Men's Hoops Heads to Northern Illinois for Crucial Showdown

Men's Basketball at Northern Illinois
Date	Saturday, March 2 \| 2 p.m. CT
Venue	DeKalb, Ill. \| Convocation Center (10,000)
Preview Info	EMU Notes
Live Stats	Fan Stats \| Media Stats
Watch	ESPN+
Listen	WEMU 89.1 FM
Twitter	@EMUHoops \| @EMUAthletics

DEKALB, Ill. (EMUEagles.com) - The Eastern Michigan University men's basketball team hits the road for a showdown with Mid-American Conference West Division foe Northern Illinois University Saturday, March 2, with a 2 p.m. CT start inside the NIU Convocation Center.
   EMU (13-15, 7-8 MAC) is coming off a devastating, 77-66, loss to Central Michigan University, Feb. 26, where the Eagles led by 10 at the break and held a 12-point second half lead. Meanwhile, NIU (13-15, 6-9 MAC) is coming off a 70-65 road victory at Western Michigan University, Feb. 26.
   The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with Ryan Piers on play-by-play and Carl Armato providing analysis. Eastern fans can also tune in to 89.1 WEMU to listen to Chad Bush and Kyler Ludlow on the call. Additional coverage can be found by following @EMUHoops on Twitter, and through live stats at EMUEagles.com.

PAINT POWER: EMU finished on the wrong side of the scoreboard against Central Michigan, Feb. 26, but managed to dominate the paint for the game. The Green and White outscored the Chippewas 36-24 inside, and also held the edge in rebounding, 36-32.

NOT SO FAST: Central Michigan erased a 12-point Eastern Michigan lead thanks to forcing turnovers and utilizing the fast break. In fact, the Eagles scored just two points on fast break opportunities while the Chippewas racked up 20. The 18-point difference was the second-highest of the season for EMU behind only a 25-point differential against No. 1 Duke, Nov. 14.

ON THE RISE: Senior James Thompson IV has seen his scoring take a turn for the better over the past five games, as the forward has scored double-digits in four of the last five games and upped his season average to 10.9 points per game.

TROUBLE FROM THE LONG LINE: Eastern has struggled from beyond the three-point line all season long, shooting just 29.7 percent for the season, but its Feb. 26 loss to Central Michigan was a new level of futility. The Eagles missed 18 three-pointers, the third-most misses from downtown in a game this season.
DOING WORK: Redshirt senior Paul Jackson continued his torrid scoring pace with a 19-point performance against Central Michigan, Feb. 26, and has now scored 15-or-more points in 10 of the last 16 games. The guard cashed in from the charity stripe in the Eagles' loss to the Chips, scoring eight of his 19 points at the line, tying his career-best mark.

A WIN WOULD: Eastern Michigan currently sits in eighth place in the Mid-American Conference standings, tied with Akron at 7-8. A win over Northern Illinois would once again even the Eagles' record, and keep them in the hunt for a potential first round bye. More realistically, a victory would all but guarantee Eastern hosts a home game for the opening round of the MAC Tournament, owning a two-game lead plus the tiebreaker over NIU.

TOUGHEST IN THE MAC: The Eagles' record of 13-15 comes against the 62nd-hardest schedule in the country (according to KenPom), including three games against Associated Press Top-25 teams and two against opponents in the top-10. Miami has the next-hardest strength of schedule with the 79th-ranked difficulty in the country.
   Diving deeper into the numbers shows that Eastern has also played more games against Quadrant One and Two opponents (11; five Q1, six Q2) than any other conference foe, with a record of 2-9. Western Michigan and Ball State are the next closest with 10 (five Q1, five Q2; five Q1, five Q2) games. Northern Illinois has played eight games (four Q1, four Q2) against top-tiered opponents, and is 2-6 in those games.

MURPHY'S 12: Eastern Michigan head coach Rob Murphy used his 12th starting lineup of the season in its loss to Central Michigan, Feb. 26. The Eagles used the combination of redshirt senior Paul Jackson, sophomore Kevin McAdoo, redshirt sophomore Ty Groce, senior James Thompson IV, and redshirt junior Boubacar Toure start the game, while redshirt senior Elijah Minnie, who has 23 starts this season, came off the bench.

ALL-TIME VS. NORTHERN ILLINOIS: The history between Eastern Michigan and Northern Illinois dates back to the 1926 season, with the Eagles trailing the Huskies in the all-time series, 43-54. EMU has just a 13-31 record in DeKalb, and has not beat NIU on the road since Feb. 21, 2015.
   The Green and White held the upper hand when playing in Ypsilanti earlier this season season, overcoming a three-point halftime deficit to win 57-49, Feb. 9. Redshirt senior Paul Jackson led the way with 23 points and eight assists, while fellow redshirt senior Elijah Minnie tacked on 11 points and three blocks. The Eagles' defensive effort in the second half sealed the game, allowing the Huskies to shoot just 30.4 percent from the floor and 12.5 percent from beyond the three-point arc.

AGAINST NORTHERN ILLINOIS IN THE MURPHY ERA: Since head coach Rob Murphy began his tenure at the helm of Eastern Michigan in the 2011-12 season, he has accumulated an overall record of 14-5 against Northern Illinois, but has just a 3-4 mark inside the NIU Convocation Center.

LAST TIME IN DEKALB: Eastern built a six-point halftime lead in the Northern Illinois Convocation Center, Jan. 13, 2017, but the Huskies stormed out with a stellar second half to pull out a 72-66 victory. NIU shot 46.9 percent from the floor and went 6-of-13 (46.2 percent) from downtown, outscoring the Eagles 45-33 in the second stanza. Paul Jackson led the way for EMU with 19 points, while James Thompson IV added 15 points and 12 rebounds in the losing effort.

MILESTONE WATCH: Senior James Thompson IV is the NCAA's active career rebound leader with 1,392 during his three-plus seasons with Eastern. The Baton Rouge, La. native needs 35 boards to pass all-time EMU record holder Kennedy McIntosh.
   Eastern also has a pair of redshirt seniors trying to become members of the 1,000 point club, as both Paul Jackson and Elijah Minnie are within striking distance of the milestone. Jackson needs 86 points, or an average of 21.5 over the final four games, to reach the mark. Minnie has slightly less ground to cover, needing 52 points, or an average of 13.0 points per game, in that stretch.

#MACTION JACKSON: After redshirt senior Paul Jackson's 13-game double-digit scoring streak was snapped at Kent State, Feb. 16, the Stone Mountain, Ga. native came back with a vengeance against Toledo, Western Michigan, and Central Michigan, scoring 19, 20, and 19 points, respectively. The redshirt senior has averaged 15.1 points since MAC play began, and has also averaged 5.6 assists, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.7 steals per contest.
   The 13-game streak streak falls one short of Jackson's best of 14 that he rattled off from Nov. 12 to Jan. 6 last season.

WELCOME TO THE BLOCK PARTY: The Eagles have slowly climbed to the top of the MAC when it comes to blocked shots this season. Not only is their 4.7 blocks per contest best in the league, but three players are inside the top eight: Boubacar Toure, 3rd - 1.5; Eljiah Minnie, 7th - 1.2; James Thompson IV, 8th - 1.1. No other team has more than two players in the top 15.

LEADING THE LEAGUE: Eastern Michigan leads league in blocked shots per contest at 4.7 per game and are third in the MAC in offensive rebounds per game (12.6), thanks in large part to senior James Thompson IV. The forward leads the league in offensive rebounding (4.0) this season, while also sitting in second in the league in field goal percentage (65.1) and rebounding (10.3). The forward also has the top rebounding mark in MAC-only action, pulling down 10.8 boards per contest.

ON THE HORIZON: EMU returns home for its final regular season game of the 2018-19 campaign when it hosts Ball State University Tuesday, March 5 at 7 p.m. The Eagles will honor its four seniors, Isaiah Green, Paul Jackson, Elijah Minnie, and James Thompson IV prior to the contest.

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Players Mentioned

Isaiah Green

Ty Groce

Paul Jackson

Kevin McAdoo

Elijah Minnie

James Thompson IV

Boubacar Toure

Eastern Michigan Athletics