Northern Illinois and Tennessee State will both be searching for its first win of the 2009-10 season, when the Huskies and Tigers collide in NIU’s home opener at the Convocation Center Friday night beginning at 7 p.m. The Huskies will look to avenge last season’s 75-73 loss at the hands of Tennessee State at the Gentry Center.

The Huskies are coming off Tuesday’s 80-61 loss at No. 23/25 Illinois in the first-ever meeting between Northern Illinois and the Fighting Illini. NIU put up a valiant defensive effort to reduce a 19-point first-half deficit to just three points early in the second half, but Illinois placed five players in double-figures, and NIU was plagued by foul trouble for the second-consecutive game, and could not complete the comeback.

Playing their first game without injured junior guard Xavier Silas, who led NIU with 18 points at Northwestern (Nov. 13), the Huskies were led offensively by junior forward Najul Ervin and freshman guard Tony Nixon, who each chipped in 10 points. Sophomore guard Bryan Hall came off the bench to score a career-high nine points, and provided a contagious defensive spark that helped NIU mount the convincing comeback late in the first half and early in the second frame, where he earned the start.

Junior guard Darion “Jake” Anderson ripped down 10 rebounds, just one off his career-high, but was limited to just four points, all coming in the first four minutes of the game. For the second-consecutive game, Anderson was plagued by foul trouble, and was limited to just 22 minutes. Junior center Sean Kowal chipped in eight points on 3-of-10 shooting, and corralled four rebounds in 33 minutes.

NEXT UP ...
Northern Illinois will host its second-consecutive Ohio Valley Conference foe Sunday, when Southeast Missouri State visits the Convocation Center beginning at 7 p.m. The Huskies upended the Redhawks, 97-73, last season (Feb. 21, 2009) in the lone meeting between the two programs.

GAME DATA
Against Tennessee State, Northern Illinois will be looking to record its second-straight home opening win, after defeating Indiana State (86-79) in last season’s lid lifter (Nov. 18, 2008) at the Convocation Center ... Head coach Ricardo Patton owns a 12-12 home record as the NIU mentor, and last season, led the Huskies to their first winning record (7-5) at home since the 2005-06 campaign ... Northern Illinois is 38-39 at the Convocation Center since playing its first game at the facility on Nov. 23, 2002 ... The Huskies have compiled a 17-10 record against non-conference opposition at the Convocation Center over those seven seasons ... NIU and Tennessee State share two common opponents this season, Northwestern and Southeast Missouri State ... Tennessee State is just the second Ohio Valley Conference foe to visit the Convocation Center since the inception of the facility (joining Eastern Illinois on Nov. 22, 2003) ... Several notable achievements are within reach for NIU players heading into this game: Darion “Jake” Anderson is slated to make his 50th career start, and he enters the contest with 148 career assists, just two away from 150; Sean Kowal enters the game with 290 points at NIU, and is 10 tallies away from reaching 300; and Michael Patton has 298 career points, just two off the 300-point plateau, and also has 98 career field goals.

WITH A WIN, NIU WOULD ...
» Improve to 51-46 all-time versus schools from the Ohio Valley Conference
» Win its fourth-straight home game, dating back to Feb. 15, 2009
» Win its second-straight home season opener, and its fifth in the last seven years
» Pick up its first win of the 2009-10 campaign

WITH A LOSS, NIU WOULD ...
» Fall to 0-3 for the second time in the past three years, and the fourth time in the past nine seasons
» Have its three-game home winning streak snapped
» Lose its third-straight home game versus a non-conference opponent, dating back to last season

ABOUT THE TENNESSEE STATE TIGERS
Tennessee State University, under the leadership of first-year head coach John Cooper, is located in Nashville, Tenn., and has a total enrollment of 9,024. As mentioned, the Tigers are NCAA Division I affiliates, and members of the Ohio Valley Conference.

TSU finished the 2008-09 season with a 12-18 (9-9 OVC) record, and finished sixth in the regular season OVC standings. The Tigers went 4-12 on the road last season, but were 0-7 in non-conference road contests.

The Tigers return four letterwinners, and two starters, from the 2008-09 squad. Junior forward Darius Cox averaged 10.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 blocks per game last season. In Tennessee State’s opener versus Siena (Nov. 13), freshman Robert Covington scored a team-high 21 points on 8-of-14 shooting.

VERSUS THE OVC
Northern Illinois owns a 50-46 all-time record against current foes affiliated with the Ohio Valley Conference. The Huskies are 44-42 versus Eastern Illinois, dropped their lone all-time meeting against Eastern Kentucky, are 1-1 all-time against Morehead State, won their lone game against Samford (1-0), have a 2-0 all-time lead over Tennessee Tech, and as mentioned, are 1-2 all-time versus Tennessee State. The Huskies improved to 1-0 all-time versus Southeast Missouri State, NIU’s next opponent (Sunday at the Convocation Center), with last season’s 97-73 victory over the Redhawks at the Show Me Center in Cape Girardeau, Mo. (Feb. 21, 2009), as part of the 2009 ESPNU BracketBusters series.

FAMILIAR FOE FOR COACH PATTON
Northern Illinois head coach Ricardo Patton is no stranger to Tennessee State. The third-year Huskie mentor grew up in Nashville, Tenn., where TSU is located, and also served one stint (1991-93) as an assistant coach with the Tigers under then head coach Frankie Allen. His off-the-court roots in Nashville are also noteworthy; before dedicating his career to coaching, Patton worked as a camera man at the same Nashville television station (WTVF-TV) as Oprah Winfrey in his five-year stint in TV. But his connection with Winfrey and her family goes beyond just professional connections. Vernon Winfrey, Oprah’s father, was Ricardo’s barber in Nashville.

HOME SWEET HOME FOR COACH PATTON
Northern Illinois head coach Ricardo Patton puts new meaning to the word “confines” when it comes to a home-court advantage. The third-year Huskie mentor owns a 140-60 (.700 winning percentage) home record as a college head coach, dating back to his 12-year run at Colorado. Twelve of Patton’s 16 wins at NIU have occurred at the Convocation Center.

GONE IN 60 SECONDS
Junior center Sean Kowal led the Mid-American Conference in field goal percentage (.551) last season, but as all players do, he needs an occasional breather. The good thing for NIU head coach Ricardo Patton is that NIU doesn’t take much of a step back when his reserves enter the game. Senior Ante Dzepina (.592) and redshirt sophomore Michael Fakuade (.605), who are averaging 8.5 and 7.5 minutes per game, respectively, are both shooting near 60 percent from the field for their careers.

ERVIN RE-ENTERS STARTING LINEUP, RESPONDS
Earlier this season, head coach Ricardo Patton made the statement that much of NIU’s potential success this season would depend on how well senior forward Najul Ervin played. After playing just five minutes off the bench at Northwestern, Ervin was given the starting nod in the frontcourt at Illinois, and responded with a team-high tying 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting, and pulled down seven rebounds in 18 minutes. During the game, Ervin passed the 200-rebound plateau for his career, and enters Friday’s contest with 202 career caroms.

RIPPIN’ THE REBOUNDS
Junior guard Darion “Jake” Anderson enters Friday’s game against Tennessee State averaging 9.0 rebounds per game after NIU’s season-opening Big Ten swing. While those numbers may not hold up at the end of the season (it would be 3.6 more rebounds than Anderson averaged last year), his rebounding prowess is certainly noteworthy. Anderson led the Huskies in rebounding last season (5.4 rpg), becoming just the third guard in the Division I era to lead NIU in that category.

HUSKIES picked second in MAC-WEST
One year after being picked to finish sixth in the Mid-American Conference West Division, Northern Illinois was slotted second in the 2009-10 preseason media poll, as announced by the conference office on Oct. 28. In addition, junior guard Darion “Jake” Anderson was named to the preseason West Division All-MAC team for the second-consecutive season. The Huskies were picked second behind division favorite Central Michigan, who swept NIU last season.

SPORTING NEWS TABS NIU AS WEST’S TOP TEAM
In its college basketball preview edition, Sporting News went one step further. The publication tabbed NIU to capture the West Division title, ahead of CMU, Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan and Toledo.

CHICAGO MOVES WEST
In the 2009-10 season, the Huskies will field a roster with nine Illinois natives, including eight players from the Chicagoland region. True sophomores Mike DiNunno and Bryan Hall, redshirt freshman Keith Smith, along with redshirt sophomore Michael Fakuade and junior Darion “Jake” Anderson, all hail from the Windy City. Redshirt sophomore Lee Fisher is a Dolton, Ill., native, while freshman newcomer Tony Nixon hails from South Holland, Ill., and Justin Peaster is an Aurora, Ill., product.

SEASON #15 FOR COACH “P”
Northern Illinois head coach Ricardo Patton enters his 15th season as a Division I head coach in the 2009-10 campaign. After spending 12 years as the mentor at Colorado, Patton was hired as the Huskies’ 26th head coach on March 19, 2007.

BACK IN CARDINAL AND BLACK
In 2009-10, Northern Illinois returns 88 percent of its scoring, 79 percent of its rebounding and 87 percent of its assist totals from the 2008-09 season. The Huskies return 12 letterwinners, including four starters, and back are the Huskies’ top-three scorers (Darion “Jake Anderson, 16.9 ppg; Mike DiNunno, 11.9 ppg and Sean Kowal, 9.4 ppg).

SILAS SIDELINED FOR AT LEAST TWO WEEKS WITH FRACTURED HAND
Northern Illinois junior guard Xavier Silas suffered a fractured right hand during the Huskies’ season-opening game at Northwestern (Nov. 13), and will miss at least the next two weeks of action. The injury will not require surgery, but Silas’ hand will be placed in a removable splint. He will be re-evaluated Dec. 1 before a return date to the Huskie lineup is set.

ANDERSON AT-A-GLANCE
Darion “Jake” Anderson, the 2008 Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year and a 2009 second-team All-MAC performer, returns for his junior season after ranking fourth in the MAC in scoring (16.9 ppg), 12th in rebounding (5.4 rpg), 15th in assists per game (2.41), 15th in free throw percentage (.472), seventh in steals per game (1.58), eighth in three-point field goal percentage (.371), 10th in three-point field goals per game (1.59), 10th in defensive rebounds (4.17 rpg) and 11th in minutes played (31.2 mpg) last season. He was a four-time MAC-West Player of the Week, posted 25 double-digit scoring outputs and led the Huskies in scoring on 17 occasions.

DINUNNO AT-A-GLANCE
Sophomore guard Mike DiNunno was named to the Mid-American Conference All-Freshman Team last season after leading all league freshmen in scoring (12.3 ppg), assists (2.62 apg), free throw percentage (.732), three-point field goals made per game (1.93) and minutes played (29.34 mpg). He ended the campaign tied for 11th in the MAC in steals per game (1.47), and was ranked fourth in the league in three-point field goals made per game (1.97). DiNunno recorded 18 double-digit scoring outputs, including seven in conference play, and led NIU in both assists (76) and three-pointers (56).

KOWAL AT-A-GLANCE
In just his first full season of college basketball, junior center Sean Kowal led the Mid-American Conference in field goal percentage (.551). In an average of 25.9 minutes per game, he scored 9.4 points, corralled 5.2 rebounds and tallied 0.8 blocks per contest. Kowal posted 15 double-digit scoring efforts, and recorded two doubles-doubles on the season.

MORE NEW FACES
Xavier Silas is one-of four newcomers to join the Northern Illinois basketball team this season. Other first-year players include true freshman guard Tony Nixon, who led Seton Academy to a 2A state championship last March, St. Ignatius product and redshirt freshman point guard Keith Smith, who sat out his first season at NIU with an injured shoulder; and recruited walk-on guard Antone Christian (Nashville, Tenn.), who is expected to redshirt the 2009-10 campaign.

CHALLENGING schedule lies ahead
The Huskies’ 2009-10 schedule is a challenging slate that includes NIU’s first-ever contest against Illinois, along with four other games versus 2009 NCAA Tournament participants. Including the five NCAA Tournament teams, the Huskies will play a total of 10 games against opponents that appeared in the postseason last spring.

STEALIN’ THE SHOW
The Huskies finished the 2008-09 season with 239 steals, which was the second-highest single-season total in program history, trailing just the 259 steals recorded during the 1994-95 campaign. NIU’s 8.0 steal per game average was also the third-best total for a single-season. Darion “Jake” Anderson (46 steals) and Mike DiNunno (44) combined for 90 steals, with both efforts ranking in the top-15 individual marks in NIU history.