TOLEDO, Ohio - The Toledo men's basketball team (25-6, 13-5 MAC) heads to Cleveland with back-to-back MAC West Division titles in its pocket and looking to achieve its goal of getting to the NCAA Tournament. The Rockets will face West Division foe Northern Illinois (16-16, 8-10 MAC) on Thursday, March 14 in the 2019 Mid-American Conference Tournament quarterfinals presented by VisitMyrtleBeach.com. Tip-off time is set for 6:30 p.m. in Quicken Loans Arena with streaming available on ESPN+.

        The Rockets are the No. 2 seed in this year's tourney, while the Huskies are the No. 7 seed. The winner of Thursday's matchup will face either No. 3 seed Bowling Green or No. 6 seed Eastern Michigan in the MAC semifinals on Friday, March 15 at 9:00 p.m.

        Toledo swept its season series vs. Northern Illinois for a second consecutive season, posting a 69-55 victory in DeKalb before pulling out a 57-54 triumph in Savage Arena. The Rockets are 4-0 vs. the Huskies in MAC Tournament play with the last meeting resulting in a 78-77 quarterfinal victory in 2006.

        The Rockets bring a five-game winning streak into postseason play following Friday's 64-58 victory over Eastern Michigan. The victory was UT's 25th win of the season, second most in program history and two shy of the 2013-14 squad's 27-7 mark.
 
GAME INFORMATION
Date: Thursday, March 14, 2019.
Tip-Off: 6:30 p.m.
Location: Cleveland, Ohio.
Arena: Quicken Loans Arena (20,562).
Streaming: ESPN+. Michael Reghi will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Tony White serving as analyst.
Radio: Rocket Radio Network. WSPD (1370 AM) in Toledo. Brent Balbinot will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Jay Lehman serving as analyst.
Series: Toledo leads 47-28. UT has won its last five games vs. NIU after losing four straight vs. the Huskies. Toledo is 4-0 vs. NIU in the MAC Tournament.

POST TOUCHES
•   Toledo's 48 victories over the last two seasons are the most in a two-year period in Rocket history. The previous best was 47  from 2013-14 to 2014-15.
•   UT has registered 13-5 league marks in each of the last two years and its 68 MAC victories over the last five-plus seasons rank second in the league.
•   Toledo ranks in the Top 25 nationally (as of March 11) in FT% (77.3/10th), defensive rpg (29.2/10th), assists/game (16.6/16th), rebounds/game (39.5/20th), winning percentage (80.6/21st) and three-point field goals/game (9.7/25th).
•   UT leads the MAC in five categories — FT% (77.3), 3PTFG% (37.8), three-point FGs/game (9.7), blocked shots/game (4.6) and defensive rpg (29.3). The Rockets are also second in six more categories — scoring defense (67.7 ppg), FG% defense (40.6), scoring margin (+9.6), reb. margin (plus-4.8), assists/game (16.6) and assist/turnover ratio (1.3).
•   Four Rockets earned recognition in voting by the conference's head coaches. Senior Jaelan Sanford received first-team All-MAC honors, the sixth time in the last seven years a Toledo player has been tabbed as one of the league's top five players.
•   Senior Nate Navigato and sophomore Marreon Jackson were honorable-mention All-MAC honorees, while freshman AJ Edu was a member of the MAC All-Freshman Team.
•   Jaelan Sanford ranks second in the MAC with an 83.1 FT% and is 12th with a team-high 15.4 ppg. The Evansville, Ind. native ranks sixth on UT's all-time scoring list with 1,753 points and is four points behind No. 5 Jonathan Williams (2013-17).
•   Sanford is also fourth on UT's career three-point field-goal list with 234. He is second in career minutes played (4,300), trailing only Julius 'Juice' Brown (2011-15) with 4,327.
•   Sanford tied Brown's school record last Friday vs. Eastern Michigan for most consecutive starts with 131. Sanford and Nate Navigato are two shy of the school record for most games played held by Jordan Lauf (2013-17).
•   Sanford registered his lone two career double-doubles with 12 points and a career-high 11 boards at Bowling Green (Feb. 9) and 24 points and 10 rebounds vs. Buffalo (Feb. 15).
•   Nate Navigato ranks eighth nationally with a 45.7 three-point FG%. Navigato holds the UT record for career three-point FGs and ranks second in MAC history with 303 treys. Navigato ranks 15th on UT's all-time scoring list with 1,396 points.
•   Willie Jackson ranks fourth in the MAC with 9.1 rpg and nine double-doubles. He has led or shared the team lead in rebounding on 21 occasions. Jackson dished out a career-high five assists to go along with nine points and 13 boards at Kent State (Jan. 22).
•   Two Rockets rank in the MAC's Top 3 in two different categories:
    Free-throw percentage — Chris Darrington (83.7/1st) and Jaelan Sanford (83.1/2nd)
    Blocked shots per game — AJ Edu (1.8/2nd) and Luke Knapke (1.4/3rd)
•   Marreon Jackson ranks fourth in the MAC with 4.3 apg and seventh with 1.5 spg. He is second on the team with 13.5 ppg in MAC play and ranked third in the MAC in league games only with a 40.0 3PTFG% (42-of-105).
•   Jackson scored a season-high 20 points in each of the Rockets' games vs. Buffalo.
•   Luke Knapke finished third in the MAC in league play with 1.7 bpg and ranks fourth with a 59.4 FG% Knapke is third on UT's all-time blocked shot list with 132 blocks, six behind J.C. Harris (1989-92) and 23 behind Nathan Boothe (2012-16).
•   Chris Darrington comes off the bench and ranks fifth on the team with a 9.1 scoring mark. He leads UT in free throws made (82) and free throws attempted (98) despite playing just 15.3 mpg. Darrington scored a career-high 21 points at Buffalo (Jan. 8) and he tallied 20 points in 20 minutes off the bench at Bowling Green (Feb. 9).
•   AJ Edu ranks second in the MAC with 1.8 blocks per game and led the way with 1.9 bpg in league play despite playing just 13.9 mpg. Edu registered a season-high six rejections vs. Western Michigan (March 5) and his 55 rejections rank third in UT history.
•   Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk is in his ninth season at the Rockets' helm and has guided UT to four 20-win campaigns in the last six years, marking the first time for this accomplishment since Bob Nichols recorded five straight 20-win seasons from 1976-81.
 
SOME TEAM STATISTICAL TIDBITS
•   Fifteen of UT's 25 wins have been by 11 points or more.
•   Toledo is 5-1 this season in games decided by five points or less. The Rockets have won 12 of 15 games decided by five points or less since the start of last season.
•   Toledo has five players shooting 75.9 percent or better and three over 83.0 percent from the free-throw line.
•   Toledo has held double-digit rebounding advantages against 11 opponents, including a plus-25 effort vs. Detroit Mercy (Dec. 5) and a plus-22 outing vs. Cornell (Dec. 19).
•   Toledo is 21-3 when outrebounding its opponent.
•   Toledo is 21-1 when holding its opponent under 45 percent shooting from the field and 14-1 when shooting 45 percent or higher.
•   UT is 24-2 when holding its opponent under 80 points and is 19-0 when holding its opponent under 70 points. UT is also 20-1 when leading with five minutes remaining.
 
MAC WEST DIVISION BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONS!!
        Toledo has won back-to-back outright MAC West Division titles for the first time in program history. UT has won four outright MAC West Division titles (1998-99, 2006-07, 2017-18, 2018-19) and shared West crowns on four more occasions (1999-2000, 2004-05, 2012-13, 2013-14) since the conference went to the division format in the 1997-98 season.

BLOCK PARTY
        Toledo has set school records for blocked shots in overall (144) and MAC (95) games this season. The Rockets lead the MAC with 4.6 bpg in overall and 5.3 bpg in MAC contests.
        UT blocked a school-record 11 shots in each of its games vs. Central Michigan this season. Freshman AJ Edu ranks second in the MAC with 1.8 bpg, while senior Luke Knapke is third with 1.4 bpg.
 
ROCKETS RECEIVE FOURTH BYE IN LAST SIX YEARS
        Toledo has secured a first-round bye in the MAC Tournament for the fourth time in the last six years. Buffalo is the only MAC school with more automatic trips to Cleveland during that time frame. UT advanced to the MAC Championship Game after earning byes in 2014 and 2018 and reached the semifinals in 2015.
 
LEFTOVER NOTES FROM THE EASTERN MICHIGAN GAME
• Toledo's 25 regular-season victories rank second in school history behind the Rockets' 26-5 mark in 2013-14.
• Spencer Littleson tied his career high with 14 points. He has shot 61.1 percent (11-of-18) from behind the three-point arc in his last four games.
• Four Rockets scored in double digits for the 20th time this season.
• The Rockets have shot 40 percent or better from three-point range in four straight games and are 44-of-99 (.444) from three-point range in their last four games.
 
COMPARING THE ROCKETS AND HUSKIES
• Toledo leads the MAC with 29.3 defensive rpg, and NIU is last with 9.3 offensive rpg.
• The Rockets lead the MAC in 3PTFG% (37.8) and three-point FGs/game (9.7), while NIU ranks fourth in 3PTFG% (35.4) and ninth in three-point FG/game (6.7).
• Toledo leads the MAC with a 77.3 FT% with Northern Illinois in second place with a 72.9 mark.
 
SOME INFO ON THE ROCKETS' OPPONENT
        Northern Illinois has won four of its last five games and advanced to Cleveland for the first time since 2016 with an 80-61 first-round win over Ohio. The last time the Huskies reached the MAC semifinals was in 2003.
        Junior Eugene German ranks second in league play with 19.8 ppg and is joined in double figures by senior forward Levi Bradley (14.4 ppg) and senior guard Dante Thorpe (13.9 ppg).
        Northern Illinois opened conference play with three straight victories but saw a season-high six-game losing streak begin with its 69-55 loss to Toledo on Feb. 2.
 
DEFENSE! DEFENSE!
        Toledo ranks second in the Mid-American Conference in scoring defense (67.7 ppg) and FG% defense (40.6) and is fourth in three-point FG% defense (31.0). The Rockets also rank No. 31 nationally with their 40.6 FG% defense and 31.0 3PTFG% defense.
        Last year, UT ranked seventh in scoring defense (74.5) and fifth in FG% defense (43.7) and three-point FG% defense (34.3).
        The last time Toledo allowed less than 70.0 ppg was in the 2011-12 season when it surrendered 68.2 ppg