Coming off its loss to Akron, NIU men’s basketball is set for its rematch at home today against Western Michigan.

In the Huskies (3-20, 2-9 MAC) first meeting with the Broncos (10-15, 4-7 MAC) this season, they came up short, 77-68.

What NIU found out in its first meeting is that Western Michigan gets the ball inside to its big men, Matt Stainbrook and Flenard Whitfield, who score a lot of points in the paint. Stainbrook averages 12.1 points per game while Whitfield averages 10.9 points per game.

“They like to play inside and out,” said NIU redshirt sophomore Antone Christian. “They have two good post players in Stainbrook and Whitfield, so they like to work the ball inside to them first, and then get their shooters open and pass the ball back out.”

The Huskies will have to play strong, help defense as a team, especially in the post to stop the Broncos inside game.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if coach makes us go ahead and double-down in the post,” Christian said. “And then rotate accordingly if he decides to throw the ball back out.”

As far as the offense goes for NIU, its had some players step up in the last couple of games and put some points on the board, which needs to continue.

Tyler Storm scored 17 points in a win against Miami (Ohio), and Keith Gray scored 13 points in a loss against Akron. NIU coach Mark Montgomery said he is still looking for more.

“We need more guys during the game to get us multiple scorers,” Montgomery said. “It would be nice to see if they could both do it on the same day; that would get us over the hump. But with more and more guys, you can see improvement in their games, and their scoring numbers.”