Single, double, triple, heck, the whole team was on Brandon Hunter.

At least that’s the way Ohio’s 6-foot-7, 260-pound All-MAC First Teamer felt after his Bobcats fell 80-53 to NIU Tuesday night.

“It was never really a double team for me, their whole team was helping,” Hunter said. “Their defense is really good.”

Hunter, the nation’s leading rebounder, fell slightly below his point and rebound averages with 18 points and 13 rebounds, but had to work for every point and rebound he had.

Greeted with chants of “overrated” by the packed Dog Pound student section, Hunter found an NIU defender every step he took on the offensive blocks.

In Hunter’s defense, he was without a pair of 6-foot-5 upperclassmen in Sonny Johnson (14 ppg) and Jaivon Harris (7.3 ppg) who didn’t make the trip because of injuries.

“We are kind of depleted right now,” Ohio coach Tim O’Shea said.

Scouts from the NBA’s Hornets and Magic came to see Hunter, but NIU’s Marcus Smallwood (17 points, eight rebounds) didn’t make his life easy with three first-half blocks on the wide-body.

“It’s always a challenge to go up against one of the best players in the conference, because you’ve really got to step up your game,” Smallwood said. “It’s real fun to go up against people like that.”

Huskie coach Rob Judson knew what the team’s focus coming into the game should be.

“Hunter has an NBA body, he’s a smart player, can shoot the basketball and he just really has it all,” Judson said. “I think our guys looked at it as a real challenge. We tried to take the ball out of his hands as much as possible.”