NIU men’s basketball (5-23, 1-14 MAC) suffered a blowout loss to Miami University (OH) (21-7, 12-3 MAC), dropping to the Redhawks by a score of 87-58 on Tuesday.
“I didn’t think we had the energy that we needed to compete in a game, especially on the road, where these guys shoot, they’re (Miami) prolific from three, and we give them 12 threes at 41%,” NIU men’s basketball head coach Rashon Burno said. “We were dreadful offensively, I think we got down 12-0 early.”
The Huskies have now lost nine straight games, finishing the month of February winless. NIU’s last win came against Ball State University on Jan. 25.
NIU has also failed to win a road game so far this season, falling to 0-15 away from home.
The Huskies were without three starters in Tuesday’s contest, with junior forward Ethan Butler and junior guard Quaran McPherson missing their third straight games.
Graduate guard Joe Munden Jr started for the Huskies but only played 6 minutes before missing the remainder of the game.
“We lost Joe (Munden) in the first five minutes of the game. He’s not feeling well due to sickness,” Burno said.
NIU had a dreadful night shooting the ball, as the team shot 22/59 from the field (37.3%) and 5/29 from beyond the arch (17.2%).
Redshirt freshman forward Tsvet Sotirov totaled 8 points in the game, shooting 0/5 from three and 4/10 from the field. This season, Sotirov shoots 35.1% from three-point range.
“We shot 5/29 from three, we are not going to beat anybody shooting 5/29 from three,” Burno said.
The Redhawks bench outscored NIU’s bench 49-11, with Miami’s highest bench scorer, redshirt freshman forward Brant Byers, scoring 22 points.
NIU’s highest bench scorer was junior guard Steven Tipton who finished with 6 points.
Miami also beat the Huskies in fast break points and second chance points. The Huskies were outscored 9-1 in second chance points and 17-5 in fast break points.
The Huskies had three players finish the game in double figures, sophomore guard Nasir Muhammad, senior guard James Dent Jr, and sophomore guard Quentin Jones.
Muhammad led the Huskies scoring effort, finishing the game with 17 points on 6/14 shooting from the field and 3/9 from three. Muhammad was the only Huskie to finish the game with multiple made three pointers.
Dent finished the game with 12 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 1 steal. The Western Illinois University transfer shot 4/10 from the field and 1/5 from three.
Jones, the MAC’s leading scorer at 16.8 points per game, had an uncharacteristic shooting night, scoring just 10 points on 3/10 shooting and 1/6 from three. Jones also totaled 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 1 steal.
“We took crazy shots, quick shots,” Burno said. “We got down quick, I think Eian Elmer, he was 5/9 from three and a lot of that was them moving the ball, relocating and getting wide open shots.”
The Huskies’ next game is at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Convocation Center against the Western Michigan University Broncos. The game will be livestreamed on ESPN+ and live stats will be available via SIDEARM Sports.
