The Huskie men’s basketball team will try to do something that hasn’t been accomplished since the 1971-’72 season; sweep a road trip.

NIU (6-8, 2-2 MAC) will travel to Ohio (4-7, 1-2 MAC) to battle the Bobcats at 7 p.m. and try to win its third consecutive road game and sweep this road trip.

After defeating Toledo (Jan. 8) and Ball State (Jan. 11), NIU coach Rob Judson knows what the Huskies need against Ohio to succeed.

“The big thing you need to do to win games on the road is to play extremely hard defensively,” Judson said. “Limit the opponents shooting percentage, and you yourself have to take really good shots. If you take real good shots then you’ll shoot a high percentage and try to be in the game the last four minutes.”

Ohio forward Brandon Hunter leads the MAC in rebounding with 13.5 boards a game and will be a tough defensive assignment for the Huskies. He also tallies 19.5 points per game.

Since joining the MAC in 1997-’98, NIU is 1-5 against Ohio and hasn’t won in Athens in two tries.

“We have an opportunity to do what no one thought we could, win all three games on this trip,” Judson said.

Mac won’t be back

Sophomore swingman Julian McElroy won’t be with the team the remainder of the season. Judson failed to call it a team suspension, but said it was because of team issues.

“Julian won’t be with the team the rest of this year due to some team issues,” Judson said.

McElroy was averaging 2.4 points per game and 3.8 rebounds in 11 games.

McElroy’s career was highlighted in a 77-62 win over Drake. He shot 3-of-3 from the floor, had seven points, six rebounds, three assists, two blocks, two steals and no turnovers.

McElroy was unavailable for comment.

Home Sweet Home

When the Huskies visited Normal, Ill., on Dec. 21, it was an emotional reunion for two Huskie players.

Peterson who lives in Pekin, Ill., a nearby town, registered a season-high 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting from three-point range.

“I had a lot of people at the game and I knew a few guys from ISU,” Peterson said. “It was great to have the support at the game. I have to give my teammates all the credit because they found me and had confidence in me.”

The freshman outside shooter’s day didn’t start as he hoped, when he fired up an airball on his first shot.

“It doesn’t matter whether it rattles around the rim and bounces five times, or hits nothing,” Peterson said. “You still have to have confidence to keep shooting.”

Junior guard Perry Smith also has ties to ISU, as he played there before transferring to NIU last season.

Smith scored 16 points in his return to Redbird Arena.

“It was nice to go there and get a win,” Smith said. “It was a hard game psychologically, but I was excited to play there again.”

Smoked by the Flames

On Dec. 28 the Huskies were handed their worst home loss since 1989 by UIC, 77-45.

NIU shot 31 percent from the floor, a dismal 47 percent from the free-throw line and was outrebounded 45-26 in the contest.

NIU’s outside game wasn’t up to par as they connected on only 2-of-16 three pointers.

UIC went into the half up 40-29, but blew the game wide open in the second half where they outscored NIU 37-16.

“I was embarrassed to play that game,” freshman Todd Peterson said. “We weren’t there that game, but you can’t take away from UIC.”