A long road trip and jet lag might have helped factor into another loss for NIU men’s basketball Monday night 58-47.

Coming off a loss to Boise State, the Huskies (0-6) traveled to Utah and dropped their second straight road game out west to the Utah Valley (4-3).

The opportunity for NIU head coach Mark Montgomery’s first win was there, as the Huskies led by one point early on and trailed by only three points at halftime. However, NIU couldn’t get going offensively after the half.

“We just couldn’t get going in the second half,” Montgomery said. “They made some plays and we didn’t. I thought they were a little tougher and a little stronger down low than us”.

Utah Valley was led by the hot hands of senior guard Isaiah Williams, who finished with 15 points to lead all scorers, and senior forward Geddes Robinson, who finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Both players helped the Wolverines go on a 14-0 run after NIU had evened the game at 29 all, and it was ultimately the undoing for the Huskies.

“[Utah Valley] got their shots,” said NIU guard Antone Christian. “They hit it went it counted, and they went on a stretch where they didn’t miss.”

For the sixth straight game, NIU failed to reach 60 points, as the poor shooting woes continued for a team that’s still trying to find their offensive rhythm.

“We weren’t hitting any shots, we couldn’t buy a bucket,” Christian said, who went 2-7 from the floor, and finished with four points, seven rebounds and two assists. “The ball just didn’t bounce our way.”

It might have been the mountain air, but the Huskies couldn’t find the bottom of the net, clanging shots of the rim on their way to shooting 35 percent as a team from field goal range.

The bad shots also led to more rebounds for the Wolverines, who didn’t fare much better shooting the ball, knocking down only 38 percent of their shots, but took advantage of the momentum swing to pull away from the Huskies.

“I’m proud that we held them to only 38 percent shooting, but we have to shoot better than 35 percent,” Montgomery said.

NIU starting five shot a collective 30 percent from the field. However, NIU only turned the ball over 10 times, a bright spot that shouldn’t be overlooked, Christian said.

“Turnovers has been our Achilles heel, but we only turned it over ten times tonight,” Christian said. “It’s hard right now, but we lost sticking together, and we fought hard as a team. We’re going to continue to work extra hours until we get better.”