DeKALB – When Northern Illinois guard Marke Freeman gets out of her 8 a.m. communication class today, it will be about three hours until tipoff.
In a unique change of pace, NIU's women's basketball team (3-3) will play Northern Iowa (1-4) at noon today at the Convocation Center. That's right, noon. On a Wednesday.
The game is designed around a promotion with local elementary schools on a field trip to the game that will include pregame educational programming and even musical chairs at halftime. An estimated 837 elementary school children will be in attendance from Sycamore, Rochelle, Sandwich, Shabbona, Waterman and Byron, making it the highest-attended game for the Huskies this season.
"It's going to be cool trying to entertain them," Freeman said. "I like it."
Senior guard Kylie York will take a similar attitude into a game in front of a crowd that most of its members' feet might not be able to touch the floor once they're in their seats.
"I think it's been a while since we've had an early game like that," York said. "I think we'll be prepared and ready just like any other game. That will be fun. There will be a lot of noise."
The early start time obviously affects how both teams will prepare on gameday, something NIU coach Carol Owens emphasized this week.
"We definitely have to pay attention to it," Owens said. "We didn't want to go too hard [at Tuesday's practice]. We wanted to finish up early, and then it's an early morning pregame meal and all that. They still have a couple of classes to get to, they've got their 8 and 9 a.m., classes. Obviously that's a priority."
Once they get to the court, the Huskies will be looking for their third straight win over Northern Iowa.
"They've got a couple kids that can shoot the ball really well," Owens said. "We might see some trapping. They'll mix up their defenses.
"We've got to recognize them. I wouldn't be surprised if they trapped some of our guards because of what Marke can do and what Kylie can do. But they've got to be concerned with our inside game, as well."
Coming off a 78-67 loss to No. 15 DePaul, York said NIU has been working on improving some elements of its defense after allowing the Blue Demons to shoot 49.1 percent.
"Our defense and getting stops and not letting them getting on a run, that's what happened in our DePaul game a little bit," York said. "We didn't come up with the defensive stops. But if we can hold them to under 60 or under 70, then we should be fine."
