Welcome back, students! It’s a busy week in Huskie Nation! With seven Northern Illinois University teams in action this week, there are plenty of opportunities to catch your favorite team.
Men’s Basketball
Tuesday, Jan. 17: at Miami (OH), 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats | Live Audio
Saturday, Jan. 21: at Eastern Michigan, 2:30 p.m. – ESPN3 | Live Stats | Live Audio
NIU is back on the road for a pair of games this week, beginning on Tuesday, Jan. 17, when the Huskies travel to Oxford, Ohio, to face Miami. The Huskies are coming off an 84-67 setback to Toledo last time out. Darweshi Hunter (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Kaleb Thornton (Bolingbrook, Ill.) both scored career-highs against the Rockets, Hunter netted 22 points while Thornton had 21, both went 5-of-7 from three-point range in the contest. Following Tuesday’s trip to Miami, the Huskies will return to the road on Saturday, Jan. 21, when they visit Eastern Michigan.
Women’s Basketball
Wednesday, Jan. 18: vs. Miami (OH), 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats | Live Audio
Saturday, Jan. 21: at Eastern Michigan, 12 p.m. – ESPN3 | Live Stats | Live Audio
NIU Women’s Basketball continues its stretch of four home games out of the next five Wednesday night when Miami comes to the Convocation Center. Tip-off is at 6 p.m. The Huskies are 5-1 on the home floor after a 78-66 win over Ohio last Saturday. NIU closed the game on a 10-0 run, holding the Bobcats scoreless for the last 4:05. A’Jah Davis recorded her 40th career double-double with a team-high 16 points and 11 rebounds. Chelby Koker added 13 points and a team-high five assists. Davis is 10th in the nation in rebounding at 11.3 rebounds per game. She is also fifth in the country with 4.7 offensive rebounds per game. NIU has won its last three games against Miami in DeKalb. The Huskies have won three straight meetings with Eastern Michigan and six of the last eight overall. Previews of both games will be up on NIUHuskies.com during the week.
Wrestling
Friday, Jan. 20: at Ohio, 6 p.m. – Live Stats | ESPN+
The Huskies take on Ohio this Friday at 6 p.m. CT as they aim to rebound from a narrow 23-18 loss to Central Michigan the Friday prior. NIU, tied for second in the MAC West, looks for its third conference win of the season. Huskie redshirt senior Izzak Olejnik paces the team, ranked No. 14 in the nation at 165 lbs., per InterMat. Olejnik, along with freshman Jacob Brya, logged falls in NIU’s contest with Central Michigan. Olejnik pinned Chandler Amaker at 2:06 while Brya pinned Jimmy Nugent at 5:49. The bonus-point wins were Olejnik’s eighth and Brya’s fifth of the season.
Track & Field
Friday, Jan. 20: at Blue Demon Alumni Classic
The Huskie women’s track and field team will travel to Chicago on Friday to compete in DePaul’s Blue Demon Alumni Classic, at the Dr. Conrad Worrill Track and Field Center at Gately Park, the meet is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. Friday’s competition is the third of the season for the Huskies, and the second in the 2023 calendar year. Last weekend, the Huskies competed at Illinois State’s Coughlan/Malloy Cup, where Skylynn Blue won the 200 meters and Kadeja Campbell was victorious in the 400.
Gymnastics
Saturday, Jan. 21: at Central Michigan, 1 p.m. – Live Stats (TBA) | Live Video
The Huskies have posted scores of 194.725 and 194.675 in their first two meets versus Bowling Green and Iowa State, respectively, and look to match or better those numbers when they travel to Mount Pleasant, Michigan for a Saturday meet versus the CMU Chippewas (1-1). CMU opened its season with a 194.100 while finishing second in a Tri-Meet at New Hampshire. NIU is looking for its first win at Central Michigan since 2015.
Junior Alyssa Al-Ashari led the way for NIU versus Iowa State with scores of 9.900 and 9.875 on uneven parallel bars and balance beam, respectively, to win both events. Sophomore Emmalise Nock earned the Huskies’ highest scores on both vault and (9.775) and floor exercise (9.875) to lead the way on those two events. The bars squad posted the Huskies’ highest event score of the meet as NIU narrowly fell to the Cyclones, 194.875-194.675.
Women’s Tennis
Friday, Jan. 20: at Louisville, 9 a.m.
Friday, Jan. 20: vs. Bellarmine, 12:30 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 22: at Kentucky, 1 p.m.
NIU opens its spring dual match season with a trip to Kentucky for three matches over the weekend as the Huskies will take on Louisville and Bellarmine at the Bass-Rudd Tennis Center in Louisville on Friday before traveling to Lexington for a Sunday date with Kentucky.
The Huskies prepped for the dual season by playing host to four teams for the NIU Huskie Winter Invitational last weekend. NIU went 15-10 in singles with freshman Isabella Righi reaching the Flight 4 final and junior Diana Lukyanova winning the consolation bracket in Flight 1.
Sophomore Reagan Welch earned a win over Iowa’s Anya Lamoreaux to highlight her weekend.
Look for a season outlook for NIU women’s tennis later this week at NIUHuskies.com.
Men’s Tennis
Saturday, Jan. 21: at Drake, 6 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 22: vs. Marquette (in Des Moines, Iowa), 10 a.m.
The NIU men’s tennis team begins its dual match season this weekend with a pair of matches in Des Moines, Iowa. The Huskies open the season on Saturday, Jan. 21, with a match against Drake before meeting Marquette in a neutral site contest on Sunday. Jan. 22. This will be the first time the Huskies have been in action since closing the fall at the MAC Indoor Invite in Kalamazoo on the first weekend of November. Cheng En Tsai finished as runner-up in flight two singles at the MAC Indoor Invite. NIU has won at least 11 dual matches in each of the last 11 seasons.