2016-2017 Men’s Basketball Recap: NIU tames the Flames 91-82

The Northern Illinois Huskies wrapped up their Thanksgiving Classic with a win over the UIC Flames 91-82. The Huskies were once again led by three of their starters Aaric Armstead, Marin Maric and Jaylen Key. The trio combined for 49 of their 92 total points as a team. The big surprise for the Huskies was a bench contribution for true freshman Eugene German. German had 17 points on 70% shooting on 10 shots for the game. He could be an integral player going forward to be a nice depth option for the Huskies off the bench.

As for the Flames they relied heavily on sophomore Dikembe Dixon who had 31 points in the game. He utilized the free throw line for a majority of his points going 14-20 from the line. Dixon is averaging 24 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals for the season. The key takeaways from the game revolved around NIU’s hot shooting at 54% from the field. The turnover battle as well as rebounds we’re fairly similar while the made field goals had a +/_ of 11 for NIU. The amount of fouls called was a bit extreme as 50 personal fouls were registered and six individual players ended with four fouls.

Looking forward the 4-3 Huskies travel to Indiana State on November 30th in search of a non-conference road win and their fifth win overall. Elon Phoenix swept the tourney defeating UIC, NIU and Cal Poly the last three days. NIU has four non conference road games in their next six games visiting Indiana State, Minnesota, Florida International and South Florida. In addition this includes having two home games against non division one opponents before opening against Miami on January 3rd.