Coming fresh off of a 93 to 77 win over Aurora College in their season opener, the NIU men’s hoop squad will take on Kent State tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Kent, Ohio.

The last time these two squads met was Feb. 1, 1986 in Kent, Ohio.

The Huskies came out of Kent with victory in hand (70-64), but not before they played an overtime period and witnessed sophomore forward Kenny Battle, who later played on the University of Illinois 1989 Final Four team, score nine points in the extra period to steer them to victory.

The Huskies might need that extra period to take care of this year’s Kent State team if they take care of the ball in the same manner that they did against Aurora.

The Huskies had a combined total of 28 turnovers in the game with their starting guards Mike Lipnisky committing 4 and Randy Tucker committing 3.

***PULL QUOTE”This was not an artistic event. We had no respect for the basketball. A lot of turnovers were unforced. One time Hubert Register almost got decapitated by one of our passes,” head coach Brian Hammel said.

Coming off of a poor ball handling night like that, the Huskies will need to be aware of what their doing against a Kent State squad that is most noted for its defensive intensity.

“They are solid, well-coached and sound, defensively. It will be a good test for us early,” Hammel said.

Starting for the Huskies tonight will be Jamal Robinson (So), Marlin Simms (So), Steve Olendorf (Sr), Mike Lipnisky (Sr) and Randy Tucker (Jr) against a much younger Kent State squad.

Kent will start Shawn McKenzie (So), Rod Koch (Sr), Bill Davis (So), Nate Reinking (So) and Durand Wilkins (So).

This year’s Kent squad is coming off of a sixth-place finish in the Mid-American Conference last season and is tabbed to end up in the eighth spot in the MAC this year.

In two pre-season games the high scorer for the Kent State squad has been senior forward Rod Koch, dropping in 13 points against Athletes in Action, and 19 against the Finnish National Team.

One player on the Kent squad that is not starting but is expected to make some noise against the Huskies, is senior guard and co-captain Jeff Anderson.

Last year Anderson averaged 9.7 ppg, went 44 of 82 from three- point land, out distancing Kentucky’s Travis Ford and Indiana’s Pat Graham, to win the 1992-93 AT&T Long Distance Award.

The Huskies first Mid-Con player of the week selection of the season is Randy Tucker. Tucker was awarded the honor for his 23 points and deadeye accuracy against Aurora on Saturday, going 8 of 11 from the field including 5 of 8 from three-point land.

The Huskies next contest is December 18 against Akron in the doghouse.

“This was not an artistic event. We had no respect for the basketball. A lot of turnovers were unforced. One time Hubert Register almost got decapitated by one of our passes.”

Brian Hammel

men’s basketball head coach