Men’s basketball (21-12, 9-9 MAC) is preparing to take on the University of California, Santa Barbara (18-13, 11-5 Big West) in the Vegas 16 quarterfinals on Monday.

The Huskies are coming off of a loss to Ohio University in the MAC quarterfinals after having a 21-win season. The Gauchos saw their nine-game winning streak end in the Big West semifinals to the eventual conference champions, the University of Hawaii.

The Vegas 16 will be NIU’s fourth postseason appearance and UCSB’s 13th postseason berth. NIU participated in the NCAA Tournament in 1982, ’91 and ’96, while the Gauchos have advanced to five NCAA Tournaments (1988, ’90, 2002, 2010 and 2011), five National Invitation Tournaments (1989, ’92, ’93, 2003 and 2008), one College Basketball Invitational (2015) and one College Insider Tournament (2012).

UCSB senior center Sam Beeler led the Big West in field goal percentage (71 percent) and junior guard Eric Childress led the Big West in three-point field goal percentage (46.3 percent).

NIU was one of the top defensive teams in the MAC this season. Senior guard Travon Baker set new NIU records for steals, games played and ranks third in assists in NIU history. The winner will advance to the semifinal games Tuesday.

The quarterfinal game will begin at 8 p.m. Monday and the semifinals will begin at 10:30 p.m. Tuesday. The title game is scheduled for 9 p.m. Wednesday.