KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan men's basketball team begins its second trip around the MAC on Saturday with a rematch against NIU in DeKalb, Ill.
 

GAME INFO

Matchup: Western Michigan (6-18, 2-9 MAC) at NIU (10-14, 6-5 MAC)

Date/Time: Saturday, Feb. 11 – 4 pm

Site: Convocation Center (DeKalb, Ill.)

Video: ESPN3

Radio: Bronco Media Network

Live Stats: SIDEARM

OPENING TIP

• Western Michigan begins its second trip around the MAC on Saturday afternoon as it visits Northern Illinois. 
• The Broncos are coming off of an 85-78 loss at Miami on Tuesday evening. 
• Seth Hubbard led WMU with a career-high 20 points off of the Bronco bench.
• Hubbard is the fourth different Bronco to have a 20+ point game off of the bench.
• Titus Wright (17 points, 9 rebounds) and Markeese Hastings (9 points, 12 rebounds) each just missed a double-double.
• Lamar Norman Jr. had 12 points to become the 45th player to score 1,000 career points at Western Michigan.
• WMU and Northern Illinois are meeting for the second time in the last 12 days.
• The Huskies topped the Broncos, 73-59, on Jan. 31 at University Arena. 
• Western Michigan owns a 62-37 lead in the all-time series between the two.
• WMU collected a 73-63 win in its last trip to DeKalb on March 2, 2021.

ROUND TWO
Western Michigan begins its second trip around the MAC with a rematch at NIU on Saturday. The Broncos and Huskies are meeting for the second time in 12 days.

LAST TIME OUT
The Broncos are coming off of an 85-78 loss at Miami on Tuesday night. Seth Hubbard led WMU with a career-high 20 points, while both Titus Wright (17 points, nine rebounds) and Markeese Hastings (nine points, 12 rebounds) came just shy of double-doubles.

BENCH BOOST
Western Michigan got a huge lift from its bench on Tuesday, as it held a 37-15 advantage in bench points. WMU has benefited from some big scoring outputs by its bench this season, with Seth Hubbard becoming the fourth different Bronco to score 20 or more points off of the bench. Western Michigan has had seven different players score in double-figures off of the bench this season.

WMU VS NIU
Western Michigan and NIU complete their season series with the 100th all-time meeting on Saturday afternoon. The Broncos hold a 62-37 record in the all-time series. The Huskies own a 24-20 mark in games played in DeKalb, but WMU came out victorious in its last trip to the Convocation Center, picking up a 73-63 win on March 2, 2021. 

SCOUTING THE HUSKIES
NIU is coming off of an 82-76 home loss to Ohio on Tuesday night. The Huskies are led by the guard duo of David Coit, who ranks 11th in the MAC in scoring at 15.8 PPG, and Kaleb Thornton, who is third in assists (4.4/game). Both have upped their averages in league play, with Coit ninth in scoring (17.6 PPG) and Thornton third in assists (5.6).

WHEN LAST WE MET
These two teams met just 12 days ago, with NIU coming out on top, 73-59, at University Arena. In the loss, Markeese Hastings put up a career-high 22 points and added 19 rebounds for his sixth double-double of the season. WMU had 23 offensive rebounds, its most since Nov. 11, 2016, against Marygrove.

CLEANING THE GLASS
After ranking near the bottom of the MAC in rebounding a season ago, Western Michigan has turned things around to lead the league in rebounding margin (+6.4) and offensive rebounding (12.7), as well as rank third in the MAC in overall rebounding (37.9). Nationally, the Broncos are currently 20th in rebounding margin, 23rd in offensive rebounding and 41st in overall rebounding.

MAKING HIS MARK
Markeese Hastings enters the weekend second in the MAC in total rebounds (240, 19th nationally), rebounds per game (10.0, 15th) and defensive rebounds per game (7.0, 19th). Hastings is one of 15 players in NCAA DI to be averaging double-digit rebounds this season, and has posted 10.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game in conference play.

SCORIN' NORMAN
Lamar Norman Jr. tallied 12 points on Tuesday to become the 45th player to score 1,000 career points at Western Michigan. The senior has scored in double-figures in 49 of his 53 games as a Bronco and led the team in scoring 37 times while wearing the Brown & Gold. Norman enters the weekend fifth in the MAC in scoring at 17.8 points per game.

LONG RANGE LAMAR
Lamar Norman Jr. is second in the MAC in both made three-pointers (68, 48th nationally) and made three's per game (3.0, 28th).

THE WRIGHT STUFF
After picking up 17 points on Tuesday, Titus Wright has scored in double-figures in five straight games, the longest stretch of his collegiate career. Wright has upped his scoring to 11.3 points per game in conference play, and ranks second in the league with a .611 field goal percentage.

383 AND COUNTING
WMU has made at least one three-pointer in 383 straight games dating back to 2011. 

HALFTIME LEADS TURN INTO W'S
The Broncos own a 54-21 record over the last five seasons when leading at halftime, including a 5-1 mark this season.

ON THE HORIZON
Western Michigan returns to University Arena for a pair of games next week, beginning on Tuesday evening against Kent State.