CLEVELAND -- Following its victory over Toledo on Thursday night, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team will square off with Bowling Green on Friday, March 15, in the semifinals of the Mid-American Conference Tournament at Quicken Loans Arena. Tip-off between the Huskies and Falcons will follow the first semifinal between Buffalo and Central Michigan at approximately 8 p.m. CT.

Friday night's second semifinal will be televised on Fox College Sports Atlantic, Dish Channel 448, DirecTV Channel 608. To find Fox College Sports Atlantic on other providers, use the channel finder. 
 
NIU IN THE MAC TOURNAMENT
• NIU is seeded seventh in the Mid-American Conference Tournament and opened with an 80-61 victory over No. 10 seed Ohio on Monday night (March 11) in DeKalb. The Huskies then upset second-seeded Toledo, 80-76, on Thursday (March 14) in Cleveland to advance to the MAC Semifinals for the first time since 2003, and just the fifth time in program history. The victory was just NIU's second ever at Quicken Loans Arena, and the first since that 2003 MAC Tournament. 
• NIU is now 2-8 all-time in the MAC Tournament in Quicken Loans Arena. The only Huskie victory prior to Thursday night came in its first tournament game in Cleveland, a 2003 quarterfinal against Western Michigan. 
• Three Huskies are scoring in double figures in the MAC Tournament, led by 25.0 points per game from Eugene German. The junior from Gary, Ind., is shooting 66.7 percent (20-of-30) from the field in the tournament, including 60 percent (9-of-15) from three-point range. He is also pulling down 6.0 rebounds per game in tournament play. 
• Dante Thorpe is averaging 18.0 points per game during the 2019 MAC Tournament, shooting 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from the floor and 80 percent (8-of-10) from the free-throw line. 
• Levi Bradley is also scoring in double figures during this season's conference tournament at 10.5 points per game. 
• As a team, NIU is shooting 56.3 percent (63-of-112) in the MAC Tournament, including 57.6 percent (19-of-33) from three-point range.
• The Huskies are averaging just 8.0 turnovers per game in the tournament and have a +2.5 turnover margin. 
• The Huskies are 14-23 all-time in the MAC Tournament. NIU won the tournament in 1982, appeared in the championship game in 1981 and reached the semifinals in 1980 and 2003, along with this season's semifinal appearance. 
• Since returning to the MAC for the 1997-98 season, NIU is 7-19 in the conference tournament, with five of the seven victories coming during Mark Montgomery's tenure. Prior to Montgomery's arrival for the 2011-12 season, NIU had lost nine consecutive MAC Tournament games. 
• Mark Montgomery has the second-most MAC Tournament wins (5) of any head coach in NIU history. John McDougal has seven MAC Tournament wins, most in school history, Rod Judson has two MAC Tournament victories.
• Just two players on the NIU roster have played in Quicken Loans Arena prior to this season's tournament. Levi Bradley and Jaylen Key played as freshmen against Ohio in the 2016 quarterfinals. Bradley scored 10 points with three rebounds and three assists while Key scored five points and grabbed three rebounds. 
• With its win over Ohio, NIU improved to 6-0 all-time in MAC Tournament games in DeKalb, including 4-0 at the NIU Convocation Center. 
• NIU is the seventh seed in the MAC Tournament for the third time in school history (2014, '16, '19). Each of the previous two times the Huskies won a home game before falling in its second game in Cleveland.

HOW THE HUSKIES STAYED IN CLEVELAND
• NIU won its first conference tournament game in Cleveland since 2003, advancing to the MAC Semifinals for the first time since that season, with an 80-76 victory over second-seeded Toledo on Thursday in the MAC Quarterfinals. 
• The Huskies led by six, 76-70, with just over 30 seconds to play, but a Toledo triple, followed by a missed Huskie free throw and another Rockets basket, cut the lead to just one with 10 seconds to go. NIU went 4-of-4 from the line in the final 10 seconds, two from Levi Bradley and two from Dante Thorpe, to close out the victory. 
• The win snapped an eight-game losing streak for the Huskies at Quicken Loans Arena. The Huskies are now 2-8 all-time at the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers, winning their first MAC Tournament game in the building since defeating Western Michigan in the 2003 quarterfinals, 75-63, in their first game in the venue.  
• Eugene German scored a game-high 27 points, including 11-of-15 from the floor and 5-of-9 from three-point range, to lead the Huskies to the victory. German's 27 points are tied for the fourth-most by a Huskie in a MAC Tournament game with Tim Dillon (vs. Toledo, March 9, 1984) and Kenny Battle (vs. Toledo, March 6, 1986). The NIU scoring record in a MAC Tournament game is 33 points, set by P.J. Smith against Western Michigan on March 13, 2003. 
• Dante Thorpe added 18 points and Levi Bradley scored 13, all in the second half, to help the Huskies down the MAC West regular season champion Rockets. 
• NIU shot an outstanding 55.2 percent (16-of-29) from the field in the first half, which included 61.5 percent (8-of-13) from three-point range, but had an even better second half, shooting 57.7 percent (15-of-26) from the floor to finish the game shooting 56.4 percent (31-of-55). The Huskies also closed the contest 10-of-17 (58.8 percent) from three-point range. 
• NIU's 56.4 percent shooting is its best in the MAC Tournament game since shooting 59.6 percent at Buffalo in the first round on March 8, 2004. The Huskie school record for shooting percentage in a MAC Tournament game is 64.0 percent (32-of-50) against Bowling Green on March 3, 1981. 
• The 58.8 percent three-point shooting is NIU's best in the MAC Tournament game since going 6-of-9 (66.7 percent) against Western Michigan on March 13, 2003, NIU's first, and prior to Thursday only, MAC Tournament win at Quicken Loans Arena. The 10 triples the Huskies hit against Toledo are the most by NIU in a MAC Tournament game since making 11 on March 9, 2006, also against Toledo. 
• With the win against Toledo, NIU recorded its 17th win of the season, tied for the sixth-most in a single-season in school history. The Huskies have won 17 games six times (1926-27, 1972-73, 1980-81, 1989-90, 2002-03 and 2005-06) prior to this season. 
• The win on Thursday also gave the Huskies 66 victories over the current four-year stretch of Levi Bradley's career, dating back to the 2015-16 season. Those 66 wins are the second-most in program history in a four-year time period; NIU won 68 games during the four-year period from 1989-90 through 1992-93.