious, 64-58, in Muncie (Feb. 15, 2022).
• Keshawn Williams and Trendon Hankerson both netted 19 points in the victory at Ball State a season ago. Tied at 27 at the half, NIU shot 50 percent (11-of-22) from the fi eld in the second half to earn the victory. Ball State shot 35.2 percent (19-of-54) in the contest, including 13.3 percent (2-of-15) from three.
• Ball State has won each of its last four trips to DeKalb, including a one-point win, an overtime victory and a seven-point win. NIU’s last home victory over the Cardinals was a 66-65 win on March 2, 2018. Eugene German hit a pull-up jumper with 12.4 seconds left to lead the Huskies to the victory, German scored game-high 25 points.
After Saturday’s contest, the Huskies will return to the road for the next two, traveling to Western Michigan on Tuesday, Jan. 31, and Bowling Green on Saturday, Feb. 4.
