NIU men’s basketball currently sits at a record of 3-6 as the Huskies enter the final stretch of their non-conference schedule.
Coming into this season, expectations were low for head coach Rashon Burno’s new look team.
The Huskies brought in several new transfers this offseason following the departure of several key players in the transfer portal, including David Coit, Xavier Amos and Keshawn Williams.
Some notable additions to NIU’s squad are sophomore guard Quentin Jones and senior guard James Dent Jr.
Through his first nine games with the Huskies, Jones is their leading scorer with 15.2 points per game on 44.7% shooting and 32.7% shooting from three.
Jones’ season high for points came in the Huskies third game of the season against Monmouth University where he scored 22 points in a Huskie victory.
Jones has also scored double-digit figures in seven of NIU’s nine games so far this season, and the sophomore guard has eclipsed 20 points twice.
Dent has also seen success scoring the ball with the Huskies as the team’s second-leading scorer at 13.6 points per game on 46.5% shooting from the field and 41.8% from three.
Dent has reached the 15-point mark in three consecutive games, including a 17-point performance in the Huskies most recent game over Benedictine University.
A key returner for the Huskies this season has been junior forward Ethan Butler, who serves as the team’s third-leading scorer at 10.5 points per game and has also contributed 1.8 blocks per game.
However, the Huskies have been without Butler since their matchup against DePaul University on Nov. 23 where he suffered a leg injury.
In Butler’s absence, junior guard Quaran McPherson has started the last three games for the Huskies, averaging 13.7 points per game in that time while also totaling a career-high 20 points against Benedictine in only 19 minutes.
McPherson has averaged 9 points per game so far this season, with his role mostly coming off the bench.
One major flaw with this Huskie team so far this season is its lack of size. Butler, the usual starter at the five, stands at just 6-foot-7-inches, which is undersized for a college big man.
The Huskies have struggled in games where opponents have the size advantage, like against Elon University and Bradley University.
Bradley’s 7-foot-1-inch junior center Ahmet Jonovic cruised to 12 points in 20 minutes off the Braves’ bench in their matchup against the Huskies due to his size advantage.
Bad shooting has been another aspect that has plagued the Huskies so far this season, as they have had four games where the team has shot 30% or worse from three.
The team’s worst shooting game so far this season came against DePaul, where the Huskies shot 25.4% from the field and 20.7% from three-point range.
The Huskies have also struggled on the road this season, going 0-5 in contests outside of DeKalb. Three of the four worst shooting performances for NIU have come on the road this season as well, against Eastern Illinois University, Georgia Southern University and DePaul.
All three of the Huskies wins have come at home and they have posted a 3-1 record at home.
The Huskies’ next game will be at 5 p.m. Saturday against the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Iowa. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available via SIDEARM Stats.
