It’s been eight years since the NIU men’s basketball team won six straight games at home.

Under coach Brian Hammel, the Huskies team of 1995-1996 rattled off eight straight home wins en route to a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Currently, the home win streak sits at five after the Huskies knocked off Bowling Green Wednesday, and if NIU can beat Ball State at 1:05 p.m. Sunday, it would set a new record at the Convocation Center.

“Our team isn’t really focusing on that,” NIU coach Rob Judson said. “This whole year the team has been focused on being near-sighted. But that win over Bowling Green did give the players a confidence boost.”

That confidence may be a necessity to get that sixth straight win as the NIU injury list grew one name longer after Wednesday’s game. Center James Hughes is questionable for the BSU game after he suffered an injury in his lower back. Coaches are comparing the injury to a hip pointer.

The injury occurred during the first half of Wednesday’s game when Hughes went up for a rebound and fell on a BGSU player.

Right now Judson doesn’t know for sure if Hughes, who averages nine points and five rebounds a game, will play on Sunday. The fourth year coach said Hughes is very sore and bruised, so his ability to play will depend on how well the 6-foot-11 sophomore can play through pain.

Judson has been making many adjustments to his game plan, one of which is the possible increase in playing time for Bryson McKenzie. The 6-foot-10 center redshirted last season because of knee surgery and is averaging 3.4 minutes per game this season.

Despite all the new adjustments, one aspect of the game plan that hasn’t changed has been the need to stop Dennis Trammell.

Ball State’s senior guard dropped 24 points on NIU back on Jan. 29 and is currently sixth in the MAC in scoring with a 16.6 points per game average.

“Trammell is one heck of a player and we can’t let him beat us,” Judson said. “But Ball State has a very balanced offense. They have a lot of guys who can score so we can’t just focus on him.”