DEKALB, Ill. – After a pair of road games, the Northern Illinois University men's basketball team returns home on Thursday, Nov. 13, as the Huskies welcome Benedictine to the NIU Convocation Center. Tipoff against the Eagles is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be available on ESPN+ as well as WDKB 94-9 FM.
Tickets for Thursday's game, and all remaining Huskie basketball contests, are available now at NIUHuskies.com/tickets or by calling, 815-753-PACK (7225).
NIU (1-2) fell on the road at Grand Canyon last time out.
Daemar Kelly (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) paced the Huskies with 12 points while
Hassan 'Tre' Washington (Providence, R.I./Prise Academy) added a career-high 10 points. Washington was a perfect 3-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.
Gustav Winther (Roskilde, Denmark) went 4-of-4 from the floor and finished with nine points. For the season, Winther is shooting 86.7 percent (13-of-15) from the floor while averaging 10.0 points per game.
Jao Ituka (Gaithersburg, Md./Gaithersburg) continues to lead NIU in scoring at 12.7 points per game. Ituka is shooting 50 percent (12-of-24) from the field, 53.8 percent (7-of-13) from three and 87.5 percent (7-of-8) from the free-throw line.
Benedictine opened the season at the Bill Merris Invitational, where they suffered a 75-68 season opening loss to Simpson College (Nov. 7) before rebounding with a 74-68 win over Principia College in the consolation game (Nov. 8).
Noah Mason leads Benedictine with 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Brandon McCoy adds 13.5 points per contest. Mason is the leading returning scorer for the Eagles having averaged 11.4 points per game a season ago.
NIU has won both of its previous meetings against Benedictine, including an 89-70 victory a season ago (Dec. 3, 2024). The only other meeting came on Jan. 21, 1991, a 69-65 Huskie victory over what was then known as Illinois Benedictine.
Following Thursday's matchup, NIU will head on the road for its next three, beginning with a trip to Northern Iowa on Tuesday, Nov. 18.
