Welcome to DeKalb

Next up for BG is NIU. a game that is shaping up to be one that BG needs pretty bad.  At 1-4, playing this team, BG needs a win.  And, of course, NIU is not great but they are on home court.

For whatever it is worth, home teams have a losing record in the MAC to date.  I wouldn't expect that to continue, but that's where it is now.

NIU is rebuilding.  In 2019 they ended up with a kenpom of 136 and played BG in the MAC semi.  They were 18-13 the next year and 11-7 in the MAC, which is not too bad.  Things went bad in 2020, when they went they went 3-16.  They fired Mark Montgomery.

Their new coach is Rasho Burno.  He came from Arizona State, where he was an assistant.  He is a Hurley guy.  Burno is a Hurley guy, playing for Bob Sr in HS and coaching with Bob Jr. in Tempe.  He played at DePaul and coached for Billy Donovan, among others.

They are 5-8, all of it D1.  They opened the season with a win @UW, currently the #4 upset in D1 for the year.  They lost the next five--with a couple bad losses in there--they are 4-3 since then, although not against the best competition.

They are 2-1 in the MAC. They lost by 31 to UT, and then won @ Kent (an upset) and WMU.  Their kenpom for the season has moved up from 326 to 304.

BG has won the last 4 against the Huskies, and 5 of 6. That includes the last two in DeKalb by a combined 46 points.

BG plays at 74 possessions a game (all stats MAC only) while NIU plays 71, so both pretty upbeat teams.  When NIU has the ball, it has the potential to be pretty ugly. NIU is 10th in offense and BG is dead last in defense.  Meanwhile, BG is #4 in offense, while NIU is #7 which is the middle of the pack.  For my money, BG is now not playing a great offensive team...they need to deliver some stops out there.

On the NIU end, they are a decent shooting team, pretty much average.  BG is easy to shoot against, though the UT game is a little inflating.  NIU gets to #10 in the MAC by being poor on turnovers and offensive rebounds and only average at getting to the line and #11 at FT shooting.  

They are last in their rate of attempting 3FGs.  They are effective at shooting them, at 33%, which means they take good 3FG shots.  Meanwhile, they are 48% on 2FG, which is not great.

Overall, BG needs stops.  If they hold NIU to their shooting average, that would be a 5% improvement right there.  BG has been terrible on its defensive boards as well.  Here that can be corrected.

On the other side, NIU is easy to shoot against, especially from 3FG and they give up a lot of FTs.  They do force turnovers--possibly leading to the fouls--and they are average on the defensive boards.  BG leads the MAC in taking care of the ball, and that's vital to how they play, given below average shooting. If BG does get to the line--which they have not been doing--they are #5 in shooting FTs.

In MAC play they are led by Kaleb Thornton at 14.7 PPG.  He's making 55% on 2FG and 40% on 3FG which 4 RPG and 3.3 assists  He is a 6'0" G who played one year in JUCO before moving to NIU, where he is in his second season.  

Trendon Hankerson is scoring 11 PPG.  Not efficient, at 43% and 35%.  He has 4 RPG and 11 assists so far. He's an honest to god sr.

Keyshaun Williams is scoring 10.5 PPG.  He played one year at Tulsa and is in his first year at NIU. He's strictly off the bench in MAC play and missed the UT game.  He's shooting 47% on 2FG and takes very few 3FGs.

The team's leading rebounder is Anthony Crump, who scores 7 PPG and 5 RPG.  He's in his second year at NIU but came from Middle Tennessee State.

We aren't sure who will play for BG...including Matheny, Fulcher, Matiss and Reece.  That will be a big test.  No matter who is out there, BG needs to get this W against a not-great opponent.  A 5th loss this early and Akron on Thursday really begins to tighten the collar.