DEKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University men's basketball team returns home for the final two games of the regular season, beginning on Tuesday night (March 1) when the Huskies welcome Kent State to the NIU Convocation Center. Game time against the Golden Flashes is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be available on ESPN3.
NIU won the first meeting of the season, 65-63, on Jan. 11 in Kent.
Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill./Iowa Western CC) scored a game-high 17 points for the Huskies in the win. In conference play, Thornton is ranked third in the Mid-American Conference with 4.8 assists per game and is eighth in assist/turnover ratio at 1.74.
Keshawn Williams (Chicago Heights, Ill./Tulsa) has scored in double figures in 16 consecutive games and ranks seventh in conference play with 17.9 points per contest. Williams also ranks sixth in league play in free throw shooting (82.9 percent) and ninth in three-point percentage (39.3 percent).
Trendon Hankerson (Novi, Mich./Novi) scored 21 points last time out at Buffalo. Hankerson is currently fourth in the MAC in steals, averaging 1.8 per game, and is just three steals shy of cracking the NIU top-10 in career steals.
NIU enters the last week of the regular season one game behind Miami for the eighth, and final, spot in the Mid-American Conference Tournament.
The Golden Flashes come to DeKalb with a 19-9 overall record, including a 14-4 mark in Mid-American Conference play. Kent State won at Central Michigan on Saturday, 73-71, for its 10th consecutive victory. The Golden Flashes currently have the fifth-longest win streak in the nation behind Murray State (18), South Dakota State (18), North Texas (14) and Colgate (12). Two players score in double figures for Kent State, with Sincere Carry leading the way at 18.6 points per game. Malique Jacobs adds 11.9 points, and a team-high 7.5 rebounds, per contest.
Tickets for both remaining Huskie basketball home games are available online at NIUHuskies.com/MyHuskies or by calling the NIU Athletics Ticket Office at 815-753-PACK (7225).
