DeKalb | Men’s golf takes its second trip to Wisconsin on the year as it looks to build upon its best outing of the season.

The Huskies will be without one of their top performers, Nick Huggins, who will miss the rest of the season after injuring his hip. NIU will compete in the three-day, 54-hole Invitational at Erin Hills in Hartford, Wis.

NIU has faced its fair share of competitive teams this season and this trip to Wisconsin will be no different. Stanford, UCLA and Oklahoma are among the teams NIU will see when it travels to Wisconsin.

“We are going to see some of the top programs in the country,” said head coach Tom Porten. “That is what we want we want, to compete against some of the top teams in the country and find out how good we are or how far we have to go, and we will work at it.”

The Erin Hills golf course will be one of the more difficult courses NIU will play this fall and Porten is looking forward to seeing how the guys compete.

“Erin Hills is going to host the U.S. Open in 2016,” Porten said. “It is a big, hard, physical golf course. It is forecasted to be windy and the conditions are going to be challenging, but we took a step forward this tournament, so hopefully we can take that, use our few days of practice and do it all over again.”

Huggins feels NIU’s last performance, where it shot its second-best round of the fall, is a preview of things to come.

“We had some good rounds,” Huggins said. “Everyone is starting to shoot lower scores and attack the right holes; they are going in the right direction. You do not get good overnight: You have to work at it day in and day out to try and get the results you want in the long run.”

The tournament tees off Saturday and goes through Tuesday.