After flying back from Alaska Sunday, the NIU men’s basketball team hits the road for a match-up against Air Force at 7:30 p.m. tonight in Colorado Springs, Colo.

The Huskies (3-4) are coming off a 1-2 weekend in the Great Alaska Shootout.

In the shootout, four NIU players scored in double-digits in at least one game, but sophomore Darion “Jake” Anderson led his team in scoring for all three games.

The sophomore was named to the all-tournament team, and also was given the MAC West Player of the Week title for his performance.

Despite the offensive efforts by the Huskies, NIU head coach Ricardo Patton is still worried about the team’s tendency to turn the ball over.

“Our biggest concern right now is getting better at taking care of the basketball,” Patton said about tonight’s contest. “The games where we’ve had low turnovers, we’d end up winning, but the games where we’ve turned the ball over 19 or 20 times are games we had trouble with.”

The Huskies will have to contain the ball against Air Force (4-2), who has two players with six steals each in six games. The Falcons also showcase three players who are averaging double-digit scoring outputs for their team. Leading Air Force is senior Anwar Johnson, with 13.7 points per game.

“They’re a good basketball team; they’re a disciplined basketball team, as you’d imagine,” Patton said. “We were fortunate to beat them here last year, but they can cause some match-up problems. They’ll really spread you out and shoot the three ball.”

Combating the Falcons’ lead scorers are Anderson, freshman Mike DiNunno and sophomore Sean Kowal who average 17.3, 15 and 10.7 points per game respectively.

Kowal, a team captain, leads the team in scoring percentage, hitting .623 percent of his shots. Most of the sophomore’s shots come from the post, where he has seen some of his strongest match-ups.

“It only makes sense to try to play inside out and get the ball inside,” Patton said. “[Kowal] is shooting over 60 percent, so we’ll have to make sure and get him the ball.”

Patton said coming into tonight’s game, the Huskies have played the last four games away from home, resulting in significant missed class time.

“It’s probably a poor job of scheduling on my part,” he said. “But that’s how the schedule shook out. It’s something that, in the future, we will have to look at.”

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