In its final home game of the season, NIU men’s basketball looks to send its seniors out on a winning note at Senior Night against Toledo.

“We have to get a win for Tyler and for Grady,” said NIU redshirt sophomore Antone Christian. “They meant a lot to this program. They stuck through this program for four years; not a lot of people do that. A lot of people come and go, so it means a lot as a teammate to go ahead and put it all on the line for our seniors.”

The Huskies (3-24, 2-12 MAC) are coming off five-straight losses, while the Rockets (15-14, 6-8 MAC) are coming off four-straight wins.

The last time these two teams met Toledo defeated NIU 71-41.

“They are a high-octane team,” Christian said. “They like to get up and down. The last game we weren’t able to stop them in transition with our turnovers and our quick shots, but we’ve learned in order to beat them we have to keep them in the low 60s and 50s, take care of the ball and stop them in transition.”

Offensively, Toledo has four players who average double figures in Rian Pearson, Curtis Dennis, Julius Brown and Dominique Buckley.

“They’re a very explosive team,” said NIU coach Mark Montgomery. “They have multiple scorers. They have five guys that can get double figures. Dennis coming off the bench is very explosive. Pearson is a lot like Zielger that can get you 17 and eight, and Brown is probably the most talented freshman point guard in the league; a very good player.”

For NIU to be successful against Toledo, it will have to get back to being strong on the boards, after being outrebounded by Central Michigan in its last game, 40-34.

“We have to work on cutting out our men and then going to rebound,” Christian said. “Lately, we have just been going toward the basket expecting the rebound. We need to go back to the basics; cutting out our man, finding them and then being aggressive and go get the rebound.”