They say that nice guys finish last and for the NIU men’s basketball team, winning on the road has meant treating its hosts in a less than hospitable manner.

NIU’s “road warriors” have won seven in a row on the road, a school record, and they have done it with their defense which began the week ranked third in the nation. The Huskies have also won eight of their first nine on the road this season.

Winning on the road was a priority for the Huskies this season due to their schedule (only 12 home games), and NIU head coach, Jim Molinari, has been extremely pleased with his team’s performance.

“It’s a credit to them (the players) to break the road record,” Molinari said. “The trademark of this team is defense and mental toughness.

“We demand concentration from our people and this last road trip (at Akron and Cleveland State) was a long four-day road trip, so we needed to focus and concentrate.”

That four-day road trip brought the Huskies (6-1) two wins and a share of the Mid-Continent Conference lead with Wisconsin-Green Bay.

The wins also brought the Huskies more confidence which seems to be increasing with each game.

Anytime you win, you gain confidence especially on the road,” Molinari said. “We take pride in winning on the road.”

The Huskies are now nearing the gun lap of the season as they take on Eastern Illinois, Thursday, at Chick Evans Field House. The Huskies are hoping that NIU fans will fill the fieldhouse to help prevent an EIU victory.

That game will be the first of three straight home games for the Huskies before hitting the road once again.

NIU will then play five of its remaining seven games on the road including back-to-back encounters at UW-GB, which beat the Huskies 63-57 at the fieldhouse and at Nebraska, which entered the week ranked No.11 in the nation.

Molinari is not looking ahead and prefers to take one game at a time. He also feels his team’s mentality is in place.

“With each win we gain more confidence,” Molinari said. “We no longer hope to win, we expect to win.”