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The road heavy schedule is almost over. All that remains for Buffalo is a trip to Dekalb to take on the Northern Illinois Huskies. NIU has already surpassed it's win total from last year and is well on it's way to seeing a 20 win season. Problem is that they are in a funk as of late. The Huskies just lost two games to Akron and Miami on the road. Anyway, here's your preview on them:
Quick Facts
Opponent: Northern Illinois
Head Coach: Mark Montgomery (54-88, 5th year with NIU)
Date/Time: 2/2/16, 8:00 PM
Home/Away: Away
Opponent's Mascot: A Puppy
Current Record: 16-5 (5-3 MAC)
2014-15 Season Record: 14-16 (8-10 MAC)
Postseason: Did not receive/accept postseason bid
All-Time Series: Buffalo leads 17-13
Opponent's Roster and Stats
| Player | Position | Height | MIN | PPG | RPG | APG | FG% | FT% | 3P% |
| Marin Maric | C | 6'10" | 26.5 | 12.3 | 8 | 1.2 | 0.497 | 0.663 | 0.455 |
| Travon Baker | G | 5'11" | 28.2 | 11.9 | 3.6 | 3.8 | 0.401 | 0.766 | 0.41 |
| Marshawn Wilson | G | 6'2" | 16.7 | 11.1 | 2.5 | 0.6 | 0.449 | 0.774 | 0.41 |
| Aaric Armstead | G | 6'5" | 28.8 | 10.7 | 5.4 | 1.4 | 0.367 | 0.678 | 0.26 |
| Chuks Iroegbu | G | 6'4" | 16.8 | 6.6 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.645 | 0.645 | 0.143 |
| Levi Bradley | G | 6'7" | 15.1 | 5.8 | 3.8 | 0.4 | 0.485 | 0.783 | 0.385 |
| Jaylen Key | F | 6'8" | 18.5 | 5.8 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 0.485 | 0.697 | 0 |
| Laytwan Porter | G | 6'2" | 16.7 | 4.4 | 2.6 | 2.2 | 0.337 | 0.727 | 0.289 |
| Austin Pauga | G | 6'6" | 10.4 | 3.3 | 0.6 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0 | 0.444 |
| Michael Orris | G | 6'2" | 24.1 | 3.3 | 1.8 | 3.4 | 0.289 | 0.533 | 0.156 |
| Totals | -- | 74 | 40 | 15 | 0.435 | 0.69 | 0.347 |
Just like Buffalo, NIU has depth. Thanks to this depth, they are able to generate a lot of balanced scoring. Surprisingly enough, a lot of their stats are the same as ours. NIU relies on a center as their leading scorer. Just like in Drew's article, it would be wise to shut down Marin Maric. This Northern Illinois team also relies on Travon Baker heavily. It would be great to see some of Skeete's defensive magic that we saw in the Ball State game.
Notable Games
- Lost to Miami
- Lost Akron
- Won against Toledo
Can We Win?
I see a win in our favor coming. I'm going to go with the odds at 70-30 UB because NIU is coming off of two bad losses. UB as of late has been on an uptrend and should be able to handle a team that just lost to the worst one in the conference. It'll be a hard fought road win nonetheless, but it'll be a big one that promotes us to 6-3 in conference play.