Talk about two teams trending in different directions: the Miami RedHawks have dropped their last three games after upending the Northern Illinois Huskies 69-67 in the MAC opener at home, while NIU has won three straight and is tied with Eastern Michigan and Ohio for the second best conference record in the league. Despite the skid, the RedHawks (8-9, 1-3 MAC) remain a very dangerous team after competitive games with Ball State and Akron, while the Huskies (11-6, 3-1 MAC) downed some good teams in Central Michigan, Kent State, and Bowling Green during their winning streak.
In the previous match-up, the ‘Hawks were horrendous at the free throw line as the shot 10-24 from the charity stripe and were also eviscerated on the boards as Northern Illinois had a 41-28 rebounding advantage.