The NIU men’s basketball team hasn’t beaten a ranked team in 30 years.

The team will have a chance to change that at 7:30 p.m. today when the Huskies travel to South Bend, Ind., to play 21st-ranked Notre Dame.

NIU last defeated a ranked team in 1973 when it beat No. 19 Oral Roberts 95-86 at Chicago Stadium.

“This is a great opportunity for us to go on the road and play over there,” NIU coach Rob Judson said. “We wanted to play the second game right away because it is very tournament-like going Saturday and then Monday.”

The game will be the first for Notre Dame and the second for NIU. The Huskies beat Eastern Illinois 83-76 on Saturday.

In the game, NIU was out-rebounded 42-37 with EIU using a three-guard offense.

One front-line player for Eastern was 6 feet 5 inches. Another was 6 feet 8 inches.

Notre Dame is expected to choose one 6-foot-9 and two 6-foot-11 players on the front line.

“They are going to be a bigger team than Eastern Illinois,” NIU forward Marcus Smallwood said. “We’re just going to have to give that much more effort.”

The Irish are led by 6-foot-1 guard Chris Thomas.

Thomas, the first Indiana Mr. Basketball to attend Notre Dame, passed up a chance to go to the NBA last year to return for his junior season. Last year, he averaged 15.6 points per game.

Notre Dame coach Mike Brey likened NIU to the Delaware team he coached in 1998-’99. That team went 25-6 and advanced to the NCAA tournament.

“They have a lot of older guys that have played together,” Brey said. “They are ready to be an NCAA tournament team.”