DeKALB, IL - Toledo (2-13, 0-1 MAC) opened its 2008-09 Mid-American Conference campaign on Saturday with a 75-51 setback at Northern Illinois (5-8, 1-0 MAC). The loss was the Rockets' eighth in a row and largest margin of defeat this season and dropped UT's road record to 0-8.
The Huskies never let Toledo's offense get untracked as NIU limited the Rockets to a 34.7 field-goal percentage and forced 19 turnovers. The hosts also had their way on the offensive end of the court shooting 50.9 percent from the field and 50.0 percent (7-of-14) from behind the three-point arc. Northern Illinois also held a 37-27 advantage on the boards.
“Northern Illinois made us come out flat in the beginning of the game and we couldn't pick it up after that,” Head Coach Gene Cross said. “They had three weeks off and it's obvious they came out hungry, prepared and ready to get back playing.”
Senior G Tyrone Kent led Toledo offensively with 19 points and became the 39th player in Rocket history to score 1,000 career points. Sophomore F Justin Anyijong and senior G Jonathan Amos also scored in double figures with 12 points apiece.
2007-08 MAC Freshman of the Year Darion Anderson paced a balanced NIU attack with a game-high 20 points in addition to tying for team rebounding honors with seven. Also scoring in double figures for the Huskies were senior F Sean Smith (16 pts.) freshman G Mike DiNunno (14 pts.) and sophomore C Sean Kowal (11 pts.)
“We knew Darion was a good player,” Cross said. “He has something about him that makes him special. He's tough, hard-nosed, aggressive and skilled.”
Toledo struggled from the start as the Huskies took control from the opening tip by scoring the game's ?first eight points en route to a 20-5 advantage at the 10-minute mark. Anyijong tallied the Rockets' only two baskets in the first 10 minutes before Kent converted a traditional three-point play with 9:46 remaining in the opening stanza. Amos followed with another basket but UT couldn't get any closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Anderson took over for the Huskies the remainder of the first half tallying 11 of NIU's final 18 points to give the hosts a commanding 41-20 halftime advantage. Toledo finished the first half with 12 turnovers and shot just 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from the field and 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from three-point range.
Northern utilized a zone throughout the contest that Toledo had trouble solving.
“They changed up a lot on defense,” said Cross of the Huskies' three-week break between games. “They used a 3-2 zone and a little bit of triangle and two. We stood around, passed the ball around the perimeter too much and tried shooting too many threes which isn't what we do. Whenever you face a zone you have to be aggressive. You have to flash guys in the middle and attack the wings, the seams and the gaps. We stood around and watched and you can't win basketball games like that.”
Cross also was discouraged about the Rockets' continued inability to take care of the basketball. UT's 19 turnovers was nearly one more than its season average of 18.2.
“Handling the basketball has been a problem for us the entire season,” Cross said. “It's very frustrating because we work on it every day in practice but come up with the same result. I guess I just have to go back to the drawing board and come up with something different.
