At a glance
- NIU suffers 39-point humiliation in final MAC game
- Huskies shoot measly 20% from 3-point range
- Freshman Carlos Coronado Jr. makes first college start
It was a beatdown of epic proportions in what marked the end of era for NIU men’s basketball.
In their 689th and final regular season game in the Mid-American Conference, the Huskies were royally outclassed from the opening tip, falling 94-55 to league powerhouse Akron on Friday night to close out the 2025-26 campaign. The Zips (26-5, 17-1 MAC) led 47-27 at halftime and widened the margin to as many as 45 points with just under seven minutes to play.
NIU (9-21, 4-14 MAC) did almost nothing well. It was outshot, out-rebounded and outplayed for 40 minutes, but the most staggering difference between the two sides came from downtown.
The Huskies struggled mightily from beyond the arc, making just 5 of their 26 3-point attempts while shooting 37.9% overall. Meanwhile, Akron put on a clinic from deep, knocking down 18 triples and finishing 59.6% from the field and a whopping 66.7% from 3-point range.
“They’re a well-balanced team. They can hurt you in so many different ways,” head coach Rashon Burno said of Akron in a postgame radio interview. “Obviously, we didn’t shoot the ball particularly well. I thought the first 12 minutes of the game, we had it at our pace, but then one mistake, they capitalized. Two mistakes, and then we stopped scoring.”
Shooting wasn’t NIU’s only problem, though. The Huskies’ depth, or lack thereof, played a significant factor, as they only had nine players available — seven of whom played — while Akron used 13. Banged up with injuries, season-long starter Makhai Valentine, sixth-man Daemar Kelly and reserves Isaiah Washington and Jaylen Wharton all missed the trip to Ohio, setting up freshman guard Carlos Coronado Jr. to make his first collegiate start.
Coronado played a game-high 39 minutes and matched Gianni Cobb with a team-leading 14 points, marking a career high for the Coolidge, Arizona, native. He also recorded four rebounds and two steals — all while embracing a next-man-up mentality.
“I wasn’t really nervous or anything,” Coronado said. “Coach told me before the game, ‘Be ready, be ready.” I stepped up to the plate, did what I can do — just being the next man up.”
The visitors played behind the 8-ball from the start, as the Zips netted the game’s first points 38 seconds in. NIU managed to keep the margin within double digits until the nine-minute mark in the first half, by which time Akron had built a 29-19 lead. The Zips later used an 8-0 run to close the half with a 47-27 advantage.
The Huskies went just 1-for-12 from 3-point range in the opening stanza, with Dylan Ducommun accounting for the team’s lone triple in the first 20. Ducommun finished with nine points on 26.7% shooting, including 1-for-10 from deep.
NIU’s 3-point shooting woes persisted in the second half, hitting as low as 5.9% (1-for-17) on its attempts. Coronado snapped a streak of misses with a make from deep with 12:49 remaining. However, the game was already well out of hand by then, as Akron swelled its lead to a staggering 45 points with 6:55 remaining. The Huskies trimmed the deficit to 39 before the final buzzer, avoiding what would’ve been their largest loss of the season.
Still, Friday’s result cemented NIU’s second consecutive last-place finish in the league standings, while Akron notched its 31st straight home victory, extending the nation’s second-longest home winning streak.
The Huskies now set off into an offseason full of uncertainty. Burno’s contract is set to expire this summer with no official word on his future, and the possibility of yet another roster exodus looms large.
