The NIU men’s basketball team will play in-state rival Bradley at 7:05 p.m. on Feb. 21 in Peoria for ESPN’s Bracketbuster Saturday.

The contest marks the seventh time the two programs have met with Bradley holding a 5-1 advantage.

NIU coach Rob Judson was an assistant coach at Bradley from 1991-’96 under Jim Molinari.

The MAC and the Missouri Valley Conference are the only two conferences to feature all member schools in the event. Of the 23 games, with teams primarily from mid-major conferences, only 10 will be televised on ESPN or ESPN 2; NIU’s will not be.

NIU will play Bradley at home during the 2004-’05 season as a result of playing in Peoria this season.

“We are excited to compete in the ESPN Bracketbuster event,” Judson said. “We are excited about the opportunity to face a great Bradley program and look forward to hosting them at our place next season.”

Sharp-shooter still out

Senior guard Al Sewasciuk remains sidelined with a left calf injury and doesn’t appear to be getting better, NIU coach Rob Judson said.

“[Sewasciuk’s is] on and off crutches,” Judson said. “It’s not a day-to-day thing; it’s aways from that.”

Sewasciuk hurt the muscle in NIU’s 86-65 win over Eastern Michigan on Jan. 14.

The senior had a season-high nine points against both Cornell (Iowa) and BYU-Hawaii.

Sewasciuk is averaging three points per game and is third on NIU’s career list with 146 three-point field goal makes.

Seeing red

For the first time this season, NIU wore its away red jerseys at home on Saturday against Toledo.

In college basketball, it is customary for the home team to wear white or a light color.

Judson used the jerseys to give his guys some energy, he said.

“We did it to fire the guys up,” Judson said. “It worked at first.”

The retro jerseys, similar to those of the Chicago Bulls, worked the better part of the first half.

NIU came out on a 22-8 run before succumbing to Toledo’s hot shooting led by senior Keith Triplett who finished with a game-high 21 points.

MAC players of the week

Two juniors were named MAC players of the week.

From the West Division, Levi Rost averaged 21 points and five rebounds per game in wins over Ohio and Eastern Michigan.

Rost averaged 5.5 points per game going into last week.

Rost scored a career-high 26 points in a 96-73 win over Ohio and added 16 points in a 75-55 win over Eastern Michigan.

Earlier this season, Rost’s twin sister, Casey, was honored as the women’s MAC West Division Player of the Week.

Turner Battle was the selection from the East after leading Buffalo to back-to-back wins over Akron and Ball State.

Battle averaged 23.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.0 steals during the week.

In a home game against the Zips, Battle scored a career-high 26 points on 9-for-12 from the field and 4-of-4 from three-point range. He also had six assists and three steals.

Battle also scored 20 points in giving Ball State its first home MAC loss of the season.