JEFF ALLEN GAME PREVIEW: WESTERN MICHIGAN at NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Monday starts Week II of college basketball conference tournament play and World Champion Handicapper will preview a
game out of one of his “Go To” conferences during the year, The MAC. Tonight, the (13-18) Western Michigan Broncos visit
the Convocation Center in DeKalb, Illinois to face the (20-11) Northern Illinois Huskies in the first-round of the MAC Tournament.
The teams split during the season with each team winning at home. The Broncos were 12-26 from behind the arc in their
83-69 win at Kalamazoo but just 1-13 from downtown in a 76-67 loss on this floor nine days ago. The current Vegas line on
this game is Northern -5 and the total 139, unchanged from the original send out.
Western Michigan has been a strange team all year in that they come up with improbable wins at improbable times and when
they are bad, they just outright stink. The Broncos get most of their scoring from two people, SG Thomas Wilder (18.5, 4.3, 3.2)
and F Tucker Haymond (15.5, 5.8, 2.2). The team starts a senior, three juniors and their sophomore bug man so the team does
have some experience. They are a streaky shooting team capable of going on extended runs and droughts. Their rotation is
eight deep with the starters getting the majority of the minutes.
Northern Illinois is a more balanced squad with four scorers averaging low double-digits, anywhere between 12.3 and 10.8
ppg. The Huskies top scorer and rebounder Marin Maric (12.3, 8.5) is a 6’10” 250 big man who is a game time decision with
an ankle problem and a key factor in playing this game. The big man is also the Huskies leading percentage shooter from
beyond the arc. Aaric Armstead (11.1, 5.7) is NIU’s next best player and he’ll be counted on to hit the glass if Maric in unable to
go.
Northern Illinois got of to a fast start (14-3) but have gone just 6-9 down the stretch. The Huskies are 8-1 at home in conference
(lone loss to Buffalo) but the status of Maric in key here. It’s hard to lay points in this spot with Northern. Along with the injury to
Maric, the Huskies are just 2-9 in their 11 conference tourney first round games. On the other side, Western Michigan has been
a light’s out 12-1 the L13 years in their first round games. The total looks a bit low here and in fact, 14 of the L24 in the series
and seven of the L10 in the series games on this floor have gone over the total possibly making the high/low the best way to go.