NIU ends up and down season

By Ben Gross

One person can make a difference in the world.

That same idea can express the NIU men’s basketball 2005-2006 season, as one point made the difference in six games. In those six games the Huskies went 1-5.

This Achilles heel proved to be fatal for the No. 2 seeded team in the MAC tournament as they made an early exit via a one-point loss.

But the road to a 17-11 record and earning the No. 2 seed was a lengthy journey for the men’s squad. In fact, the team had to do something that had never been done in school history — win the MAC West.

Not a pretty start

Things didn’t look good from the beginning. The team experienced a 36-point loss against Missouri State — the worst loss of the season.

“Usually during a season a team will have three games where they just don’t play well,” NIU coach Rob Judson said. “And this team only had one.”

NIU turned it around and went on a four-game winning streak that included victories over DePaul, Wright State and Toledo.

The win against Toledo was monumental. It broke a 12 road-game losing streak in conference that dated back two seasons.

“Your effort is not always rewarded immediately,” Judson said. “But in this case our effort to be resilient paid off early.”

But the celebration didn’t last long.

With 15 seconds left, the University of Illinois-Chicago scored a basket and gave the Huskies their first one-point loss of the season.

NIU rebounded with a win against Kansas State, only to experience another one-point loss against North Dakota state 10 days later.

The trail to the top

With the new year, the Huskies ended their out of conference schedule and returned exclusively to MAC play.

The East was a challenge as NIU went 3-5 against the division. But the Huskies proved to be dominating in the west by going 9-1.

The only loss suffered to an inter-division opponent was a 67-66 loss to Toledo.

Times got tough for NIU in early February. The team lost two road games against the MAC East, a new Web site calling for Rob Judson to be fired was launched and NIU dropped a double-overtime game against Big South champions Winthrop by one point.

The team bounced back to win the last four games of the season. This included a final game at Western Michigan where NIU had not won in more than 20 years.

“The most rewarding win was the last game against Western Michigan,” Judson said. “Without Ben Rand or James Hughes, we won where NIU hasn’t since 1984.”

The four victories put NIU on top of the MAC West as it claimed its first MAC West title in school history.

“MAC West champs, something we’ve never done here,” Senior forward Todd Peterson said. “To go out as a champ, on top, it’s all I can ask for.”

One last heartbreaker

The most heartbreaking defeat of the season may have been in the MAC tournament.

NIU found itself against Toledo in the second round of the tournament.

Down by 16 at the half, the Huskies worked their way back to within one point with 10 seconds left on the clock.

But the cards weren’t in the favor of the Huskies. The Rockets handed them their final one-point loss of the season.

“I wish we just had one more minute on the scoreboard in that game,” Judson said.

One — it seemed to be the theme for NIU this season. The No. 1 team in the MAC West, six one-point losses, and one “historic” season.