For those unfamiliar with college basketball, the NIU men’s teams’ next opponent—Xavier—may not be a well-known name.

College hoops fans know, however, that the Musketeers are one of the top teams in the Midwest.

Xavier has made six-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, is the defending Midwestern Collegiate Conference champion and has compiled 20 or more wins five of the last six years.

Wednesday’s 7:00 p.m. match in Cincinnati will be the first of two meetings between the schools this year. The Musketeers will travel to DeKalb for a Dec. 30 contest.

Xavier is coming off a 22-10 season during which it beat Nebraska in the first round of the NCAA Tourney. This season, the Musketeers are 2-0 with a 94-65 win over Colgate and a 75-59 triumph over Samford.

The Huskies are 1-2 under rookie head coach Brian Hammel, who feels that Xavier will provide one of the strongest opponents of the year for his squad.

“They provide us with a lot of challenges … some people are putting them in the Top-20 or Top-30 in the country,” Hammel said. “They like to up-tempo it, press and trap all over the court. We need to make good decisions, not commit turnovers, get good shots and put some points on the board.”

Leading Xavier is All-America candidate Jamie Gladden, a 6-0 guard who was First Team All-MCC last year and averaged 15.2 ppg.

On the bench, the Musketeers are guided by colorful Pete Gillen, who has been MCC Coach of the Year three times and is fifth among active Division I coaches in career winning percentage.

NIU sophomore guard Mike Lipnisky, who has sat out the Huskies’ first three games because of a back injury, could be back for Wednesday’s match, Hammel said.

In NIU’s last outing, Saturday’s 94-59 win over Aurora, several Huskies were benched for the first half because they were late for practice.

“You have to nip those things in the bud,” said Hammel, whose players have all been on time this week. “Hopefully, that was an isolated incident.”

The schools last meeting was in 1970, with the Huskies winning by an 88-80 margin. The all-time series is notched at 1-1.