Brian Earle

Staff Writer H @NSSBrianE22

DeKalb | Following a convincing 111-61 victory over Saint Joseph’s (Ind.) Sunday, men’s basketball is set for its big matchup with Nebraska in Lincoln at noon Saturday.

NIU hasn’t broken the 100-point barrier since its Nov. 26, 2005, when the Huskies scored 102 points against Aurora. Sophomore wing Darrell Bowie recorded his first career double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds.

The Huskies looked to get out on the fast break in the victory and will look to get out and run against Nebraska.

“Offensively we’re not going to change what we’re trying to do,” said coach Mark Montgomery. “We’re still trying to, every chance we get the ball, work on our transition offense and run for layups and get the ball in the post right away, so we’re still going to look to push the ball.”

This is the Huskies’ first game of the season on the road after playing five games in a row at home. Montgomery is looking for his team to stay composed and play NIU’s style of basketball.

“You want to definitely control tempo, where we’re playing at the speed that we’re comfortable at playing,” Montgomery said. “Nebraska, they are definitely a team that wants to go up and down to.”

As for the Cornhuskers (4-2), they are coming off a 73-65 win over Georgia at the Charleston Classic. On the year they are averaging 76.8 points per game. They have a number of scorers as they have four players that average in double figures.

Sophomore forward Terran Petteway is the team’s leading scorer with 16.7 points per game while sophomore guard Shavon Shields averages 13.3 points per game.

Montgomery is excited about the team’s chance to go up against a team from the Big 10 conference. He thinks it will be a strong test for the Huskies to see where they are at as a team.

“Anytime you can go against another team from a bigger conference that’s had success and has big bodies, it’s just going to get us ready for all the teams in the MAC,” Montgomery said. “You look forward to those challenges where it’s you against the world and everyone’s counting you out. You just have to go in there and compete and play for 40 minutes and see what happens. But we’re definitely gonna know where we’re at after this game.”