DeKALB – Injury riddled NIU basketball (4-13, 0-5 MAC) dropped a close home matchup to Central Michigan University (8-9, 2-3 MAC) 71-66.
“Next play mentality,” said sophomore guard Quentin Jones. “We just let this one go, we gotta learn from it, review some of the negative moments, but we gotta learn from this and move on.”
NIU only used seven players throughout the game and utilized a six-man rotation.
Junior guard Quaran McPherson and freshman forward Jayden Mott were the only players to come off the Huskies’ bench in the game. Mott only played four minutes during the game, totaling three points.
Senior guard James Dent Jr. and Jones both saw significant minutes in the game due to a limited Huskie bench. Dent only sat for 17 seconds during the game, playing 39:43.
Jones did not see much time off the floor as well, totaling 38:16 on the floor for the game.
“It’s vital,” said NIU men’s basketball head coach Rashon Burno on the health of the team. “It’s more so you can build continuity in practice, but we’re at a disadvantage because we can’t go full court and we can’t do many things that’s required to build confidence.”
The Huskies started the game at a blistering pace from three, shooting 7-for-9, 77.8%. However, the Huskies’ hot hand was short lived as they finished the first half shooting 1-for-8, 12.5%.
At the end of the game, NIU was 13-for-27, 48.1%, from three point range in the game.
“They (Central Michigan) did a good job of switching, and so that took us out of rotations,” Burno said. “Any coach knows that when you start as hot as we did, the law of averages is going to settle that in.”
NIU heavily relied on threes in the first half, totaling 24 of the team’s 29 points in the half.
The Huskies led CMU 24-11 midway through the first half of play and were shooting the ball well from three. Central Michigan came out of a timeout with 10:22 to play in the half and proceeded to go on a 24-5 run to end the half and lead the Huskies 35-29.
Postgame, Burno noted the importance of the team being able to make its free throws, noting that the Huskies missed eight free throws in a game that was lost by five points.
“In regards to the free throw line, 7-for-15, that’s eight points lost and you lose by five,” Burno said. “We had four critical free throws at the end, two missed by (junior forward) Ethan Butler and James Dent.”
McPherson led the charge for the Huskies in the first half as the team’s leading scorer at halftime, totalling 11 points on 4-for-6 shooting.
McPherson also led the game in scoring with 22 points, his third 20 point effort this season and the second most points scored in a game in his career.
The junior guard shot the ball efficiently in his 22 point performance, shooting 8-for-12 from the field and 5-for-7 from three.
“I was just trying to get my mind situated on what’s important, and just trying to be simple and trying to be consistent, and it worked,” McPherson said.
At 6 p.m. Tuesday the Huskies will travel to Kalamazoo, Michigan, for a matchup with Western Michigan University. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.