SU @ NIU

Seattle U (9-16) vs Northern Illinois Huskies (7-17) (3-9) Mid-American

Convocation Center (DeKalb, ILL.)

Saturday February 19, 2011 1:00 pm

RADIO: 710 ESPN Seattle INTERNET AUDIO: seattleufan.com

Series- First Meeting

Last Meeting- n/a

Scouting NIU:

NIU has struggled again this season as the rebruilding process continues under Head Coach Ricardo Patton. Patton is in his 4th year at the helm after guiding future Pac-12 team Colorado for 12 seasons. The Huskies have not finished above .500 in his tenure and this year will be no exception. The conference season startedin promising fashion with a 3-3 mark, but their good fortune has fizzled and they have dropped 6 conference games in a row. They have been on the wrong end in 8 of their last 9 ball game sheading ginto their final non-conference battle of the season. Defense has been the issue for the Huskies. They are giving up a whppinhg 75.62 points per game which is 316th in the nation. Thanks to their leaky defense they are forced to outscore their opponents. They are 5-2 when scoring over 80 points, but just 2-15 when falling short of the 80 point plateu. They are capable of reaching the lofty 80 point mark thanks mostly to one player.

The Ones to Watch:

Xavier Silas- 6’5 198 SR G- 23.5 ppg 4.6 rbs 1.9 assts

The Colorado transfer is a big-time scorer. He currently sits 5th in the nation in scoring trailing only Jimmer Fredette (BYU- 27.3), Adrian Oliver (San Jose State- 24.5), Marshon Brooks (Providence- 24.3) and Charles Jenkins (Hofstra- 23.5). He hurts opponents in a number of ways. He has sunk 169 free-throws this year which is second best in the nation. He hlaso shoots a lofty 85% from the stripe. He nailed his first 28 from there this season. He can torch the twine from downtown hitting 42% from 3 (52-124). He can get to the basket with effeincey shooting 46% overall from the floor. He has gone over 30 points 6 times this season including a 40 point game against Illionis-Chicago. He is coming off his worst game of the season with just 7 points on 3-11 shooting. He was saddled with foul trouble most of the night and never could get it cooking in a 77-65 loss to Western Michigan.

Keys to the Game:

1- Rebound- The tallest player in the NIU starting lineup stand at 6’7. SU outrebound sopponents by 11.6 in wins and is outrebounded by 5.5 in losses.
2- Slow down Silas- This should be a great match-up with elite defender Lever on him.
3- Pound the ball inside- Jones and Broussard have the potential to have huge nights for SeattleU.
Numbers to Know:

– 4- – The number of time zones SeattleU has played in this year.

– 7- Where Garrett Lever sits on the all-time single season steals list

– 1- The number of steals Lever needs to move into a tie for 5th on the list.

– 32- The average number of points for Silas in NIU wins

-19- The average number of points for Silas in NIU losses.

Tune in at 1:00 pm on 710 ESPN Seattle and the live blog will be cooking at seattleufan.com.