NIU men’s basketball (5-21, 1-12 MAC) dropped its seventh straight game, losing to the University of Akron (21-5, 13-0 MAC) by a score of 73-63 as the Huskies’ road woes continued.
The Akron Zips extended their win streak to 14 games while staying undefeated in the MAC. The Zips win streak is the longest active win streak in Division 1 men’s basketball.
The Huskies were missing two key pieces of their starting lineup in Tuesday’s matchup, junior guard Quaran McPherson and junior forward Ethan Butler.
Butler and McPherson both went down with injuries in the Huskies loss to Ball State University on Saturday.
McPherson is the Huskies’ third leading scorer this season, scoring 12.1 points per game.
This is the second time this season Butler will miss time with an injury, as the University of Oregon transfer missed five games between Nov. 23 and Dec. 30.
In the absence of Butler and McPherson, redshirt freshman forward Tsvet Sotirov and graduate student guard Joe Munden Jr. earned spots in the starting lineup.
Both NIU and Akron had subpar nights from beyond the arc, with both teams finishing with a three-point percentage under 30%. The Huskies also finished the game shooting just 35% from the field.
NIU led the game going into halftime by a score of 31-28 but were outscored 45-32 in the second half, leading to the Huskies’ 10 point loss.
“When you look at the game, the flow of what we did offensively, we just made them guard,” said NIU men’s basketball head coach Rashon Burno.
Foul trouble for the Huskies was another factor that led to the big second half for Akron. NIU committed 21 fouls in the game, including 15 fouls in the second half.
“They got a parade of free throws in the second half,” Burno said. “They were in the bonus fairly early, the fouls were at seven to zero at one point. So, we have to do a better job of defending without fouling like in the first half.”
The Zips dominated the Huskies in fast-break points and bench points. Akron totaled 20 fast-break points compared to the Huskies’ two.
Akron’s bench outscored NIU’s bench 29-18, with Akron’s senior guard Shammah Scott contributing 15 points off the bench for the Zips.
The Huskies only had two players finish the game in double figures, sophomore guards Quentin Jones and Kailon Nichols.
Jones had a career high performance against the MAC’s leading team, going for 28 points. Jones also had 7 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 block. Jones shot 9-for-23 from the field and 4-for-11 from three.
The California Polytechnic State University transfer scored 19 of the Huskies 32 second half points.
“I think what’s going to be his achilles’ heel is being able to decipher what is a good shot and what is a great shot,” Burno said. “His ability to go downhill will make him a better three-point shooter. I thought a couple times today he settled, especially early in the game. When he gets downhill, it’s better for him and for the team and he still got a good career high, 28.”
Nichols had 11 points for the Huskies coming off the bench, shooting 4-for-7 from the field and 1-for-3 from three.
Nichols only played 25 minutes before fouling out late in the second half.
The Huskies return home to face Eastern Michigan University at 3:30 p.m. Saturday in the Convocation Center. The game will be live streamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available at SIDEARM Stats.
