DeKALB | Remember the little old psychiatrist from the movie “The Natural?”

Hired to cure the fictional Knights from a prolonged losing skid, the hunchbacked gray haired man in a fedora would tersely lecture Roy Hobbs and Co. that “losing is a disease.”

Besieged with injury and riddled with inconsistency, the NIU men’s basketball team (4-13, 1-4) has lost 13 of their last 14 games.

Coming to town for a 7 p.m. tilt today at the Convocation Center is Akron (13-4, 4-1), a team that will be tough to get well against.

The Zips have posted four straight wins, are in first place in the MAC East, and are just starting to get the attention of the national media with two votes in the AP Poll this week.

Akron enters connecting on a league high 48.6 percent of their shots, while converting 39 percent of their three-point attempts.

The potent combination has Akron on top of the MAC with a 15.5 average margin of victory.

The Zips are also tops in assists, blocked shots, turnover margin, and assist to turnover ration.

Those gaudy offensive stats are complimented by a defense that allows the second fewest points and tallies the second most steals in the MAC.

Not good news for an NIU squad that posted a season high 33 turnovers on Sunday in a 76-60 loss at Toledo.

Akron boasts an impressive resume, having earned a NIT berth last season. So, to whom does NIU Coach Rob Judson turn for a cure to the chronic-losing bug that has bitten the team?

Senior guard Mike McKinney has answered the bell as of late and has upped his offensive output to a team high 13.2 points per game.

Judson has been fond of the defensive effort of McKinney lately; as the senior guard has a team high 21 steals.

Even though he is seven inches shorter than senior center James Hughes, McKinney pulls down an average of one less rebound per game, 5.8 to 4.8.

Unlike the basketball “powerhouses” that load up their schedule with home games, NIU has played a grueling road slate. The Huskies have been in front of the home crowd only six times this season, and own a 3-3 record in those games.

With 12 MAC games left, seven at the Convocation Center, now is the time for NIU to cure that losing disease.