Tom Jorgensen was the last NIU men’s basketball coach to win his first game as a Huskie.

On Friday night, Ricardo Patton tried to be the first since Jorgensen in 1966 to accomplish the same feat.

However, Patton and the Huskies didn’t win their season opener as they fell to Northern Iowa by a score of 75-45.

NIU (0-3) didn’t find any more success in the BTI Tip-Off Tourney in Cedar Falls, Iowa, over the weekend. The team also lost to Massachusetts on Saturday and Cal Poly (1-2) on Sunday by scores of 102-87 and 88-78.

“We knew it was going to be a tough beginning,” Patton said. “But as long as we continue to fight, we’ll get better in whatever it is we do.”

NIU guard Ryan Paradise led the Huskies in scoring in all three games.

Against UNI the senior put up seven points. Freshman guard Michael Patton also tied as the leading scorer with Paradise against the Panthers, as he put up seven points, as well.

Paradise reached double digits against UMass and Cal Poly. In the final two games of the weekend the senior scored 18 and 21 points, respectively.

NIU was unable to shoot a higher field goal percentage than any of its opponents this weekend. All of the competitors made at least 50 percent of their shots against the Huskies.

The Huskies’ best field goal percentage this weekend came against UMass, when they shot 43.9-perecent from the field.

Rebounding was an issue for NIU in its season opener. The Panthers nabbed 48 boards to the Huskies 30 in their first game of the season.

However, NIU responded by out-rebounding UMass and Cal-Poly by a combined total of 12 boards.

“If we could improve in one area, we thought it had to be rebounding,” Patton said after the game against UMass. “We had 20 offensive boards against their eight. That’s how you’re supposed to play the game because that speaks directly towards your aggressiveness.”