The NIU men’s basketball team zips to Ohio this weekend to take on the team of the same name. No, not Ohio. The Zips, as in Akron Zips, are the Huskies’ Saturday opponent.

Akron brings a 10-6 record (2-4 in the Mid-Continent Conference) into the 5 p.m. contest. The Zips won their last outing, 71-60 in overtime, against Youngstown State Wednesday night.

The Huskies enter the M-C Conference game at 13-2 (4-1) and should have their hands full with a team that has gone 6-2 at James A. Rhodes arena.

But the Zips will likely be without starting forward Albert Jones and have been without star guard Mark Alberts for the entire 1990-91 campaign. Alberts injured his leg in the preseason after tying for second in the country in 3-point shooting last season.

“We’re not at full strength right now,” said Akron head coach Coleman Crawford. “Our basketball team has not played very well for the last few weeks.

“(The M-C) is a very underrated conference, there are some great coaches and great teams,” Crawford added. “You have to be able to score against (NIU) to beat them.”

Scoring against the Huskies this season hasn’t been an easy proposition. NIU ranks third in the country in team defense, elding a paltry 58.1 points-per-game.

But even with an outstanding defense, NIU coach Jim Molinari knows the difficulty of winning on the road. “We have to play extremely well to win there. They’re a very difficult team to play and (Pete) Freeman is one of the best players in the league,” Molinari said.

Freeman, a 6-7 center, leads the M-C in scoring (16.1 ppg.) and rebounding (8.1 rbpg.).

The Huskies are looking to rebound from their lackluster effort in their previous outing, a 69-65 win over Division III Illinois Benedictine.

“We have to keep working to keep getting better,” Molinari said. “I think our team is working hard and wants to compete well in the conference and they now understand how difficult that is.”

The Huskies will remain in Ohio after Saturday’s game to take on conference-leading Cleveland State (9-8, 5-1) Monday night.

The Saturday match against Akron is the Mid-Continent Conference TV game of the week and will be shown live on SportsChannel.