Rockets Roll to 94-63 Win Over NIU to Remain Unbeaten at Home

Saturday, January 8

Toledo, Ohio

2:00 p.m.

University of Toledo

11-4,3-1MAC

Northern Illinois

3-8,0-1MAC

Northern Ill.

Toledo

Sophomore Ryan Rollins scored 15 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds in Toledo's 94-63 win over NIU.

Photo by: Ross Achter

Rockets Roll to 94-63 Win Over NIU to Remain Unbeaten at Home

1/8/2022 5:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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TOLEDO, Ohio – Toledo led wire-to-wire and continued its home-court dominance on Saturday afternoon with a 94-63 Mid-American Conference victory over Northern Illinois (3-8, 0-1 MAC). The Rockets (11-4, 3-1 MAC) are now 6-0 in Savage Arena this season and have won 22 of their last 23 home contests.

"I thought we came out and imposed our will a little bit," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said. "We did a real good job of scoring in the post and getting into the paint. Our bench is also continuing to get better. Now we have to keep our focus on going on the road and facing a really good Miami team."

Juniors Setric Millner Jr. and RayJ Dennis each tallied 16 points to lead a balanced attack that saw six Rockets score in double figures. Also scoring in double digits were sophomore Ryan Rollins (15 pts.), redshirt freshman Ra'Heim Moss (12 pts.), junior JT Shumate (11 pts.) and freshman Mihai Carcoana (season-high 11 pts.).

Toledo dominated on the glass, outrebounding the Huskies by a 43-31 margin. Rollins led the way with seven rebounds with Millner contributing six boards along with a team-high four assists.

The Rockets' defense also continued to excel by limiting the Huskies to a 37.1 shooting mark. The last time a Toledo opponent shot over 38 percent from the field was Bradley on Dec. 7.

Toledo shot 55.0 percent from the field, 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from three-point range and 77.8 percent (21-of-27) from the charity stripe. The Rockets have now made 20 or more free throws in three straight games.

Junior Kaleb Thornton led Northern Illinois with 12 points, while junior Edward Manuel contributed 11 points.

The Rockets return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 11 with a trip to Oxford, Ohio to face Miami. Tip-off time is set for 7:00 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST HALF

JT Shumate took the opening tip and slammed one home for the first basket of the game.
Back-to-back buckets from RayJ Dennis capped a 6-0 spurt to put the Rockets in front 14-5 just over five minutes into the contest.
Dennis' floater then finished off an 8-0 Rocket burst for a 24-9 cushion midway through the opening stanza.
Setric Millner Jr. tallied four points to ignite a 9-0 spurt that increased Toledo's lead to 42-17 3:11 before halftime.
The Rockets took a 47-28 lead to the locker room after shooting 60.7 percent in the first half.

SECOND HALF

Toledo never let NIU put together a rally in the second half with the Huskies unable to come closer than 17 points in the final 20 minutes.
Mihai Carcoana's putback gave Toledo a 61-34 lead with 13:15 remaining.
NIU scored six straight points to reduce its deficit to 66-45 with 8:47 to play, but the Rockets ended up pushing their lead to 31 points, 89-58, on Kooper Jacobi's three-point play with 1:31 left.