Fresh off of their thrilling 51-50 victory over the University of Illinois-Chicago Friday night, the Huskies (13-9) head to the nation’s heartland to take on the Akron Zips.

Akron (14-8) heads into Monday night’s 6 p.m. game fresh from a 96-86 victory over Southern Utah State. The Zips have built a 72-7 home record at James A. Rhoades Arena in the last five seasons. Akron has beaten NIU three straight times during that span, including 80-69 and 90-70 victories last season.

The game should be a battle of contrasting styles as the high-scoring Zips face NIU’s defense, ranked fifth nationally last week. Coach Jim Molinari’s squad is 11-0 when holding opponents to under 59 points this season.

“We’re 13-9 with six games left and we’re excited about that,” said Molinari. “Our kids are really working hard on the defensive end of the floor. We’re making an identity for ourselves there.”

Akron Coach Coleman Crawford’s squad is led by 6-3 junior guard Anthony Buford. Buford recently reached the 1,000 career point mark for the Zips.

Donnell “D-Train” Thomas enters Monday’s contest leading the Huskies with an 18-point scoring average and rebounding with 7.9 per game. The Chicago native is the subject of a brochure recently put out by NIU promoting the 6-4 forward for All-America status.

The pamphlet features a photo of Thomas below a picture of Superman that is captioned: “Meet the other guy more powerful than a locomotive.”

After the Akron contest, the Huskies return to Chick Evans Field House Saturday to face Chicago State.