The Huskies started from the bottom, now they’re getting there.
An improved Northern Illinois squad, which has been the proverbial basement dweller of the Mid-American Conference, will host Ohio on Saturday night in DeKalb, Ill.
For a team that hasn’t finished above .500 since the 2002-03 season, the Huskies (7-8, 1-2 MAC) have showed promise this season, despite losing last season’s leading scorer Abdel Nader, who transferred to Iowa State.
NIU won its first non-conference road game since 2010 with a 55-49 win against Loyola (Illinois) in December and presents the fourth-best defense in the conference, allowing almost 65 points per game.
Solid defense is a necessity for the Huskies, who average a league-worst 63 points and a paltry 38.7 percent shooting percentage.
But Northern Illinois also covers those ugly offensive numbers with the highest rebounding average in the MAC, grabbing 40 boards in each contest with a plus-six rebounding margin, which is also tops in the conference.
Compare that to Ohio (12-4, 2-1 MAC), which has been out-rebounded by an average of seven rebounds since conference play began.
In addition to the Bobcats’ struggles on the boards, they’ve had trouble putting points on the board in the first half. Wednesday’s 71-51 victory against Ball State was the third consecutive game in which Ohio had scored less than 30 points in the first half.
Unlike the previous three MAC games when the shots just weren’t falling — Ohio had shot below 40 percent during the first half in its first three conference matchups — turnovers were the issue against the Cardinals.
Ohio turned the ball over nine times in the first 20 minutes, leading to disarray on the offensive end and only 27 points.
“In the first half, we did a poor job of capitalizing,” coach Jim Christian said. “We just weren’t advancing the ball up the floor and attacking them. We were kind of playing in the backcourt with it or dribbling the ball too much.”
The team Christian wanted to see appeared in the second half, as Ohio found its groove on the offensive end and scored 44 points on 48 percent shooting with only three turnovers.
“We just got comfortable (in the second half),” senior forward T.J. Hall said. “Coach came into halftime and just told us to knock down shots. We shoot in here every day, so we just tried to shoot with confidence and make it happen.”
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