Coming off a win in its only exhibition game of the season, men’s basketball is set for its home season opener against Nebraska Omaha at 7 p.m. Friday at the Convocation Center.

These two teams met last season with the Mavericks getting the best of the Huskies, 77-64, on the road. The Mavericks return three of their top scorers from a season ago in senior guard Justin Simmons, who averaged 16.7 points per game; senior center John Karhoff, who poured in 12 points per game; and junior guard CJ Carter, who added in 9.7 points per game.

“They have some offensive weapons,” said NIU coach Mark Montgomery. “They are very good in transition. Phillips is another player that’s athletic, he gets you eight or nine, so they have some offensive weapons, and we’re going to have to make sure we try to keep them in front of us and limit their transition baskets.”

Fast break points played a big part in last season’s game as the Mavericks scored 16 points on the break. The Huskies are familiar with the Mavericks’ style of play.

“They really get out there, they like trying to push the ball in transition by getting stops and cause fast breaks,” said sophomore wing Darrell Bowie. “They are a pretty solid team, they are like us, who wanna get up and down. They run a lot of offensive sets to get their post players the ball, a lot of pick and pop, pick and roll situations, so we just gotta defend it.”

As for the Huskies, they bring a different style of play into this game from a season ago. The Huskies will look to pound the ball inside to their three big centers: redshirt juniors Pete Rakocevic, Jordan Threloff and freshman Marin Maric.

“One, it should help us shoot a better percentage,” Montgomery said. “They are closer to the basket and they like to finish around the basket. Two, they can help us get to the free throw line because those guys are more going to get fouled around the basket… Having post players on the offensive end, it means a lot but on the defensive end. We should be able to control our backboards and keep guys out of the paint.”

In the Huskies’ exhibition game, Threloff led the way for the Huskies with 17 points off the bench. Rakocevic scored 11 points while Maric added five points.

“It helps us big, having three big guys,” Bowie said. “That’s a really big deal, especially during the season as you face teams, you need to have big guys to maintain the paint, help on defense and be able to get a quick two buckets by just pounding it into the post. They are a big part of the team and its important for us to let them get touches.”