It’s nice to be hot during this time of year, especially when a groundhog has said there are six more weeks of winter.

That’s exactly what the NIU men’s basketball team has been, with its victory over Western Michigan tying a season-high four game winning streak.

The Huskies (13-7 overall, 8-4 MAC) won four straight at the beginning of the season when they beat Aurora, DePaul, Toledo and Wright State.

That streak ended in a 55-54 buzzer beater loss to University of Illinois-Chicago in December.

NIU will try to extend its winning streak Thursday night when they play Ohio (13-6, 7-4), a team the Huskies beat by six points at the Convocation Center in January.

Margin of success

Although the weekend win against Western Michigan may not be the most points tallied by the Huskies this season, the 86-60 victory against Western Michigan marked the most points and largest margin of victory NIU has posted against MAC opponents.

The Huskies produced more points only once this season, in a 102-61 win against Division III Aurora.

NIU had four players score double digits Saturday in DeKalb. Ryan Paradise led the team with 15, Todd Peterson added 13 and Mike McKinney and Ben Rand provided the team with another 12 and 11, respectively.

Southern hospitality

ESPN announced NIU will be heading to the Big South to play in the fourth-annual Bracket Buster on Feb. 18.

Out of a pool of 100 teams, the Huskies were selected to match up against Big South Conference leader Winthrop (14-6).

The Eagles are 8-1 on their home court and 6-2 in their last eight games.

Home sweet accuracy

It’s too bad for the Huskies they only have two home games left this season.

The Huskies have shot an average 61.2 percent from the field at the Convocation Center in the past three home games.

NIU leads the conference in shooting at 49.6 percent.

The Huskies have two players in the top five in the conference in field goal percentage. Junior James Hughes is second in the MAC at 60.2 percent and guard Mike McKinney is fourth at 58.5 percent.