This week in Huskie athletics Northern Illinois University will have six teams in action. Men’s basketball opens the week on Tuesday with a road trip to WMU before returning home on Saturday, January 13 against Bowling Green. Women’s basketball will have road contests on Wednesday and Sunday against Ohio and Kent State.

The wrestling team will compete at home against Ohio at 7 p.m. on Friday. Gymnastics, women’s track and field and men’s tennis will all be on the road this weekend as well. Gymnastics opens MAC competition against Bowling Green on Saturday. Men’s tennis will duel with Chattanooga on Friday and the hosts Mississippi State on Saturday while women’s track and field will compete in the Hawkeye Invitational in Iowa.

Men’s Basketball

Tuesday, January 9: at Western Michigan, 6 p.m. – ESPN+ | Listen | Live Stats

Saturday, January 13: vs. Bowling Green, 3 p.m. –   ESPN+ |  Live Audio |  Live Stats

The Huskie men’s basketball team opens the week with a trip to Kalamazoo to face Western Michigan on Tuesday night. NIU has won three consecutive games against the Broncos, including a season sweep last year, NIU’s first against Western Michigan since the 2005-06 season. Following Tuesday’s game, NIU will return home for the first of three-straight in DeKalb as the Huskies welcome Bowling Green to the NIU Convocation Center on Saturday afternoon. A full preview of both games will be available on NIUHuskies.com.

Women’s Basketball

Wednesday, January 10: at Ohio, 6 p.m. –   ESPN+ |  Listen | Live Stats

Sunday, January 14: at Kent State, 5 p.m. – CBS Sports Net |  Live Audio | Live Stats

This week the Huskies women’s basketball team will compete in MAC play on the road twice. First the Huskies will take on Ohio on Wednesday, Jan. 10 with a 6 p.m. tip-off. After that matchup the Huskies will stay on the road and take on Kent State at 5 p.m. on Sunday.

On Saturday, Jan. 6 NIU defeated the Miami RedHawks in the Convocation Center to bounce back from a MAC opener defeat against EMU. In Saturday’s win Jayden Marable led the Huskies with 15 points while Sydney McCrea scored nine on three-for-six shooting from deep.

The Huskies rallied in the fourth quarter on Saturday, holding Miami to just four points in the closing ten minutes.

Gymnastics

Saturday, January 13: at Bowling Green, 11 a.m. – Watch

This Saturday the Huskies will have their first MAC competition of 2024 as they go head-to-head with Bowling Green.

The Northern Illinois University Gymnastics team opened up their season on Saturday, Jan. 6.  The Huskies finished in a tie for third place in the quad meet while scoring 192.775 points. NIU was led by 2023 regional qualifier Alyssa Al-Ashari with a 9.850 score on beam which was good for fourth place in the competition. Al-Ashari also scored a 9.775 on bars, which was seventh in the event overall. Freshman Dawsyn Sallee scored a 9.775 in the first vault of her collegiate career.

Wrestling

Friday, January 12: vs Ohio, 7 p.m. –  ESPN+

Returning to Victor E. Court after nearly a month, the Northern Illinois University Huskies wrestling program will host the Ohio Bobcats in a conference dual on Friday evening. The Huskies, who are 7-2 on the season and 1-1 in MAC, will host the Bobcats (4-2) in their first MAC dual of the season.

The Huskies were last in action on January 5 as they traveled to Rider University for a conference dual. The Huskies were narrowly edged out, falling 19-18 to the Broncs. Jacobi Jackson (285) got his first win over a ranked opponent while the Huskies opened the dual with three straight wins.

Men’s Tennis

Saturday, January 13: vs Chattanooga

Sunday, January 14: at Mississippi State

The Northern Illinois University men’s tennis team will open up their spring dual season this weekend. The Huskies will first take on Chattanooga on Saturday, January 13 before taking on Mississippi State. Both duals will be hosted by Mississippi State in Starkville. Christopher Norlin led the Huskies in their fall tournaments as he finished with an 8-4 record. The doubles team of Iker Gaztambide Arrastia and Christopher Norlin won six matches this fall while losing just one. The duo went 4-0 against MAC opponents in the fall.

Women’s Track and Field

Saturday, January 13: at Hawkeye Invitational (Iowa City, Iowa), 11 a.m. –  Live Stats

NIU women’s track and field returns to competition this Saturday as the Huskies travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to compete in the Hawkeye Invitational. Competition begins with the high jump at 11 a.m. and running events are scheduled to start at 12:15 p.m. with the 3,000 meters. Saturday’s meet will be the first for NIU since taking part in Notre Dame’s Blue & Gold Invitational on Dec. 1, Arianna Calloway set a school record in the high jump at the meet while Henriette Halwas took the title in the long jump. Calloway’s height of 1.80m is also the best in the MAC this season, Skylynn Blue holds the fastest time in the conference in the 200 meters (24.54 seconds), Talayssia Sanders has the league’s best 400-meter time (56.55 seconds) and Kendal Only has the best triple jump mark in the MAC this season (11.68m).