Flashes Begin Road Swing Wednesday at Northern Illinois

Kent State (10-5, 1-1) goes on the road for the first time in Mid-American Conference play on Wednesday (Jan. 15) with a visit to Northern Illinois. The matchup features contrasting styles, as the Golden Flashes are third in the conference in scoring (74.3), while the Huskies are second in points allowed (64.0).

The trip to DeKalb, Ill. offers the Flashes a chance to avenge a last second loss at Northern Illinois last season. Darren Goodson led the Golden Flashes with 18 points and Kris Brewer added 14 for the Flashes in the Jan. 30, 2013 game at Northern Illinois, but a jump shot from Abdel Nader (26 points) lifted the Huskies to a 67-65 victory.

Both teams were victorious over the weekend. Kent State took down Ball State on Saturday at the M.A.C. Center, 86-74, and Northern Illinois went on the road to steal a 45-36 victory over Bowling Green at the Stroh Center.

Goodson is coming off of his best performance in a Kent State uniform, showing why head coach Rob Senderoff felt he should have been named to the preseason all-conference squad. The senior forward carried the Flashes' offense in the first half to keep the game close and finished with a career-high 23 points on 9-of-12 shooting. Goodson also gathered a team-best seven rebounds in the victory and did not commit a turnover in 28 minutes of action off the bench.

Brewer and Derek Jackson both played huge roles in the Flashes' comeback on Saturday. After scoring just two points apiece in the first half, the duo combined for 26 points on 8-for-11 shooting three assists and zero turnovers in the second half. Once again, Brewer's ability to close out games was on display as he scored nine of his points over the final four minutes of the game.

After trailing 39-32 at halftime, the Flashes erupted for 54 points in the final 20 minutes while shooting 64.3 percent from the field (18-for-28).

Kent State enters the week with three players averaging double-figures in scoring. Brewer leads the way at 11.9, followed by Jackson (10.9) and Goodson (10.8). Mark Henniger leads the Flashes in rebounding at 5.5 per game to go with a scoring average of 8.9 ppg.

Northern Illinois (7-7, 1-1) closed strong on its way to a 45-36 win at Bowling Green on Sunday. Sophomore guard Travon Baker scored a game-high 13 points, including six in the final two minutes as the Huskies outscored the Falcons 11-1 in the final three minutes.

The Huskies lost leading scorer Dontel Highsmith for the season with a torn ACL suffered against Iowa State. In his absence NIU has averaged just 52.0 ppg and is scoring just 46.5 ppg in conference games. Darrell Bowie is eighth in the MAC in rebounding (7.7) and adds 9.6 ppg.

Northern Illinois' 7-7 start includes home wins over San Jose State, St. Joseph's (Ind.), Dartmouth, and Bethune-Cookman, and road wins at Loyola Chicago, UC Riverside and Bowling Green. The Huskies are 4-3 at the NIU Convocation Center and 3-4 away from DeKalb.

NIU ranks near the bottom nationally in several offensive categories, including scoring (329th), field goal percentage (335th), three-point field goals per game (338th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (336th).

The trip is the first game of a road swing that will also take the Golden Flashes to Buffalo on Saturday (Jan. 18).

Quick Flashes
• Kent State has won 35 of its last 38 games against schools in the MAC West.
• The Flashes rank fourth in the MAC in defensive rebounding % and allowed more than 10 second-chance points on Saturday for the first time since Nov. 23.
• Despite having just one player among the MAC's top 20 scorers, KSU ranks third in scoring as a team (74.3 ppg).
• The Flashes are getting huge bench contributions and have received 15 or more points from their reserves in each game.
• The Flashes committed a season-low six turnovers vs. Bucknell and average the 38th-fewest per game in the nation.
• Kent State's 54 second-half points vs. Ball State on Saturday match the number of points Northern Illinois has scored over its last 47-plus minutes of action.

Series History
• Kent State leads the all-time series 32-18.
• The Golden Flashes saw their 11-game winning streak come to an end last season as the Huskies defeated them 67-65 at the NIU Convocation Center.
• While the Flashes have enjoyed much success at home (18-5), they are just 13-13 all-time in DeKalb.
• The Kent State-Northern Illinois series dates back to the 1963-64 season and a 60-51 Kent State win at home.

TV / Radio
Ty Linder (play-by-play) and Dave Carducci (color) will bring you the action on 640 AM WHLO and the Golden Flashes iHeartRadio channel.

Next Up For Kent State
The trip is the first game of a road swing that will also take the Golden Flashes to Buffalo on Saturday (Jan. 18).

Flashes Begin Road Swing Wednesday at Northern Illinois

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