The Northern Illinois University men’s basketball team suffered a 73-51 setback to Akron on Tuesday night (Jan. 2) in the Mid-American Conference opener at the NIU Convocation Center. The Huskies shot just 14.8 percent (4-of-27) from the field in the first half as Akron built a 19-point halftime advantage.

“Not the result, or the performance, that I thought that we would put out coming off the Iowa game,” said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. “We are in a tough space in regard to what goes into winning on a consistent basis. We are not playing well as a team on both sides of the ball, and we are not playing well individually as well. Akron is the number one team in the league, predicted to win the league, for a reason. They have size, experience, but we didn’t put up a fight, and that is unlike us.”

Zarique Nutter (Newark, N.J./Clarendon College) scored nine points with six rebounds while Harvin Ibarguen (Cali, Colombia/Seward County CC) had seven points and a team-high seven rebounds.

Akron (9-4, 1-0 mac) led by a half-dozen, 11-5, before an old fashioned three-point play from Coit brought the Huskies within three, 11-8, with 11:30 to play in the opening half.

The Zips answered with the next 10 as Akron took a 21-8 lead with eight and a half minutes to play before the intermission.

After a floater from Quaran McPherson (Queens, N.Y./Nebraska) ended the Akron run, the Zips scored the next six, all coming from Enrique Freeman, as the visitors led 27-10 with a little over six minutes left in the half.

Akron built its lead to as much as 23 in the opening 20 minutes before taking a 73-51 lead into halftime.

Freeman had 12 points for Akron to lead all scorers at the half, Ali Ali added 10 points. Coit had seven first half points for NIU. The visitors shot 41.4 percent (12-of-29) from the floor in the first half, including 40 percent (4-of-10) from three.

NIU (6-7, 0-1 MAC) found a spark offensively in the second half as the Huskies shot 50 percent (13-of-26) from the field, but Akron increased its offensive output as well as the Zips shot 57.7 percent (15-of-26), including 44.4 percent (4-of-9) from three-point range.

Freeman finished with 21 points and a game-high 10 rebounds to lead Akron. Ali added 16 points, Nate Johnson scored 13 and Greg Tribble added 10 points for the Zips.

NIU will hit the road for its next two contests, beginning on Saturday, Jan. 6, when the Huskies travel to Athens, Ohio, to meet the Bobcats. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT.