There is no site more welcome for the NIU men’s basketball team than the Convocation Center.

After dropping 10 in a row on the road, NIU gets a chance to wind down its season at a place where it has won four in a row – DeKalb.

NIU will play its final three games of the regular season at the Convo, the first of which is at 7:05 p.m. today against the top team in the MAC West – Bowling Green.

Consecutive home games have been a long time coming for the Huskies. Dec. 1 and Dec. 4 marked the last times NIU played consecutive games in front of a home crowd this season. And they’ve played twice as many games on the road as opposed to home (eight home games to 16 away). It all added up to one tough schedule, NIU coach Rob Judson said.

“It’s just been a real challenge,” Judson said. “Not just the aspect of playing in your own arena – but when you play on the road as much as we have, you can’t get into a set routine; class and practice wise.”

But when the Huskies (9-15 overall, 5-10 MAC) have played at home, they have taken advantage of it. NIU owns the second-best home conference record at 5-1.

These are things Judson is hoping his players will take advantage of; but even he knows that when BGSU (16-7, 9-5) steps into the Convo, all of that goes out the window.

The Falcons bring with them two of the top scorers in the MAC. BGSU seniors John Reimold and Josh Almanson come in tied for second place in the MAC in scoring. Each of them is averaging 18 points per game.

“Those two have been shooting so well from three,” Judson said. “And because of their size, they can cause a lot of mismatches.”

NIU will have to counter size with size. James Hughes, 6-foot-11, is coming off an 18-point performance against Wright State and will play a big role in what NIU does.

But despite being the underdog, Judson can’t wait for today’s game, because, as he said, the chance for an upset is what’s exciting about college basketball.