It’s been over a year since the NIU men’s basketball team has won a MAC road game. For Huskies coach Rob Judson, 6 p.m. today would be as good a time as any to break that streak.

For the third straight year, NIU will face Buffalo in the first round of the MAC tournament in hopes of tallying its only first-round tournament road win in school history.

“Buffalo is a tough place to play,” Judson said of the Bulls, who have won six of their last seven and are 12-2 at home. “They shoot very well from behind the three-point line at home.”

The Huskies lost 86-80 at Buffalo on Jan. 25. The Bulls had five players score in double-digits and shot 8-of-16 from behind the three-point arc.

Buffalo won last year’s first-round tournament game 90-73 before a crowd of 8,971.

“That crowd is huge,” NIU junior Todd Peterson said. “Their student section is pretty amazing, and I think last year that kind of shocked us. Now we’ll know what to expect.”

The Huskies’ one first-round win since 1996 came in 2003, when the Huskies beat the Bulls at the Convocation Center 81-64.

In 2003, the Huskies advanced to the semifinals, losing to eventual MAC champion, Central Michigan.

The Huskies arrived in Buffalo Sunday afternoon, and will have more rest for the matchup, which Judson hopes will take away some of the Bulls’ home court advantage.

“It’s a big advantage,” Judson said. “But our team has played confidently at home and they’re bringing a lot of that into this trip.”

Buffalo is led by Turner Battle, who averages 15.5 points per game, eighth-most in the MAC.

The advancing team will play MAC West champion Toledo on Thursday at Cleveland’s Gund Arena.

MAC Notes

Down to the wire

To showcase how much of a toss up the MAC is this season, the top five seeds of the MAC tournament all had a loss in one of their final two games.

Miami-Ohio held on to its top spot even after losing its final game to Marshall.

Toledo finished atop the MAC West with an overtime victory over NIU and was given the No. 2 seed.

Reed leads

The top five players for the MAC scoring title were separated by a margin of .6 points, but Western Michigan’s Ben Reed edged out the competition.

Last season Reed was an All-MAC selection and finished seventh in the scoring race with 16.0 points per game. This year, he finished at 17.7 points per game.

Akron’s baby LeBrons

Akron sophomores Dru Joyce and Romeo Travis are used to playing in the shadows.

At St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, the duo played in the shadows of NBA All-Star LeBron James.

As freshmen at Akron, the two played in the shadow of MAC scoring champion Derrick Tarver.

With Tarver graduated, Travis is now second on the team in scoring and Joyce leads the team in assists.

BSU guard out

Ball State’s Dennis Trammell, who averaged 15.9 points in 23 games this season, will not play the remainder of the season due to tendinitis in his left achilles.

The senior Chicago native is his team’s second-leading scorer behind Peyton Stovall.