2009–10 Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball team

American college basketball season March 2026 August 2023 Basketball 2009–10 Northern Illinois Huskies Northern Illinois Huskies basketball wordmark.svg Mid-American Conference West Division MAC 10–20 6–10 Ricardo Patton Sundance Wicks Will Smith Todd Townsend Convocation Center 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 Antone Christian Nashville, TN Martin Luther King HS 6 1 189 Tony Nixon SG South Holland, IL Seton Academy 6 4 198 2008-09-22 2 3 86 2009 Northern Illinois Commit List for 2009 Scout.com: Men's Basketball Recruiting Northern Illinois Basketball Recruiting 2009 northernillinois 75 2459 2009-10-22 yes Roster Roster current as of September 9, when their summer prospectus was published.http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/niu/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/pre_prospectus9909.pdf Northern Illinois University 2009-09-09 Huskie Basketball 2009-2010 Season Prospectus 2009-10-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20091104221023/http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/niu/sports/m-baskbl/auto_pdf/pre_prospectus9909.pdf 4 November 2009 live NameNumberPositionHeightWeightYearHometown 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 10px Sophomore Chicago, Illinois Lee Fisher 30 F 6–5 210 10px 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 10px Freshman Chicago, Illinois Coaching staff NamePositionCollegeGraduating 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 yes yes yes yes no |- !colspan=9 style="Northern Illinois Huskies white" | Exhibition November 1 7:00 p.m. yes Aurora Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 93–59Stats   November 6 7:00 p.m. yes Marygrove College Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 120–50Stats   |- !colspan=9 style="Northern Illinois Huskies white" | Regular season November 13 8:00 p.m. yes yes Northwestern Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois 77–55Stats 4,057 0–1 November 17 8:00 p.m. yes yes Illinois 23 Assembly Hall Champaign, Illinois ESPN360 61–80Stats 14,979 0–2 November 20 8:00 p.m. yes 2009 men Tennessee State Tigers Tennessee State University Tennessee State Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 85–57Stats 1,590 1–2 November 22 4:30 p.m. 2009 men Southeast Missouri State Redhawks Southeast Missouri State University Southeast Missouri State Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 64–70OTStats 825 1–3 November 28 8:05 p.m. yes yes Northern Iowa McLeod Center Cedar Falls, Iowa 45–52Stats 4,083 1–4 December 2 8:00 p.m. yes 2009 men Bradley Braves Bradley University Bradley Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 49–63Stats 3,064 1–5 December 15 7:00 p.m. yes yes Minnesota Williams Arena Minneapolis, Minnesota 48–89Stats 12,055 1–6 December 19 3:00 p.m. l yes yes 2009 men UIC Flames University of Illinois at Chicago UIC UIC Pavilion Chicago, Illinois 49–69Stats 3,299 1–7 December 22 2:00 p.m. w yes 2009 men Maryland Eastern Shore Hawks University of Maryland Eastern Shore Maryland Eastern Shore Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 87–69Stats 704 2–7 December 30 7:00 p.m. l yes Temple 18 Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 60–70Stats 1,234 2–8 January 2 3:00 p.m. w yes 2009 men North Dakota Fighting Sioux University of North Dakota North Dakota Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 66–45Stats 1,024 3–8 January 6 7:00 p.m. w yes yes 2009 men Chicago State Cougars Chicago State University Chicago State Emil and Patricia Jones Convocation Center Chicago, Illinois 99–93Stats 1,668 4–8 January 9 2:00 p.m. yes Ball State John E. Worthen Arena Muncie, Indiana 62–48Stats 2,725 5–8 1–0 January 13 7:00 p.m. w Western Michigan Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 87–77Stats 1,463 6–8 2–0 January 16 4:00 p.m. w Eastern Michigan Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 77–69 2,003 7–8 3–0 January 20 7:00 p.m. w yes Toledo Savage Arena Toledo, Ohio 58–54 3,556 8–8 4–0 January 23 6:30 p.m. l yes Central Michigan Daniel P. Rose Center Mount Pleasant, Michigan 75–81 2,317 8–9 4–1 January 27 8:00 p.m. l Ohio Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 84–99 1,498 8–10 4–2 January 30 2:00 p.m. l Buffalo Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 83–95 3,448 8–11 4–3 February 1 7:00 p.m. l yes Kent State Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center Kent, Ohio 46–76 3,030 8–12 4–4 February 3 7:00 p.m. l yes Akron James A. Rhodes Arena Akron, Ohio 76–90 2,591 8–13 4–5 February 6 4:00 p.m. l Miami (OH) Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 69–74 1,865 8–14 4–6 February 10 7:00 p.m. l yes Bowling Green Anderson Arena Bowling Green, Ohio 69–73 1,347 8–15 4–7 February 13 4:00 p.m. l Ball State Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 66–71 1,537 8–16 4–8 February 17 7:00 p.m. l yes Western Michigan University Arena Kalamazoo, Michigan 81–90 3,016 8–17 4–9 February 20 7:00 p.m. l yes yes Eastern Illinois Lantz Arena Charleston, Illinois ESPNU BracketBusters ESPNU 73–71stats 1787 8–18 4–9 February 24 8:00 p.m. w Central Michigan Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 67–65stats 925 9–18 5–9 February 27 2:00 p.m. l yes Eastern Michigan Convocation Center Ypsilanti, Michigan 66–60stats 1499 9–19 5–10 March 4 8:00 p.m. w Toledo Convocation Center DeKalb, Illinois 60–58stats 1322 10–19 6–10 |- !colspan=9 style="Northern Illinois Huskies white" | white Mid-American Conference tournament March 7 2:00 p.m. l Eastern Michigan Convocation Center Ypsilanti, Michigan First Round 59–65stats 675 10–20 |- style="background:#f9f9f9;" | colspan=10 | *Non-Conference Game. #Rankings from AP Poll. All times are in Eastern Time Zone. |} Statistics Legend   GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game  FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage  RPG  Rebounds per game  Ast  Assists  Blk  Blocks  Stl  Steals  PPG  Points per game Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG Ast Blk Stl PPG Silas, Xavier Xavier Silas 25 25 31.6 .383 .321 .811 5.3 41 12 20 19.7 Anderson, Darion Darion Anderson 30 28 27.9 .399 .208 .745 6.0 104 6 37 10.6 Kowal, Sean Sean Kowal 30 12 25.5 .542 1.000 .542 6.4 19 25 22 10.5 Dinunno, Mike Mike Dinunno 30 21 23.7 .312 .290 .629 1.6 91 0 29 7.0 Nixon, Tony Tony Nixon 30 5 14.9 .362 .333 .440 1.6 15 2 6 4.3 Fisher, Lee Lee Fisher 28 21 18.8 .481 .000 .550 3.9 20 4 18 4.0 Patton, Michael Michael Patton 27 2 13.1 .365 .333 .818 0.7 15 0 11 3.8 Fakuade, Michael Michael Fakuade 30 15 11.6 .385 .273 .516 3.0 9 30 9 3.5 Hall, Bryan Bryan Hall 20 3 14.9 .538 1.000 .550 1.0 40 1 12 2.8 Storm, Tyler Tyler Storm 26 1 7.6 .322 .265 .692 1.2 9 0 8 2.2 Ervin, Najul Najul Ervin 28 10 13.0 .543 .000 .286 2.5 16 17 11 1.9 Landers, Jeremy Jeremy Landers 26 6 8.7 .314 .222 .571 1.0 10 1 12 1.4 Dzepina, Ante Ante Dzepina 24 1 7.2 .297 .000 .421 2.0 7 7 3 1.3 Peaster, Justin Justin Peaster 2 0 1.0 .000 .000 .500 0.0 0 0 0 0.5 Smith, Keith 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 References Category:Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball seasons Northern Illinois Huskies Northern Northern