By Woodrow Carroll
Northern Illinois University’s men’s basketball team can end a perplexing trend.
Now in his ninth season as men’s basketball head coach at Northern Illinois, Mark Montgomery has yet to see his players finish with a winning record in the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Montgomery has flirted with conference success.
The 2015-2016 Huskies’ record overall was 21-13 and the team was invited to a postseason tournament in Las Vegas, Nev.. In the MAC, however, the Huskies concluded with a 9-9 record. It was the best Conference finish for Montgomery at Northern Illinois.
Montgomery is not alone in struggling in MAC play. The 2005-2006 Northern Illinois team, under head coach Rob Judson, was 17-11 overall and 12-6 in the MAC. That 12-6 conference run was the last time Northern Illinois finished on the plus side of .500 in conference play.
Prior to Tuesday’s game at Kent State, the Huskies’ record was 9-9 overall and 2-3 in the MAC.
The final Northern Illinois non-conference game was an 85-84 home loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay. The start of Mid-American Conference play was more of the same close games.
The Huskies scored a 73-72 road victory at Buffalo. Three days later at Central Michigan, the Huskies came up just short by falling, 68-67.
Northern Illinois edged visiting Eastern Michigan, 71-68, January 11 to make it four games in a row decided by three points or less.
Every team has a bad game or two in a season. The Huskies’ off night was January 14 against Akron. Playing at home, the Huskies trailed the Zips, by 24 points, at halftime and ended up losing, 72-49. Akron may turn out to be the class of the MAC, yet, a 23-point loss at home is hard to explain.
On the road Saturday at Bowling Green, the Huskies were on the short end of a 66-64 score. It was the fifth time in six games Northern Illinois was in a game with a margin of three points or less.
The attendance for the Akron game at Northern Illinois’ Convocation Center was 884. Given that the Convocation Center has a seating capacity of 9,000 the atmosphere was not thrilling.
The Northern Illinois men are not devoid of talent. Senior guard Eugene German, one of three returning starters, is capable of taking over a game. He has scored 1,932 points in four years and was just 64 points away from the school record of 1,996 points by T.J. Lux, 1995-2000, prior to Tuesday’s game at Kent State.
The Huskies will play host to Western Michigan at 3 p.m. Saturday in the first of three consecutive home games. By the end of the three-game stretch February 1 after a game with Miami of Ohio, Northern Illinois will be nine games into its 18-game conference schedule.