Men's Basketball Returns to M.A.C. Center for Rematch with Huskies

Game Notes (.pdf)

Kent State returns to the M.A.C. Center for its second of three consecutive televised Mid-American Conference games when it hosts Northern Illinois in a 7 p.m. contest Wednesday night.

The Golden Flashes (11-8, 2-4) will go for the season sweep of the Huskies (7-11, 1-5) after a 73-64 overtime win in DeKalb just two weeks ago. Both teams will look to get back on track after dropping three straight since their last meeting.

The Flashes are coming off a hard-fought 81-78 loss on the road to first-place Toledo on Sunday night. Even in defeat, the Flashes played some of their best ball since early December when they started the season 8-1. Darren Goodson (17 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), Derek Jackson (16 points) and Kris Brewer (14 points, 7 assists) led the way for Kent State, which recorded a season-high 17 assists against the Rockets. Head coach Rob Senderoff inserted point guard Kellon Thomas and forward Khaliq Spicer into the starting lineup, and the moved paid dividends. Spicer swatted a career-best four shots and added eight points and four boards.

Brewer leads the team in scoring at 12.6 points per game and has elevated his game since the beginning of league play. In MAC games only, Brewer ranks 10th in scoring (14.0), fifth in assists (4.2) and second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.5).

Jackson has been among the most consistent offensive performers this season and is second on the team in scoring (10.9 ppg) while shooting 39-percent on three-point shots. He is relied upon to defend the opponent's top player each night and is fourth in the MAC with 34 steals.

Goodson returned to the starting lineup last week against Western Michigan and is one of the team's most productive players, but must avoid foul trouble. He is averaging 10.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.6 assists in only 23.7 minutes per game and has fouled out in three of the last four contests.

The three-point shot and turnovers have been critical to Kent State's success this season. Four Flashes have made at least 20 three-pointers on the year and the team shoots 38.4-percent in wins, compared to just 29.3-percent in losses. Kent State turns the ball over just 10.8 times per game, which is the second-fewest in the MAC. Opponents are committing 13.5 turnovers per game for a +2.6 turnover margin that ranks 39th nationally.

Northern Illinois has lost four straight since a 45-36 victory at Bowling Green. The Huskies struggle offensively and are averaging just 56.0 point per game on 34-percent shooting in league play.

Point guard Travon Baker has stepped up since leading scorer Dontel Highsmith was lost for the season with a torn ACL suffered on Dec. 31. Baker is averaging 11.7 points in MAC play and has been in double-figures in five straight games. Forward Darrell Bowie is the team's top scorer on the season at 9.7 points per game.

The Huskies are strong on the glass, leading the MAC in rebounding (38.2) and ranking second in rebounding margin (+4.8). Bowie leads the way with 6.8 rebounds per game, while center Jordan Threloff adds 5.4.

NIU ranks near the bottom nationally in several offensive categories, including scoring (328th), field goal percentage (340th), three-point field goals per game (337th), three-point field goal percentage (349th) and assist-to-turnover ratio (344th).

FLASHback
• Kent State defeated Northern Illinois in DeKalb 73-64 in overtime on January 15..
• Devareaux Manley's 30-foot jumper tied the game with :36 left in regulation and stout 1-on-1 defense by Kellon Thomas forced a Northern Illinois shot clock violation to send the game to overtime.
• Kris Brewer owned the extra session, outscoring the Huskies 9-5. Brewer finished with a game-high 25 points with 16 coming after the 8:35 mark of the second half.
• A sluggish first half by both teams ended with a Derek Jackson three-pointer to send the teams into the locker room tied 30-30.
• Northern Illinois held a 13-point lead with 10:49 to play before Kent State mounted its comeback behind a stingy defense.
• The Flashes held the Huskies without a field goal from 14:49 mark of the second half until just 3:29 remained in regulation.
• Aaron Armstead led Northern Illinois with 15 points and 10 rebounds for his first career double-double.

Series History
• Kent State leads the all-time series 33-18.
• The Golden Flashes have won 16 of the last 18 matchups with the Huskies, including a 73-64 overtime victory at the NIU Convocation Center two weeks ago.
• The Flashes are 18-5 as the home team in the series and have won five straight at the M.A.C. Center. The last time Northern Illinois defeated the Flashes in Kent was Feb. 8, 2003.
• The Kent State-Northern Illinois series dates back to the 1963-64 season and a 60-51 Kent State win at home.

TV / Radio
The game will be televised live regionally on TWC SportsChannel and streamed nationally on ESPN3. Michael Reghi and Tony White will be on the call.

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

Academic Recognition
At halftime of Wednesday night's game, Kent State will recognize nearly 300 of its student-athletes who achieved a fall semester GPA of 3.0 or higher. These student-athletes showed their outstanding commitment to academic success by truly putting their "student" title first. A record-high 30 Kent State student-athletes finished the fall 2013 semester with a perfect 4.0 GPA, and 32% finishing with a 3.5 or higher GPA, bringing the department cumulative GPA to a record high 3.12.

Next Up For Kent State
The Flashes will host Akron on Saturday (Feb. 1) at the M.A.C. Center.

Men's Basketball Returns to M.A.C. Center for Rematch with Huskies

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