Winning can become a habit, at least according to one tired cliche. But so can losing.

With Tuesday’s 53-48 upset victory over Evansville, the Huskies gained perhaps their most important win of the season. More importantly, they might also have stopped a habit from forming.

The habit was NIU’s trend of losing on the road; the cure may have been the win over a team that compiled a 38-4 home-court record in three years and was expected to make the Huskies their next victim.

Coach Jim Molinari, whose squad was 1-7 on the road before the Evansville win, knows one win can go a long way in turning the mental attitude of a team around.

“What the win does is it gives us confidence that we can go in and win against a tough team. I think we had to prove to ourselves that we could do it.

“The thing I kept talking to our team about was that, sooner or later to make the next step in our program, we had to win a game that we weren’t supposed to,” said Molinari.

The win might also have proved to be a confirmation that Molinari’s emphasis on playing under control and playing solid defense is paying off. The statistics show why NIU managed to pull off the upset—defense.

Evansville’s 48 points was the lowest total for an NIU opponent since 1983’s 66-48 win over Miami (Ohio). The Huskies’ defense also forced the Aces into 13 first-half turnovers.

Molinari gave credit to his entire squad for the victory. “Stacy (Arrington) gave us a great effort on the boards, Donald (Whiteside) shot the ball with confidence, Donnell Thomas kicked the ball out with the way they were collapsing on him, Andrew (Wells) continues to be effective on both ends of the floor and Mike Hidden did all the little things and gave us a great lift off of the bench.”

Donnell “D-Train” Thomas clinched the victory with two free-throws with four seconds remaining and reached an NIU milestone during the game. The Chicago native now has 1,146 career points, putting him in the tenth spot on NIU’s all-time scoring list.

Before the game, Molinari had a message for his team. “I told our team that collective pride by the coaches and players and unselfish teamwork lead to positive things and make winning a habit.”

That habit is the one the Huskies don’t want to break.