This week in Huskie Athletics the Huskies will have seven teams in action. Men’s basketball will open the week at home with a Tuesday night matchup against Ball State. Men’s basketball will also be at home on Saturday to take on Ohio. That game will tip-off after the women’s basketball team takes on Bowling Green as the Huskies host the “Cram the Convo” double header. Women’s basketball opens the week on Wednesday at Buffalo before they return home for the game with BGSU. NIU wrestling will conclude their dual season against SIUE on Friday night. Gymnastics hosts a quad meet at 2 p.m. on Sunday. NIU baseball continues their season with games in Baton Rouge, LA against LSU and Northwestern State. Track & Field competes at the MAC indoor Championships, hosted by EMU. NIU women’s tennis will also be in action as they travel to Valparaiso for a Saturday afternoon dual.

Men’s Basketball

Tuesday, Feb. 20: vs Ball State, 7 p.m. –   ESPN+ | Live Audio | Live Stats | Tickets

Saturday, Feb. 24: vs Ohio, 3:30 p.m. –   ESPN+ |  Live Audio | Live Stats | Tickets

A pair of home games await the NIU men’s basketball team this week as the Huskies host Ball State on Tuesday (Feb. 20) and Ohio on Saturday (Feb. 24) as part of the Cram the Convo doubleheader. NIU has won three of its last four conference games, falling last time out at Kent State. Ethan Butler made his first career start against the Golden Flashes, scoring 17 points while becoming the 10th different Huskie to score in double figures this season. A full preview of both games this week will be available on NIUHuskies.com.

Women’s Basketball

Wednesday, Feb. 21: at Buffalo, 5 p.m. –   ESPN+ |  Live Audio |  Live Stats

Saturday, Feb. 24: vs Bowling Green, 1 p.m. –   ESPN+ | Live Audio | Live Stats | Tickets\

The NIU women’s basketball team will start the week on the road against Buffalo on Wednesday night. The Huskies will then close the week at home as they take on Bowling Green in the first game of the Cram the Convo double header.

Last week the Huskies bounced back from Wednesday’s defeat to WMU with a win over EMU away from home. Sidney McCrea led the Huskies against EMU with 18 points on will making four three-pointers. Brooke Stonebraker also recorded a double-double with ten points and 13 rebounds. The Huskies trailed by two opening the final quarter but rallied to put away EMU 61-52.

Wrestling

Friday, Feb. 23: vs SIUE –  ESPN+ |  Live Stats

The Huskie wrestling program will conclude dual action on Friday, February 23 as they host SIUE. Action is set to begin at 7 p.m.

The Huskies, who are ranked No. 11 in the NWCA Mid-Major Poll, have three wrestlers ranked inside the top-33 in the NCAA Coaches poll. Blake West, who is ranked in several polls, looks to complete an undefeated dual season as he currently sits at 14-0 and 7-0 against MAC opponents. Friday’s dual will also mark senior night for the Huskies as they honor the graduating class prior to the dual.

Gymnastics

Sunday, Feb. 25: Quad-Meet vs Illinois State, UW Eau Claire and Alaska Anchorage, 2 p.m. – ESPN+ | Live Stats

The Huskies will host a quad-meet on Sunday. NIU will take on Illinois State, UW Eau Claire and Alaska Anchorage a 2 p.m. on Sunday in the Huskies third home meet of 2024. Last time out, NIU took on EMU and put up a score of 194.600. The quad-meet will be the Huskies “My Cause” meet.

Kiera O’Shea had yet another high vault score with a 9.900 and won the event in Sunday’s meet with EMU. The Huskies claimed the top three vault scores in the meet as Dawsyn Sallee’s score of 9.850 earned second place and Isabella Sissi’s score of 9.825 was good for third.

Baseball

Thursday, Feb. 22: at LSU 2 p.m.    SEC Network+ | Live Stats

Thursday Feb. 22: vs Northwestern State, 6 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 23: vs Northwestern State, 6 p.m.

Saturday, Feb. 24: at LSU, 1 p.m.

NIU heads to Baton Rouge, La. this week for two games against #2 LSU and two against Northwestern State. The Huskies won the series finale at Abilene Christian 14-7 this past Sunday, scoring 10 runs in the fourth inning. Senior catcher Colin Summerhill hit .313 in the four games at ACU, launching two home runs and driving in five. Mason Kelley and Christian Seegers each had four RBI in the series. LSU is the defending national champions, starting this season 3-0 with wins over VMI and Central Arkansas. Northwestern State opened its season dropping all three games of its series against Southern Illinois. This will be NIU’s first meetings on the diamond against both programs.

Track & Field

Saturday, Feb. 24: at Track & Field at MAC Indoor Championships  Live Stats

The Huskies travel to Eastern Michigan this weekend for the MAC Indoor Track and Field Championships at Bowen Field House. Competition begins with field events at 9 a.m. CT on both Friday and Saturday. NIU finished eighth at last season’s indoor championships. This year, NIU has two runners seeded in the top-six in the 200 meters as Malia Watkins is fourth and Skylynn Blue is sixth. The Huskies also have two ranked in the top-five in the high jump where Arianna Calloway is tied for first in the MAC and Kamiya Dendy is tied for fifth. A full preview of this weekend’s MAC Championships will be available on NIUHuskies.com.

Women’s Tennis

Saturday, Feb. 24: at Valparaiso, 2 p.m.

After playing seven matches over the last two weekends, the NIU women’s tennis team slows up the pace this week with just one match – on Saturday at Valparaiso.  The match wraps up an eight-match road swing for NIU, which goes into Saturday’s competition 6-5 on the season.

The Huskies are coming off a 3-1 weekend as NIU defeated Western Illinois (7-0), Bradley (4-0) and Chicago State (4-3) last weekend before dropping the finale Sunday evening at Northwestern (4-0).  Senior Diana Lukyanova led the Huskies with a 3-0 mark in singles, while Erika Dimitriev and Isabella Righi each won both of their completed matches.