There’s two type of people in this world, those who plan ahead and those who live in the moment. Coach Rob Judson is the latter as he will focus on the task at hand this weekend.

The mission for NIU will begin Sunday at 4:05 p.m., as it defends the Convocation Center for the last time this season.

The Senior Day game is against an Eastern Michigan squad (6-18 Overall, 2-13 MAC) which NIU beat 67-55 five weeks ago.

“Senior day is always a special day,” Judson said. “The rest of the players want to do everything they can to send the seniors off with a successful game.”

Judson isn’t worried his players’ minds will be cluttered with thoughts of keeping pace with Western Michigan, the emotions of Senior Day, or the fact that EMU ranks in the lower third of many MAC statistics. The fifth year coach knows keeping his team focused on the moment will be the key to success in the marathon college basketball season.

“Every game is important, as every possession in a game is,” Judson said. “Our team is near sighted — we’re focused on Eastern Michigan.”

The Huskies also will have to find a way to limit the No. 1 scorer and rebounder in the MAC, John Bowler. The senior forward is averaging more than 19 points per game and in the last meeting; nabbed 17 points and 7 boards.

Ben Gross

Coming off back-to-back wins, the NIU women’s basketball team has plenty of momentum heading into the end of the season.

But NIU coach Carol Owens knows it takes more than momentum to win games.

“It’s good to have momentum at this in the season,” Owens said. “But we have to come out and focus on the things we need to.”

The Huskies (11-14 overall, 7-7 MAC) will host MAC West opponent Western Michigan (12-13 overall, 9-5 MAC) Sunday at 1:05 p.m. at the Convocation Center.

“Western’s a very good team,” Owens said. “They have lots of offensive weapons on their team.”

Two of those offensive weapons are WMU’s guard combo of junior Carrie Moore and senior Casey Rost. Moore ranks third in the MAC in scoring with 17.1 points per game while Rost ranks fourth with 16.8 ppg.

Together the guards help the Broncos score 69.5 ppg.

Andrew Hansen

An ranking them second in the MAC, while shooting a conference-high 43.3 percent.

NIU looks to balance WMU’s attack with the MAC’s fifth ranked scoring defense, holding teams to 64.1 points per game, and holding teams’ shooting percentage to under 39 percent, ranking them fourth in the conference.

Owens said if the Huskies play good enough defense, the offense will come around.

“Defense is key,” the first year head coach said. “We let defense lead into offensive opportunities.”

In a Jan. 18 game at WMU, the Huskies lost 78-65. Owens said the reason for the loss is that NIU didn’t come out physical in the beginning of the game.

“We were not ready to play as physical of a game as we expected to,” Owens said. “We need to have a sense of urgency in the beginning.”

A win Sunday would seal at least a .500 conference record for the Huskies, the first since the 2002-03 season when they went 8-8. A win could lead to NIU’s first winning MAC record since the 2001-02 season when the Huskies went 10-6.