Despite playing with flu-like conditions, NIU guard Xavier Silas didn’t disappoint Wednesday evening.

Silas put together an all-around performance, pouring in his second-highest point total of the season with 39 while grabbing eight rebounds in the Huskies 83-74 home victory over Akron.

“I was just focusing on the game,” Silas said. “I put everything in the excuse basket; coach passed the basket around and we threw the excuses in there.”

How Silas earned his 39 points was a tale of two first-half stories. The Austin, Texas native came out in the first-half of play shooting the ball with confidence. Silas drained four of his seven shots from beyond the arc and went into the locker room with a team-high 18 points.

“It felt normal,” said Silas of how he felt shooting the ball from long distance. “I just took a little bit more shots [from outside] tonight … it felt good.”

In the second half, Silas found himself at the charity stripe and took full advantage. Silas connected on 14 of his 18 second-half free-throw attempts.

“I didn’t think that the flu or anything was going to be able to stop me from doing what I had to do,” Silas said.

Zips’ head coach Keith Dambrot admitted that letting Silas get off to a hot start was simply too much for his team to overcome.

“Silas can’t get what he got and expect to win,” Dambrot said.

NIU head coach Ricardo Patton admired Silas’ resilience to play under the weather.

“What’s unique about what he did tonight is he’s still battling a stomach virus,” Patton said. “He’s been sick.”

Wednesday night’s game had more attention than usual. Comcast SportsNet Chicago elected to broadcast the game on a delay while NBA scouts were in attendance to check out the MAC’s leading scorer, whose 23.6 points per game will certainly increase after his 39-point performance.

Representatives from the Chicago Bulls, Detroit Pistons, Miami Heat, Charlotte Bobcats and the Boston Celtics all came out to see Silas play.

Silas said he had no idea the scouts were there.

With all eyes seemingly zoned in on him, Silas could have soaked in all the attention. Instead, he saw the Huskies’ third conference victory as the top story.

“That’s the story for tonight,” Silas said. “It’s not the five NBA scouts here; it’s the win.”