The NIU men’s basketball team will try to even its conference record at 3-3 at 1 p.m. Saturday on the road against Ohio.

The Huskies (7-8 overall, 2-3 MAC) defeated Ohio (4-10, 1-3) 73-63 earlier this season, on Jan. 3.

NIU is coming off a win at home on Wednesday against Eastern Michigan, where it was led by 22 points from forward Marcus Smallwood.

“What we want to do is get over the hump,” NIU assistant coach Donald Whiteside said. “We just want to be consistant. Any time we go out and play, because we were marked at the top of the league in the preseason, everyone is going to be gunning for us. What the MAC did was put the bullseye on our backs.”

Smallwood has scored 22 points in back-to-back games against Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan. The two 20-point-plus performances are the first time since Smallwood’s sophomore year that he has gone over 20 in back-to-back games.

Smallwood has pushed his scoring average to 15.5 points per game to go along with 10.3 rebounds. The 6-foot-6 senior is the only player in the MAC to average a double-double.

“The most important thing with Marcus, as a senior, is that he and Perry [Smith] have to be leaders with us,” Whiteside said. “More important than any points they throw in, they have to lead.”

Against Ohio, NIU is expected to continue to rely on its defense, which they have done so far this year.

NIU is in the top four in the conference in scoring defense (66.5), field goal percentage defense (.399) and three-point percentage defense (.304), while its offense ranks 11th out of 14 teams in the conference at 69 points per game.

Jaivon Harris leads the Bobcats with 13.4 points per game. Harris is coming off a career-high 25 points as Ohio came back from a 14-point second half deficit to beat Buffalo 90-76 on Wednesday.