QUICK HITTERS
•   Toledo (10-6, 1-2 MAC) hosts MAC East Division preseason favorite Akron (13-3, 2-1 MAC) on Friday, Jan. 15 at 7:00 p.m. in a contest that will be televised live nationally by the CBS Sports Network.
•   Both squads are looking to bounce back from defeats in their last outing on Tuesday. The Rockets suffered a 71-66 home setback to MAC West Division leader Northern Illinois, while the Zips fell by a 92-81 margin at Central Michigan.
•   UT's contest vs. Akron marks the third straight year a Rocket-Zip matchup will be televised nationally. Toledo has a three-game win streak vs. Akron after dropping the previous seven meetings.
•   Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk is in his sixth season at UT's helm and has orchestrated a dramatic turnaround since his arrival in 2010. He possesses a 95-84 (.531) record on the Rocket bench, including a 91-56 (.619) win-loss ledger over the last five years.
•   Kowalczyk has guided Toledo to a share of the 2013-14 Mid-American Conference regular season title in addition to a piece of the 2012-13 MAC West Division title.
•   Senior Nathan Boothe poured in a career-high 30 points to go along with nine boards against the Huskies, while junior Jonathan Williams tallied 21 points. Boothe's trey and layup put the Rockets ahead, 64-63, with 1:24 to play, but NIU tallied the next eight points to secure the victory.
•   Boothe and Williams are the MAC's top two leading scorers with 19.3 and 19.1 ppg, respectively. Boothe also is third in the MAC with a team-high 8.8 rpg, fifth with a 2.1 assist/turnover ratio, sixth with a team-best 4.1 apg, eighth with a 53.8 FG% and 78.4 FT% and ninth with a 43.2 3PTFG%.
•   In league play, Boothe ranks third with 23.7 ppg and 8.7 rpg.
•   Boothe has been named the MAC's West Division Player of the Week on four occasions and also earned a spot on CollegeInsiders.com mid-season Mid-Major All-America squad in early January.
•   Toledo ranks 11th nationally with a MAC-best 1.64 assist/turnover ratio and tied for 15th with 17.9 apg.
•   UT tops the MAC with 80.5 ppg, 17.9 apg and 1.64 assist/turnover ratio and is second with a 46.8 FG%.
•   Akron is the MAC's leader in 3PTFG% defense (.242), three-point FGs per game (11.2) and defensive rebounds (28.8). The Zips are also second in scoring margin (+11.0), 3PTFG% (.379) and FG% defense (.383).
•   Five Zips are scoring in double figures led by sophomore guard Antino Jackson at 11.6 ppg and a team-best 4.3 apg. Junior center Isaiah Johnson ranks second at 11.4 ppg and is grabbing a team-high 8.0 rpg.
 
ROCKET ROUNDUP FROM UT'S 71-66 DEFEAT TO NORTHERN ILLINOIS
• Toledo's lead in its all-time series vs. Northern Illinois was reduced to 43-26 with its second-straight home defeat at the hands of the Huskies.
• Toledo's 16 turnovers matched its season high previously set vs. Green Bay on Dec. 6.
• UT is 0-5 when it shoots lower than 45 percent and 1-6 when its opponent registers a higher field-goal percentage.
• The Rockets are 1-5 when being outrebounded by their opponent.
• Toledo's bench was outscored by a 24-8 margin by NIU and has been outscored an average of 18.7 ppg (27.7-9.0) in its first three MAC games.
• Senior center Nathan Boothe tallied career highs in points (30), free throws made (8) and free throws attempted (9).
• Junior guard Jonathan Williams is shooting 50.0 percent (16-of-32) from three-point range over his last five contests to raise his season mark to a career-best 38.9 percent.
• Williams has scored 14 or more points in every game this season and has tallied a team-best nine 20-point outings.
• Sophomore guard Stuckey Mosley was limited to a season-low three points in a career-high 34 minutes and tied his career best with five three-point field goals attempted.
• Freshman guard Jaelan Sanford was held scoreless for the first time this season after entering the contest averaging 13.8 ppg with a 56.4 FG% (22-of-39) and 46.7 3PTFG% (14-of-30) in his previous five games.
• Freshman guard Nate Navigato saw his second seven-game three-point field-goal streak end. Navigato also took a season-low two shots from behind the three-point arc.
• Junior guard Jordan Lauf tied his career high with three assists.
 
ROCKETS RANKING AMONG NATIONAL LEADERS IN 2015-16
          Toledo ranks 11th nationally (through games of Jan. 14) with its 1.64 assist/turnover ratio, tied for 15th with 17.9 assists per game and tied for 27th in fewest turnovers per game (10.9).
        Individually, Nathan Boothe ranks 38th with 6.6 defensive rebounds per game. He also is 159th nationally with 4.1 assists per game and is the only center ranked among the Top 250 players nationally.
        Boothe and junior guard Jonathan Williams each rank among the nation's Top 50 scoring at 42nd and tied for 43rd place, respectively, with 19.3 and 19.1 ppg, The duo is just one of two pairings in the Top 50 with Gonzaga's Kyle Wiltjer (21.5) and Domantas Sabonis (18.9) ranking 17th and tied for 49th, respectively.

A LOOK AHEAD
        The Rockets hit the road for a pair of contests next week. UT will visit arch-rival Bowling Green (11-5, 2-1 MAC) on Tuesday, Jan. 19 at 7:00 p.m. before a rematch with MAC West Division leader Northern Illinois (14-2, 3-0 MAC) on Friday, Jan. 22 at 6:30 p.m