This season has been a learning experience for the NIU men’s basketball team.

The Huskies have experienced ups and downs throughout the season and look to figure out their groove, trying to gain ground in the conference standings.

NIU (8-17 overall, 3-9 MAC) tips off with Western Michigan (9-17, 6-6) tonight at 7 p.m. at the Convocation Center. The Broncos, who are tied with Ball State for first place in the MAC West, had the upper hand in the two teams’ last meeting, walking away with a 71-52 victory on Jan. 17.

The Huskies, sitting at fourth in the division, are coming off a 97-73 win over Southeast Missouri State on Saturday and look to ride that momentum into conference play.

“I think our guys will come out and play with confidence,” said NIU head coach Ricardo Patton.

“We know WMU is a very good basketball team, and they beat us pretty handly at their place, but we spotted them 19 points in the first half. We came out in the second half, and it was a two-point ballgame. We just have to play for 40 minutes.”

WMU is looking for its second MAC West title and is led by junior David Kool. The guard ranks second in the league in scoring, averaging 17.3 points a game. The Broncos lost five seniors from last year’s team that went 12-4 in league play but still have enough players on the roster who know the ropes.

“The thing you learn from winning is how to win,” Patton said. “That’s what they have, a group of guys that have won enough games, and they understand what it takes to win. That’s what we’re trying to teach our guys. It’s a learning process.”

Guard combination Darion ‘Jake’ Anderson and Mike DiNunno led NIU into today’s matchup averaging 16.3 and 12.7 points a game, respectively. The Huskies average 66.4 points a game, but scoring has not been their biggest concern.

Patton harps on the importance of defense and continuing to improve and learn from previous experiences.

“We just want to continue to get better and eliminate some of the mistakes we’ve made this season,” Patton said. “We’ve just got to continue to get better and not make the same mistakes. It’s kind of like the definition of insanity, ‘to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result.’ Changes have got to take place.”