After a one-game road trip against the Buffalo Bulls, men’s basketball will return to the Convocation Center when it takes on Ball State today.

With the season dwindling down to a handful of games left, this is a crucial game for the Huskies (5-17, 3-7 MAC) and Cardinals (9-13, 3-7 MAC), who are tied in MAC play.

“It’s a huge game,” said coach Mark Montgomery. “Every game is big, but this is probably double as big when you only have six [games] left and you know you have to play them twice and you don’t want to give anymore away at home, you want to get some home dominance.”

NIU is coming off a tough 59-54 loss to the Bulls, where it had a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime, but failed to convert a 3-point basket.

On the other hand, Ball State is coming off a hard-fought 65-62 victory over Western Michigan. The team was led by senior guard Jauwan Scaife, who scored 30 points.

The Cardinals have three players who score in double figures, which makes them difficult to guard. Scaife leads the team with an average of 14 points per game, while junior guard Jesse Berry adds in 12.4 points per game and junior forward Majok Majok scores 11.8 points per game.

Majok averages a double-double by recording 10 rebound per game; he is the only player in the MAC to average a double-double.

“Well, Scaife is coming off 30,” Montgomery said. “So that’s a tall order, so he’s coming in hot and Majok has 15 double-doubles, that just shows consistency, he does it every game. And then you throw Berry in … and he’s giving you 12 a game. And when you got three guys in double figures, most nights that’s tough to beat.”

For the Huskies, sophomore wing Abdel Nader has been the focal point of the team’s offense as over the last four games he averaged 17.5 points and eight rebounds per game, recording two double-doubles in the process.

“He’s having a little more patience on offense,” Montgomery said. “He’s getting his shots within rhythm, he doesn’t have to create them all, and he’s getting some off drives and kicks from his other teammates. And then some of his teammates have stepped up and you can’t just key in on him.”