DEKALB, Ill. – After a two-week break, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team returns to action on Saturday, January 4, as the Huskies open Mid-American Conference play at Buffalo. Tipoff against the Bulls is slated for 1 p.m. CT and will be available on ESPN+. 

The Huskies enter conference action with a 7-6 overall record, the sixth consecutive season that NIU has posted a winning non-conference mark. Saturday's contest is the seventh in the last nine for the Huskies that has come away from home. 

NIU brings a two-game winning streak against Buffalo into the MAC opener, having topped the Bulls in each of the last two seasons. Two seasons ago in DeKalb, Eugene German (Gary, Ind./21st Century Charter) banked home a game-winner with four seconds left in overtime to give the Huskies a 90-88 win over the Bulls (Feb. 10, 2018). In the only meeting last season, NIU topped 14th-ranked Buffalo, 77-75, at the NIU Convocation Center (Jan. 22, 2019) on a layup by Noah McCarty (Rock Falls, Ill./Sterling Newman) with 0.6 seconds left.

The Huskies are the only team in the MAC with multiple wins over the Bulls in the last two seasons as Buffalo has posted a 37-5 mark against league foes during that time period. 

German continues to lead the MAC in scoring at 20.3 points per game, which also ranks 27th nationally. The Gary, Ind., native has 1,833 career points and is just 15 away from Allen Rayhorn (1978-82) for third on NIU's all-time scoring list. 

Last time out against Green Bay, sophomore Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) scored a career-best 18 points to go along with a career-high five assists. 

The defending MAC champion Bulls bring a 9-4 record into Saturday's conference opener. Buffalo has five players scoring in double figures, led by Jayvon Graves at 17.0 points per contest. Davonta Jordan adds 13.3 points per game, Josh Mballa is averaging 10.9 points per contest, Antwain Johnson chips in 10.4 points per game and Jeenathan Williams is averaging 10.2 points per game.

For the second consecutive year, and the third time in seven seasons, NIU opens league play with a pair of road games. Last season, NIU swept a pair of games on the road to begin conference action, earning a 72-66 overtime win at Ohio (Jan. 5, 2019) as well as an 83-70 victory at Miami (Jan. 8, 2019).

Following Saturday's contest at Buffalo, the Huskies will travel to Mt. Pleasant, Mich., to face Central Michigan on Tuesday, January 7. NIU will then return home for its conference home opener on Saturday, January 11, as the Huskies host Eastern Michigan.