One of the biggest reasons for men’s basketball’s turnaround this season starts with the man in the middle: redshirt junior center Jordan Threloff.

Threloff, a DeKalb native, was a four-year varsity player at DeKalb High School, where he led the Barbs to back-to-back conference titles his junior and senior seasons. In his senior season, he averaged a double-double, scoring 18.4 points per game while pulling down 12.6 rebounds per game.

During his recruiting process, Threloff developed a close relationship with former NIU coach Rob Judson. When Judson left NIU to become an assistant coach at Illinois State, Threloff followed.

Between seeing limited action on the court in his three seasons at Illinois State and wanting to be near family, Threloff decided it was time to go a different direction. He came back home to DeKalb to be closer to his family and put on a Huskie uniform.

The recruiting process was easy for both sides, with Threloff looking for more playing time and to be closer to home, and the Huskies needing a center.

“I thought with him being familiar with the area, him living in the area, him being a star in the DeKalb area, I thought it was a win-win situation,” said head coach Mark Montgomery. “We could help him, and at the same time his family, his closest friends, his high school, his high school coaches and his teammates — they will all rally around him coming back to the area, which they have.

“And we didn’t have a true five-man, we didn’t have a true low-post player. So when he came and did his research and we researched him, we thought it was a good fit.”

Threloff said he thought he would be a good fit in the Huskie program.

“I kept tabs on them [the Huskies] in my three years at Illinois State, and I saw that sure they didn’t have one of the best record over the years,” Threloff said. “But one thing I noticed was coach Monty’s team was always one of the best rebounding teams in the conference, one of the best defensive teams in the conference, and that really excited me.”

Threloff bought into the Huskies’ philosophy on defense quickly and has helped NIU become the third-best defensive team in the MAC, allowing just 64.2 points per game.

“I think his size alone made our defense even better,” Montgomery said. “We’re still one of the top rebounding teams in the conference, but his presence has made other teams not go inside as much because we have a post presence in there.”

On the offensive side of the ball, Montgomery instituted an inside-out style to allow Threloff to be the focal point of the offense and to take advantage of opportunities in the paint.

“He had a lot to do with it because he can hold his low-post presence, where we can get the ball into the scoring area,” Montgomery said. “He gives you a low-post presence where he has a left- and right-handed jump hook, and he can finish with authority around the basket …. And he draws double teams or he draws opposing teams to where you have to dig and help in the post. He’s a very unselfish player, so he will kick out to our guards and our shooters.”

Threloff has more than enjoyed the system as of late, scoring 10 or more points in five of the Huskies’ last six games. He has been the most consistent post presence all season long and is averaging 8.5 points per game during conference play.

“It’s completely opposite of what I was used to playing with at Illinois State, and it’s so much more fun to be an offensive threat,” Threloff said. “I love being able to have that opportunity, and it’s really the perfect system for me and my style of play.”