DEKALB, Ill. – Following a week off, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team puts its four-game win streak on the line as the Huskies make the short trip to Chicago to face DePaul at Wintrust Arena on Saturday night, Nov. 25. Tipoff against the Blue Demons is scheduled for 8 p.m. and will be available on Fox Sports 2. 

The Huskies are coming off a pair of wins in Atlanta, Ga., at Georgia State's Capitol Challenge, where NIU defeated the host Panthers, 70-64, and Little Rock, 98-93. Last time out against Little Rock, three Huskies scored career highs with Xavier Amos (Chicago, Ill./Whitney Young) netting 21, Philmon Gebrewhit (Boston, Mass./DePaul) scoring 19 and Yanic Konan Niederhauser (Fraschels, Switzerland/Ursping) adding 15.

NIU scored 58 first half points against the Trojans, its most points in a half since scoring 59 in the second half against Chicago State on Dec. 22, 2018. The Huskies went 33-of-44 from the free-throw line against the Trojans, which is the most free throw makes and attempts for NIU since Dec. 14, 2010, when the Huskies went 39-of-51 from the line against UIC.

The win gave NIU a 4-1 start to the season, its best since the 2015-16 season, when NIU started 5-0, and the current four-game win streak for the Huskies is their longest since winning six-straight between Jan. 21-Feb. 7, 2020. 

NIU currently ranks 12th nationally in free throw attempts (28.4 per game), 13th in fastbreak points (19.6 per game), 27th in blocks per game (5.6), 31st in scoring (87.2 points per game), 40th in field goal percentage (49.4 percent) and 49th in rebounds (41.4 per game).

Konan Niederhauser leads the Mid-American Conference in field goal percentage at 80 percent (20-of-25) while David Coit (Columbus, N.J./Atlantic Cape CC) leads the MAC in free throw percentage at 92.9 percent (26-of-28).

DePaul comes into Saturday's contest with a 1-4 overall record after dropping a pair of games to South Carolina and San Francisco at the Arizona Tip Off last weekend. Two players are scoring in double figures for the Blue Demons, led by 14.6 points per game from Chico Carter Jr. Jeremiah Oden is adding 11.6 points per game.

Saturday's contest is the 33rd all-time meeting between NIU and DePaul, but the first since Dec. 2, 2014. DePaul leads the overall series, 26-6, and has won the last four meetings, with NIU's last victory coming on Nov. 28, 2005, in DeKalb (77-68).

Following Saturday's contest, NIU will make a quick turnaround as it heads to Evanston on Monday, Nov. 27, to face Northwestern. Game time against the Wildcats is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be available on BTN Plus.