When the Bethel College men’s basketball team steps foot in Chick Evans Field House Saturday for NIU’s season opener, history will be made.

It will be the first time in Division III Bethel’s history that the Royals will play against a Division I program. Carrying over an 11-15 record from last season, Royals coach George Palke said he is looking forward to the landmark match.

“It’s exciting for us to accept the challenge,” Palke said. “I imagine (NIU) will be quicker since they’re Division I and we’re Division III. We’re going to have to come ready to play.”

And the Huskies will have to do the same.

One hurdle NIU will need to overcome is its probable feeling of overconfidence. Last season, NIU went up against Divison II Wisconsin-Parkside, but found themselves tallying up one in the loser’s column after the Rangers left with a 71-70 victory.

Despite the fact that this squad will be coming all the way from St. Paul, Minn., the same precautions will need to be taken.

“I think our kids know how big of a game this will be to (Bethel),” Rosborough said. “We’re probably one of the biggest games on (Bethel’s) schedule.

“I don’t think we’ll have overconfident kids. The most important game we’ll play right now is Bethel. After that, it’ll be Eastern (Illinois). We can’t afford to look ahead on the schedule, we just have to take one game at a time.”

While NIU might have the “quicker” team, it has some room for improvement in the area of experience. A handful of sophomores will comprise the young starting lineup for the Huskies consisting of Stacy Arrington, Antwon Harmon, Donnell Thomas, Andrew Wells and Donald Whiteside, with Jo Jo Jackson coming in as “the Celtics famous sixth man.”

On the flip side, the Royals bring in 5-foot-11 point guard senior Greg Lawson, who was ranked among the top three in Division III last season in 3-point shots. Rosborough said the Huskies will concentrate on shutting down Lawson.

The Huskies will also look to stop 6-foot-9 sophomore Dale Turnquist, who transferred to Bethel from Bowling Green last season. Steve Wahlberg, a 6-foot-8 senior who finished in the top 10 in rebounding last season, will play complement to Turnquist at the post.

“They’ve got some players that could be potentially dangerous to us,” Rosborough said, “but we’re going to go right at them. “We want to run the break and up the tempo.”