March 25, 2016
Vegas 16 Central | Tournament Bracket
Vegas 16 Quarterfinals
NIU Huskies (21-12, 9-9) vs. UC Santa Barbara Gauchos 18-13 (11-5)
Date / Time: Monday, March 28, 2016 • 4:30 p.m. CT (2:30 p.m. PT)
Site: Mandalay Bay Events Center • Las Vegas, Nev.
TV: CBS Sports Network
Radio: WLBK 1360-AM, 98.9-FM (DeKalb) • TuneIn
Live Stats: Vegas16.com
Twitter Updates: @NIUscores
Vegas 16 Notes in PDF 
HUSKIE QUICK HITS
• NIU is making its fourth all-time postseason appearance. The Huskies appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1982, '91 and '96.
• NIU's 21 victories are the most for the Huskies since the 1990-91 season when the Huskies won a school-record 25 games.
• Travon Baker has not missed a game in his NIU career, appearing in 125-straight, a new NIU record for games played. Baker is NIU's career leader in steals (181) and ranks second in school history in assists (355).
• Marin Maric has 14 double-doubles this season, tied for third-most in the MAC and tied for 34th in the nation.
• The Huskies rank 35th nationally in field goal percentage defense. NIU's opponents are shooting just 40.2 percent on the season.
HUSKIES IN THE POSTSEASON
• NIU is making its fourth all-time postseason appearance. The Huskies appeared in the NCAA Tournament in 1982, '91 and '96; NIU has never appeared in the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), College Basketball Invitational (CBI) or CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).
• March 28 will be the latest into the spring NIU has ever played a basketball game. Prior to this season, the latest NIU had played a game was during the 1914-15 season when the Huskies fell to North Central College on March 19, 1915.
• NIU head coach Mark Montgomery has appeared in the postseason 10 times during his coaching career, all coming during his time as an assistant at Michigan State. The Spartans were 19-10 during those 10 seasons, including trips to the Final Four in 2005, '09 and '10.
• As a player at Michigan State, Mark Montgomery appeared in the postseason in each of his four seasons, including three NCAA Tournaments and one NIT. Montgomery's Spartans were 4-3 in the NCAA Tournament and 3-2 in the NIT. As a sophomore in 1989-90, Montgomery's Spartans, coached by Jud Heathcote, met UC Santa Barbara in the Round of 32, downing the Gauchos, 62-58, in Knoxville, Tenn.
• Junior Michael Orris is the only Huskie player to have appeared in the postseason. As a freshman at Kansas State in 2012-13, Orris was part of a Wildcat team that made the NCAA Tournament, falling to LaSalle in the Round of 64.
DID YOU KNOW?
• NIU's 21 victories are the most for the Huskies since the 1990-91 season when the Huskies won a school-record 25 games. The 1990-91 Huskies won the Mid-Continent Conference and advanced to the NCAA Tournament, where they fell in the first round to St. John's (75-68; March 8, 1991).
• NIU's 21 wins are tied for the second-most in a single-season in school history. The Huskies won a school-record 25 in 1990-91 and 21 in 1971-72.
• Travon Baker has not missed a game in his NIU career, appearing in 125-straight, a new NIU record for games played. Baker broke a tie with Anthony Maestranzi and Todd Peterson (2002-06) for the school record against Bowling Green (Feb. 16, 2016) when he appeared in his 118th career game. Baker's 125 games played includes 100 career starts.
• NIU has played 12 games this season against teams that are appearing in the postseason. The Huskies played one NCAA Tournament team (Buffalo), two NIT teams (Akron and Ohio State), two CBI teams (Idaho and Ohio) and two CIT teams (Ball State and Central Michigan).
• NIU is playing in Las Vegas for the first time since the 1973-74 season when the Huskies appeared in the Las Vegas Holiday Classic. NIU fell to 19th-ranked UNLV, 114-92, on Dec. 28, 1973 in the first game of the tournament before falling to Denver, 100-90, on Dec. 29, 1973 in the second game.
• NIU has played its Vegas 16 Quarterfinal opponent, UC Santa Barbara, once in school history; a 77-74 victory on Dec. 30, 1960 in DeKalb, Ill. Abe Booker led the Huskies with 23 points, George Evans and Grant Pritchert each added 15 points for NIU.
• Monday's Vegas 16 Quarterfinals will be NIU's 34th game of the 2015-16 season, marking the most games in a season in NIU history.
• NIU is 37-7 all-time when scoring 70-or-more points under head coach Mark Montgomery, including a 16-4 mark this season.
• The Huskies posted the highest semester team GPA on record at NIU during the 2015 fall semester, led by a 4.0 GPA from Austin Pauga.
