Don’t look for a defensive struggle in the NIU Alumni/Media All-Star Basketball Game Friday night at Chick Evans Field House. The contest, part of the Midnight Madness program kicking off the beginning of the men’s and women’s practice season, features several outstanding shooters from past Huskie teams.

Starring for the men will be former NIU players Rodney Davis, Randy Norman, Brad Waller, Shawn Thrower, Willie Hanson and Art Rohlman. Ex-Huskies Val Leitzen, Shelly (Roberts) Davis, Deb Pettit and Denise Robinson will appear for the women.

Davis and Norman finished as the top two scorers on last year’s team, averaging 18.3 and 13.2 points per game, respectively. Norman also led NIU in 3-point shots last year (56), and Davis was second (45).

“It’s going to be a shootout,” said third-year NIU coach Jim Rosborough. “Whoever gets the ball, the others better clear out and get into rebounding position.”

Waller, who played for NIU from ‘82 through ’85, also should put on a shooting exhibition. Waller averaged 33.2 ppg. his senior year at Glenbard East High School and earned all-state honors. Recruited by former Chicago Bulls coach Ed Badger, Waller attended Cincinnati for one season before transferring to NIU.

As a Huskie, Waller was a two-time member of the All-Mid-American Conference Academic Team. His senior year at NIU, Waller was named the MAC Scholar Athlete for all sports and earned Honorable Mention Academic All-America honors.

Thrower (‘77-’81) made the NIU Top 20 scoring list with 955 career points. But his “most important statistic,” according to NIU Sports Information Director Mike Korcek, was Thrower’s 59 career dunks. Only Kenny Battle (99) had more.

“He (Thrower) was a good defensive player who really came into his own his senior year,” Korcek said. “He had long arms and could jump through the roof.”

Hanson (‘64-’67) set several free throw shooting records for NIU, including best percentage in a game (13 of 13), most in a game (22) and most in succession (32). Korcek also remembered Hanson’s outside shot as being “just deadly.”

Rohlman, who captained the ‘70-’71 Huskies, had his most memorable outing against Rudy Tomjanovich of Michigan. Rohlman scored 16 points against the future NBA star.

Shelly Davis (‘83-’86) finished as NIU’s No. 4 all-time leading scorer (1,176 points) and No. 7 career rebounder (520).

Davis’ former teammate, Leitzen (‘83-’87), was NIU’s third-leading career assist woman (299) behind another teammate, Robinson, who finished second (348). Leitzen’s 143 assists in ‘86-’87 were the second-most in a single season by a Huskie.

The Alumni/Media game will begin with the women for the first half, and the men will play the second half. The game begins at 11 p.m. and is preceded at 9:00 by a showing of the movie “Hoosiers.”

Following the all-star game at midnight, the ‘88-’89 women’s team will play the first half of an intra-squad game. At halftime, the men’s team will hold the “Huskie Air-Show” slam dunk competition and continue the intra-squad game’s second half.