Winners of three games in a row, the Northern Illinois University begins Mid-American Conference play Wednesday night against the Eastern Michigan Eagles at the NIU Convocation Center. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. with the game broadcast on ESPN+ and locally on WDKB 94-9 FM and the NIU Huskies and Varsity Network apps.

Tickets are available at NIUHuskies.com/tickets, as well as the All MACtion Pass which includes all nine conference games for $30.

NIU (6-5) puts its perfect home record on the line Wednesday night. The Huskies are 4-0 on the Convocation Center floor after a 98-32 victory over the Concordia Chicago Cougars last Saturday. It was the program’s second-highest margin of victory ever, as well as the fewest points allowed in 40 years. Five Huskies scored in double figures led by redshirt-freshman Brooke Blumenfeld’s (Northbrook, Ill./Glenbrook North) career-high 21 points.

The Huskies held Concordia to 21.0 percent shooting from the field and 22.2 percent from the three-point arc. NIU is holding opponents to 53.2 points per game at home this season with a +12.3 rebound margin. The Huskies outrebounded Concordia 65-29 on Dec. 30, their highest rebound total since getting 62 rebounds in a double overtime victory over Brown on Dec. 31, 2018. Six different players had at least five rebounds in a game led by freshman Maddy Fay (Palatine, Ill./Fremd) who had a season-high 11. Brooke Stonebraker (Versailles, Ohio/Versailles) had seven rebounds to go with 15 points in 18 minutes, her seventh consecutive game with at least seven rebounds.

Eastern Michigan (3-7) enters league play having won two games in a row. The Eagles closed the 2023 calendar year with a 69-44 win over Saginaw Valley State. Eastern Michigan held Saginaw Valley State to 28.3 percent shooting from the field and 1-for-19 from the three-point arc. Senior forward Kennedi Myles led EMU with 14 points and nine rebounds. The Eagles are third in the MAC in steals with 9.0 per game, as well as third with 3.3 blocks per game. ZaNiya Nelson leads the Eagles in scoring at 10.1 points per game.

NIU and EMU split the two meetings last season with each side winning at home. The Huskies won the last meeting 73-63 on March 1, 2023 at the Convocation Center and have won four in a row in DeKalb against the Eagles.

Following Tuesday’s league opener, NIU closes out its current five-game homestand on Saturday, Jan. 6 against Miami at 1 p.m.