# 2009–10 Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball team

The 2009–10 Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball team represented Northern Illinois University in the college basketball season of 2009–10. The team, led by head coached by Ricardo Patton, are members of the Mid-American Conference and played their homes game at the Convocation Center. They finished the season 10–20, 6–10 in MAC play and lost in the first round of the 2010 MAC men's basketball tournament.

## Before the season
### Roster changes

The Huskies only lost one senior from last year's team. That player, Sean Smith, started in 29 of Northern Illinois' 30 games for that season (only one player had started all 30). He contributed an average 8.4 points per game. However, Northern Illinois has recruited two newcomers for their team. Xavier Silas, a transfer from Colorado, who made his Northern Illinois day-view after sitting out one year because of NCAA transfer rules. Another newcomer will be Keith Smith, who redshirted his first season.
The Huskies were predicted to finish 2nd in the MAC West.

## During the season

Northern Illinois had a rough start to its 2009-10 campaign. In the opening loss to Northwestern, Xavier Silas went down with a fracture on his shooting hand, an injury that would sideline him for one month. The loss was a tough blow for NIU, because Silas was expected to be a key contributor to the team after averaging double figures in scoring during his two years at Colorado.
Without Silas, the Huskies struggled through the non-conference schedule. They were 1-5 when Silas made his come back against Minnesota. In his first two games back, Silas shot the ball poorly, showing clear signs of being rusty after sitting out for a whole month. The Huskies lost both games and dropped to 1-7.

### Tough loss to #18 Temple

With Silas back in form after his injury, Northern beat Maryland Eastern Shore behind his 19 points. After winning only their second game of the season, NIU prepared to face their first ranked opponent at home in a long time. The game was expected to be a blowout, but the Huskies hung tough for most of the game, but in the end Temple was just too much, winning 70-60.

### 6-game winning streak

After losing to ranked Temple, Northern would go on to win their next 6 games, including their first 4 conference games. The 4-0 start in conference play marked the best start in school history.
During the 6-game winning streak, Silas averaged 22 points per contest.

### 6-game losing streak

Northern Illinois traveled to Central Michigan to play a veteran Chippewa squad. After battling for most of the game, the Huskies fell short, losing 81-75 and snapping their winning streak.
Crossover play began against the East Division, widely considered the best of the MAC divisions. The Huskies struggled mightily against the East, losing their next 5 games, giving up 90 points or more in three of those games.

### Recruiting

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Antone Christian | Nashville, TN | Martin Luther King HS | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 189 lb (86 kg) | |
| Recruiting star ratings: Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ||||||
| Tony Nixon SG | South Holland, IL | Seton Academy | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) | 198 lb (90 kg) | Sep 22, 2008 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: Rivals: 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 86 ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Northern Illinois Commit List for 2009". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 22, 2009. "Scout.com: Men's Basketball Recruiting". Scout.com. Retrieved October 22, 2009. "Northern Illinois Basketball Recruiting 2009". ESPN.com. Retrieved October 22, 2009. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved October 22, 2009. "2009 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved October 22, 2009. ||||||

## Roster

Roster current as of September 9, when their summer prospectus was published.
| Name | Number | Position | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown |
| Darion "Jake" Anderson | 32 | G | 6–2 | 202 | Junior | Chicago, Illinois |
| Antone Christian | 3 | G | 6–1 | 189 | Freshman | Nashville, Tennessee |
| Mike DiNunno | 11 | G | 5–11 | 188 | Sophomore | Chicago, Illinois |
| Ante Dzepina | 15 | C | 6–8 | 230 | Senior | Kraljevica, Croatia |
| Najul Ervin | 2 | F | 6–5 | 219 | Senior | Memphis, Tennessee |
| Michael Fakuade | 55 | C | 6–7 | 227 | Sophomore | Chicago, Illinois |
| Lee Fisher | 30 | F | 6–5 | 210 | Sophomore | Dolton, Illinois |
| Bryan Hall | 1 | G | 6–1 | 162 | Sophomore | Chicago, Illinois |
| Sean Kowal | 41 | C | 6–11 | 248 | Junior | St. Louis, Missouri |
| Jeremy Landers | 24 | G | 6–2 | 185 | Junior | Milwaukee, Wisconsin |
| Tony Nixon | 25 | G | 6–4 | 198 | Freshman | South Holland, Illinois |
| Michael Patton | 4 | G | 5–10 | 181 | Junior | Boulder, Colorado |
| Justin Peaster | 22 | G | 5–11 | 171 | Sophomore | Aurora, Illinois |
| Xavier Silas | 13 | G | 6–5 | 201 | Junior | Austin, Texas |
| Keith Smith | 10 | G | 5–5 | 135 | Freshman | Chicago, Illinois |

## Coaching staff

| Name | Position | College | Graduating year |
| Ricardo Patton | Head coach | Belmont University | 1980 |
| Sundance Wicks | Assistant coach | Northern State University | 2003 |
| Will Smith | Assistant coach | University of Colorado at Boulder | 2000 |
| Todd Townsend | Assistant coach | Marquette University | 2005 |
| Kent Dernbach | Director of Basketball Operations | | |
| Kyle Schwan | Video Coordinator | Northern State University | 2009 |

## Schedule

| Date time, TV | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 1* 7:00 p.m. | Aurora | W 93–59 Stats | | Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois |
| November 6* 7:00 p.m. | Marygrove College | W 120–50 Stats | | Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 13* 8:00 p.m. | at Northwestern | W 77–55 Stats | 0–1 | Welsh-Ryan Arena (4,057) Evanston, Illinois |
| November 17* 8:00 p.m., ESPN360 | at No. 23 Illinois | L 61–80 Stats | 0–2 | Assembly Hall (14,979) Champaign, Illinois |
| November 20* 8:00 p.m. | Tennessee State | W 85–57 Stats | 1–2 | Convocation Center (1,590) DeKalb, Illinois |
| November 22 4:30 p.m. | Southeast Missouri State | L 64–70$^{OT}$ Stats | 1–3 | Convocation Center (825) DeKalb, Illinois |
| November 28* 8:05 p.m. | at Northern Iowa | L 45–52 Stats | 1–4 | McLeod Center (4,083) Cedar Falls, Iowa |
| December 2* 8:00 p.m. | Bradley | L 49–63 Stats | 1–5 | Convocation Center (3,064) DeKalb, Illinois |
| December 15* 7:00 p.m. | at Minnesota | L 48–89 Stats | 1–6 | Williams Arena (12,055) Minneapolis, Minnesota |
| December 19* 3:00 p.m. | at UIC | L 49–69 Stats | 1–7 | UIC Pavilion (3,299) Chicago, Illinois |
| December 22* 2:00 p.m. | Maryland Eastern Shore | W 87–69 Stats | 2–7 | Convocation Center (704) DeKalb, Illinois |
| December 30* 7:00 p.m. | No. 18 Temple | L 60–70 Stats | 2–8 | Convocation Center (1,234) DeKalb, Illinois |
| January 2* 3:00 p.m. | North Dakota | W 66–45 Stats | 3–8 | Convocation Center (1,024) DeKalb, Illinois |
| January 6* 7:00 p.m. | at Chicago State | W 99–93 Stats | 4–8 | Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center (1,668) Chicago, Illinois |
| January 9 2:00 p.m. | at Ball State | W 62–48 Stats | 5–8 (1–0) | John E. Worthen Arena (2,725) Muncie, Indiana |
| January 13 7:00 p.m. | Western Michigan | W 87–77 Stats | 6–8 (2–0) | Convocation Center (1,463) DeKalb, Illinois |
| January 16 4:00 p.m. | Eastern Michigan | W 77–69 | 7–8 (3–0) | Convocation Center (2,003) DeKalb, Illinois |
| January 20 7:00 p.m. | at Toledo | W 58–54 | 8–8 (4–0) | Savage Arena (3,556) Toledo, Ohio |
| January 23 6:30 p.m. | at Central Michigan | L 75–81 | 8–9 (4–1) | Daniel P. Rose Center (2,317) Mount Pleasant, Michigan |
| January 27 8:00 p.m. | Ohio | L 84–99 | 8–10 (4–2) | Convocation Center (1,498) DeKalb, Illinois |
| January 30 2:00 p.m. | Buffalo | L 83–95 | 8–11 (4–3) | Convocation Center (3,448) DeKalb, Illinois |
| February 1 7:00 p.m. | at Kent State | L 46–76 | 8–12 (4–4) | Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (3,030) Kent, Ohio |
| February 3 7:00 p.m. | at Akron | L 76–90 | 8–13 (4–5) | James A. Rhodes Arena (2,591) Akron, Ohio |
| February 6 4:00 p.m. | Miami (OH) | L 69–74 | 8–14 (4–6) | Convocation Center (1,865) DeKalb, Illinois |
| February 10 7:00 p.m. | at Bowling Green | L 69–73 | 8–15 (4–7) | Anderson Arena (1,347) Bowling Green, Ohio |
| February 13 4:00 p.m. | Ball State | L 66–71 | 8–16 (4–8) | Convocation Center (1,537) DeKalb, Illinois |
| February 17 7:00 p.m. | at Western Michigan | L 81–90 | 8–17 (4–9) | University Arena (3,016) Kalamazoo, Michigan |
| February 20* 7:00 p.m., ESPNU | at Eastern Illinois ESPNU BracketBusters | L 73–71 stats | 8–18 (4–9) | Lantz Arena (1787) Charleston, Illinois |
| February 24 8:00 p.m. | Central Michigan | W 67–65 stats | 9–18 (5–9) | Convocation Center (925) DeKalb, Illinois |
| February 27 2:00 p.m. | at Eastern Michigan | L 66–60 stats | 9–19 (5–10) | Convocation Center (1499) Ypsilanti, Michigan |
| March 4 8:00 p.m. | Toledo | W 60–58 stats | 10–19 (6–10) | Convocation Center (1322) DeKalb, Illinois |
| Mid-American Conference tournament ||||||
| March 7 2:00 p.m. | Eastern Michigan First Round | L 59–65 stats | 10–20 | Convocation Center (675) Ypsilanti, Michigan |
| *Non-Conference Game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Eastern Time Zone. ||||||

## Statistics

| Player | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | Ast | Blk | Stl | PPG |
| Xavier Silas | 25 | 25 | 31.6 | .383 | .321 | .811 | 5.3 | 41 | 12 | 20 | 19.7 |
| Darion Anderson | 30 | 28 | 27.9 | .399 | .208 | .745 | 6.0 | 104 | 6 | 37 | 10.6 |
| Sean Kowal | 30 | 12 | 25.5 | .542 | 1.000 | .542 | 6.4 | 19 | 25 | 22 | 10.5 |
| Mike Dinunno | 30 | 21 | 23.7 | .312 | .290 | .629 | 1.6 | 91 | 0 | 29 | 7.0 |
| Tony Nixon | 30 | 5 | 14.9 | .362 | .333 | .440 | 1.6 | 15 | 2 | 6 | 4.3 |
| Lee Fisher | 28 | 21 | 18.8 | .481 | .000 | .550 | 3.9 | 20 | 4 | 18 | 4.0 |
| Michael Patton | 27 | 2 | 13.1 | .365 | .333 | .818 | 0.7 | 15 | 0 | 11 | 3.8 |
| Michael Fakuade | 30 | 15 | 11.6 | .385 | .273 | .516 | 3.0 | 9 | 30 | 9 | 3.5 |
| Bryan Hall | 20 | 3 | 14.9 | .538 | 1.000 | .550 | 1.0 | 40 | 1 | 12 | 2.8 |
| Tyler Storm | 26 | 1 | 7.6 | .322 | .265 | .692 | 1.2 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 2.2 |
| Najul Ervin | 28 | 10 | 13.0 | .543 | .000 | .286 | 2.5 | 16 | 17 | 11 | 1.9 |
| Jeremy Landers | 26 | 6 | 8.7 | .314 | .222 | .571 | 1.0 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 1.4 |
| Ante Dzepina | 24 | 1 | 7.2 | .297 | .000 | .421 | 2.0 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 1.3 |
| Justin Peaster | 2 | 0 | 1.0 | .000 | .000 | .500 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 |
| Keith Smith | 7 | 0 | 2.9 | .000 | .000 | .000 | 0.6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
* Source: Northern Illinois Combined Team Statistics - March 10, 2010