As the men’s college basketball season begins to wind down, each game becomes more important and has huge implications in the seeding for conference tournaments.

Right now, the Huskies (5-19, 3-9 MAC) are in fifth place in the MAC West, one spot ahead of Central Michigan (9-16, 2-10 MAC).

If the MAC Conference tournament were to start today, the Huskies would be the No. 10 seed and would have to win a play-in game to play in the MAC tournament in Cleveland.

However, the Huskies are in a good position and will play a number of teams in the MAC that could help them move up in the standings.

NIU has five games remaining, four of those against MAC opponents. The advantage for the Huskies is the first two games are at home against Eastern Michigan and Central Michigan.

The Huskies have already played and lost to Eastern Michigan earlier this season, 42-25. While the Huskies already proved they can stop Eastern Michigan’s offense, they just need their own offense to keep producing the way they have been of late.

NIU will already feel confident about going into its game against Central Michigan, as it was able to earn a 74-61 victory on the road.

The Huskies then hit the road for the final two games of the season, starting with Toledo (12-11, 8-4 MAC), which is tied for the lead in the MAC West.

Their previous matchup went down to the wire at the Convocation Center, as the Rockets narrowly edged out a victory thanks to strong free-throw shooting down the stretch.

The Huskies will close out their regular season with another matchup against Ball State (10-14, 4-8 MAC), which is one spot ahead of the Huskies in the MAC West.

In their meeting earlier in the season, the Huskies and Cardinals went down to the wire; the Cardinals held on to win 56-52 behind senior guard Jauwan Scaife’s 23 points.

This all means the Huskies control their own future. They will play the right teams to move up in the MAC West standings. If they are able play strong basketball and earn a few victories down the stretch, they could finish the season with a better seed in the MAC tournament.