Assistant Sports Editor

Andy Greer hasn’t been happy with the way his NIU men’s basketball team has been playing as of late.

In his first four games as coach, Greer said he noticed the team playing like a team. But in the losses against Kent State and Ball State, Greer said the Huskies (2-11 overall, 1-3 Mid-American Conference) got frustrated and started playing as individuals.

NIU looks to turn its misfortunes around against Eastern Michigan tonight at Chick Evans Field House.

“Before this road trip, I thought we made some significant strides,” Greer said. “I am really disappointed in the last two games. Up until the last two games, I was really happy with the progress. A lot of it has to do with effort. They get frustrated when things don’t go so well and start playing individually. It happened again against Ball State.”

Greer said to get out of the current funk, the Huskies have to start feeding the ball inside instead of looking for the 3-point shot. Against the Cardinals on Monday night, NIU took 49 shots, 25 of which were 3-pointers, making 7. Three-pointers provided 21 points, while 16 came from the paint.

The Huskies are on a two-game losing skid, losing to Kent State and Ball State. NIU defeated Buffalo on Jan. 6 to snap a three-game losing streak.

What could be on the Huskies’ side is the fact teams might overlook the Huskies and think it would be an easy win.

But such a move could work out in the Huskies’ favor and turn things around. Even though teams might be overlooking the Huskies, Greer is going to take things one game at a time.

“That is the way I have always approached things,” he said. “Once you start winning, it could be a snowball effect that way, and we certainly want to end our losing streak here against Eastern Michigan and start a winning streak.”