Northern Illinois Men's Basketball Game Preview
By Steve Nemeth - Chronicle Sports Editor
Northern Illinois University (7-9, 2-4) at Ball State University (7-6, 4-1)
Tonight's Tip-off: 6 p.m. (CST). Site: at Muncie, Ind., BSU's Worthen Arena. Radio Coverage: Huskie Radio Network with Bill Baker and Sid Simmons, pre-game starts at 5:40 p.m.
The Chalk Talk: "My kingdom for a road win!" Perhaps Northern Illinois University men's baskeball boss Rob Judson isn't quite that desperate, but this year's results are a far cry from last season when the Huskies were 7-7 at home and 10-7 outside the DeKalb city limits. While seven of the remaining 12 games are in the Convocation Center, the third-year boss knows that turning the current 7-9 overall mark and 2-4 Mid-American Conference ledger into winning campaigns is going to necessitate success on the road.
This year, NIU is 6-0 at home and 0-7 for road games after Saturday's 80-59 loss at Ohio University. Toss in the neutral site games and the Huskies are only 1-9 outside of DeKalb. Again, a major drop-off from last year when it was road success that launched Northern Illinois' revival. After an 0-2 start, the Huskies began a five-game win streak with three straight stunning road triumphs - at the University of Toledo, Ball State University, and Ohio University.
On paper right now, it appears NIU will need a miraculous encore considering that BSU's Cardinals are red-hot. Ball State is suddenly 7-6 overall and knocking on the MAC West Division leader's door at 4-1 thanks to a four-game win streak. Having dipped to 3-6 with a five-game skid, BSU would especially love to negate that with a victory over the Huskies tonight in order to end a current string of three straight NIU triumphs between the two teams. Despite that trio of Northern Illinois wins, the Cardinals still lead the all-time series 35-26 and boast a 23-7 edge in Muncie.
And when it comes to ending streaks against opponents, BSU is fresh from having ended an 11-game slide versus Miami University in Millet Hall. Mike McCollum was instrumental in that win as he drained a three-pinter with 1:01 left to break a 48-all tie and then added two free throws to bump the lead to 53-48. He finished with a team-high 15 points. That was preceeded on Wednesday by a season-best 21 points (15 in the second half) of a 90-75 romp over Central Michigan University. Those efforts made the 6-2 junior guard this week's MAC West Division Player of the Week. Additional scouting report note: Don't put him on the free throw line. McCollom is the loop's No. 2 free throw shooter at 83.7 percent and a large part of the reason BSU is ranked fourth (.722) as a team compared to NIU's dead last .657 touch.
Ball State's recent turnaround is also due to a better balanced offense. Three of the top four Cardinal scorers have better averages for MAC games only. McCollom is at 13.4 points-per-game in league contests compared to his seasonal 7.8 ppg. average. Robert Owens, a 6-7 senior forward, has boosted his 13.1 ppg. to 15.0 for league games while 6-8 senior foward Cameron Echols has upped his 10.2 ppg. to 12.0 for MAC games. Only 6-3 junior guard Dennis Trammel has taken a dip, going from 12.4 ppg. for the season to 10.2 in loop contests.
Although Northern Illinois appears to have a huge edge on the boards ranking No. 1 in Mid-Am rebound margin (+3.7) compared to Ball State's No. 10 rating (-0.1), outrebounding the Bobacts was meaningless in part due to NIU having returned to double-digit turnovers with 19 giveaways. In that regard, the Cardinals rate No. 4 in turnover margin (+1.38) compared to the Huskies' No. 13 standing (-3.62).
One positive in Northern Illinois' favor is that standouts Marcus Smallwood and P.J. Smith have both excelled at Worthen Arena. In four career games vs.BSU, Smith is averaging 19.5 ppg. including 29 in the 66-64 win in Muncie and 24 in the 78-60 DeKalb triumph. In the road meeting, Smallwood had a 14-point/11-rebound double-double. Tonight's contest also has ex-NIU teammates on opposite sides as Huskie aide Carl Armato had played with current Ball State assistant Jay Bryant during the 1979-80 campaign
