Well, we're in the home stretch of the regular season. Only 7 to go, but 5 of those on the road. The game against Akron is going to be a tough one (thankfully we're done with the MAC East soon), but hopefully we'll eke out another win or two before the MAC tourney.

I personally feel the WMU, SIUE, EMU, CMU and Toledo games are ones we COULD win (not that we should or will)...but only the Toledo and WMU games are at home. So, yeah, hopefully we can get to 5 wins (I know, it's a low standard).

Akron might be the best team in the MAC. They score/shoot, rebound and pass well. They have 6 players that average 8 or more points a game. Very unselfish group. A lot of their scoring comes from the front court (Zeke Marshall is a 7 footer, Nikola Cvetinovic is a 6'8" forward that can score), so we're going to have to play crazy active D to deny interior feeds or the Grays will foul out in 10 minutes combined.

Hopefully Storm continues his good play and Nader finds his shooting touch again. Hopefully Bolin gets a double-double and Berg mans the point well again. The O is going to have to be fantastic for us to have a shot. Limit turnovers, find points somehow from somewhere. Take our time on offense, make the game as short as possible (do the basketball equivalent of running the ball).

My prediction for this game.....pain. If we can make this game close, like the Buffalo loss, that might be the best we can possibly do. But we're on the road and waaaaay overmatched in this one.

Akron: a lot (85), NIU: pain (55).

Not saying it's going to happen on Saturday, but haven't we upset Akron the last 2 times we played there.

I remember seeing one of those games on TV. I think it was a couple years ago. It was a thing of beauty to watch.

(02-10-2012 02:04 PM)Doggone Wrote:  Not saying it's going to happen on Saturday, but haven't we upset Akron the last 2 times we played there.

No, but we have won 3 of the last 4. Not seeing that trend continue, unfortunately.

http://www.niuhuskies.com/sports/m-baskb...12aaa.html
------
The Match-Up
Coming off a victory over Miami, Northern Illinois concludes crossover play against the MAC East Division on Saturday, Feb. 11, when the Huskies travel to meet MAC East-leading Akron. The Huskies and Zips are two of the top rebounding teams in the MAC, Akron is third in rebounding offense at 37.1 boards per game, NIU is fourth at 35.9. The Huskies have the third-best rebounding margin in the conference at +3.6 while the Zips are fourth with a +3.0 margin.

About Akron
The Zips enter Saturday’s contest 17-7 overall, 9-1 in MAC play. Akron is currently riding a six-game winning streak, second-longest in the MAC behind Buffalo’s seven. Zeke Marshall leads the Zips in scoring averaging 10.7 points per contest for an extremely balanced squad that features six players averaging over eight points per game. Akron is 10-1 at home this season under eighth-year head coach Keith Dambrot, with their lone loss coming to VCU, 76-75 in overtime.

Against the Zips
Northern Illinois trails Akron, 18-9, in the all-time series, but the Huskies have won three of the last four meetings. NIU upended Akron 83-74 last season in DeKalb behind 39 points from Xavier Silas. The Zips have an 11-2 advantage all-time in Akron, including a 90-76 victory in 2010, the last meeting at Rhodes Arena.

A Storm Brewing
Tyler Storm scored a career-best 17 points powering NIU to a comeback victory over Miami (Feb. 8). Storm was 7-of-9 from the field, including 3-of-4 from three-point range, en route to bettering his previous career-high of 13, set on Feb. 15, 2009 against Akron. Storm also grabbed a season-high six rebounds in the victory over the RedHawks and posted his first career multi-block game.
--------
Storm had double figures a few times as a freshmen. I really wonder what all happened to stunt his development at NIU. Shame.
Zips awful good, and really good at home. I think they were at #54 in one of the most recent rankings (4 MAC teams were in top 100 if I remember correctly).

Huskies will try, but not enough to make it a game in this one. Hope I'm wrong!

It's a bummer we have to face Akron on the road this year. NIU is pretty outmatched in this one. If this were at home then we would have a chance.

This is exactly the kind of game that makes the MAC a one bid league. Not saying NIU will win by any strech, but it is upsets like these that ruin many a teams chances at an "at large" bid.

Regardless of the outcome which will probably not be pretty for NIU, I am proud of this team and I am excited about the future of the program under Monty's leadership.

The guys always seem to play hard and if the young kids stay together good things are ahead for our program. I am reminded of the sign that coach Novak once hung in the football locker room "Those who stay will be champions".

For some reason, Ricardo had Akron's number...and nobody else's.

The Ladies are whomping a really good Miami team on the road right now...though there are 4 minutes left in which to blow a 12 point lead. The ladies are
really playing some D lately.

I mention this because I'm watching the game streaming, and you should be able to watch the Akron-NIU game streaming later, courtesy of the MAC.

NIU-Akron stream

You should be able to figure it out from there.

Nice! The ladies broke the full court press repeatedly at the end of the game and won by 12. Only the 2nd time Miami has lost at home this year. Hopefully the ladies keep it up.

What is game time?

Game is just about to start, and the stream is up.

Watch the game

If you want Bill Baker's call, you'll have to turn on the radio.

Are Kangaroos also known as zips? This is a serious question.

We seem to get the tip stolen a lot

Wow....Akron moves the ball so well. I don't like where this is headed.

Bad shot attempts hurt us

I like the Akron play by play guy...except that he keeps calling Bolin "Boler."

Boler?

(02-11-2012 07:43 PM)MaddDawgz02 Wrote:  Boler?

Perhaps "bowler"? He's not wearing a hat or carrying a bowling ball....

Our substitution pattern resembles a Jackson Pollack painting...or perhaps kids playing tag.