DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team makes the first of two trips to the State of Michigan in four days on Saturday, February 9, when the Huskies travel to Ypsilanti to meet Eastern Michigan. Tip-off against the Eagles is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN+.

NIU (12-11, 5-5 MAC) heads to the Great Lakes State following a 72-71 setback on Tuesday night (Feb. 5) against Ball State. The Huskies trailed by seven with less than 90 seconds to play but rallied all the way back to tie in in the final three seconds. NIU was whistled for a foul with 1.9 seconds left however and the Cardinals split a pair of free throws to escape with the one-point victory. 

Junior Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) scored a team-high 17 points in the contest, while also recording a team-best seven rebounds and a team-high four assists. In conference play, German is pulling down 6.2 rebounds per game, 19th in the Mid-American Conference, and dishing out 3.3 assists per game, ninth in the league, along with being the second-leading scorer in the conference (19.1 ppg). 

Senior Levi Bradley (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) is the top free-throw shooter in the MAC in league games, connecting at 96 percent (24-of-25). Fellow senior Dante Thorpe (Washington, D.C./Triton College) is the top three-point shooter in the league in conference play at 59.3 percent, Thorpe also ranks sixth in league games in scoring (17.2 points per game), field goal percentage (58.2 percent) and free throw percentage (82.4 percent). 

Eastern Michigan enters Saturday's game with a 9-13 overall record, including a 3-6 mark in MAC play. The Eagles had a midweek bye and will be playing their first game since last Saturday (Feb. 2), when they dropped a 59-48 contest at home against Miami. Three players are scoring in double figures for Eastern Michigan, led by 14.1 points per game from Elijah Minnie. Paul Jackson adds 13.5 points per contest and James Thompson IV is averaging a double-double at 10.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game.

The home team has won each of the last seven meetings between NIU and Eastern Michigan, dating back to the 2014-15 season. 

Following Saturday's contest, NIU will return to Michigan on Tuesday, February 12, when the Huskies visit Western Michigan. Game time against the Broncos is slated for 6 p.m. CT.