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| Jake Anderson and the Huskies play Ball State at 3 p.m. today. (Associated Press file photo) |
DeKALB – It's hard to pick one area ahead of any other as to what's gone wrong with the Northern Illinois men's basketball team.
In its current seven-game losing streak, one the Huskies hope to stop at 3 p.m. today against Ball State at the Convocation Center, NIU has been missing at one point or another: consistent defensive effort, good shot selection, free throw shooting, transition defense, transition offense and basic basketball principles on both ends of the floor.
And although it doesn't stem from one place, there are specific areas where NIU has battled inconsistency more than others.
"I guess if I had to call anything inconsistent, it's been our point guard play," NIU men's basketball coach Ricardo Patton said. "That's been the most inconsistent area in our play.
"It affects everything, no question about it. If a football team's quarterback is inconsistent, they're going to struggle. It doesn't matter how good the wide receivers are because first of all the quarterback isn't going to get it to them on time."
But, it has been a team effort (or lack thereof) to lose seven conference games in a row, and it's been more than struggles at the point for the Huskies.
Amazingly though, despite seven straight losses, the Huskies (8-15, 4-7 MAC West) are only two games behind Ball State (12-11, 6-5), which co-leads the MAC West with Central Michigan.
To make a serious charge to close the season, Patton wants to see his players pick up their effort on the defensive end.
"Guys have got to realize that sometimes the jump shot is not going to fall, but the thing that should be a constant is our effort on the defensive end," Patton said. "Even looking back at the tape of our first game (against Ball State), I don't think we shot lights out. [Xavier] Silas went 15 of 15 from the free-throw line but it wasn't like he was just burning it up from the outside.
"But defensively there was a glaring difference in how hard we played on the defensive end and how well we shared the basketball on the offensive end."
