DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team will return to the Pacific Northwest on Monday, Dec. 12, as the Huskies take on 18th-ranked Gonzaga at 8 p.m. CT at the McCarthey Athletic Center in Spokane, Wash. The contest can be viewed live on WatchStadium.com and the Huskie radio broadcast will be available on 94-9 WDKB as well as The Varsity Network app. 

Monday's contest will mark the return from a 10-day break for finals for the Huskies. NIU returns after splitting a pair of games on its last road trip, downing Eastern Illinois, 90-70, on Nov. 30, before falling at Idaho, 84-47, on Dec. 2. The trip to Gonzaga is the seventh game in an eight-game road trip for the Huskies. 

Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) leads the Huskies, and ranks seventh in the Mid-American Conference, in scoring at 17.4 points per game. David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) is 16th in the league, averaging 14.0 points per contest. Coit is also sixth in the MAC with 1.7 steals per game while Kaleb Thornton's (Bolingbrook, Ill./Iowa Western CC) 1.65 assist/turnover ratio ranks fifth in the conference. 

NIU will be looking for its third win in program history over a ranked opponent when it meets Gonzaga, the last came on Jan. 22, 2019, when the Huskies toppled 14th-ranked Buffalo, 77-75, in DeKalb. 

Gonzaga comes into Monday's matchup with a 7-3 record after defeating in-state rival Washington, 77-60, on Friday night (Dec. 9). All-American Drew Timme leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 20.0 points per game while Julian Strawther adds 14.1 points, and a team-high 8.9 rebounds, per game. The contest with NIU will be Gonzaga's second against a MAC foe in a week as the Bulldogs topped Kent State, 73-66, in Spokane this past Monday (Dec. 5). 

NIU and Gonzaga will be meeting for the first time on Monday. The Huskies have only play two previous contests against current members of the West Coast Conference, a 67-65 victory over Pacific on Dec. 21, 1981, although the Tigers were not in the WCC at the time, and a 61-49 setback against Saint Mary's on Dec. 5, 2019. 

Following the trip to Gonzaga, the Huskies have one more road game before finally returning home. NIU will travel to VCU on Saturday, Dec. 17, before hosting UAlbany in DeKalb on Tuesday, Dec. 20, at 1 p.m. Tickets are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets.