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MAC Tourney Quarterfinals Recap - NIU vs. Toledo

Live from press row in Quicken Loans Arena at the MAC Tournament in Cleveland, VanDelay Sports brings you our game recaps.

#7 Toledo 78, #2 Northern Illinois 77

For our recap of the games we're taking a look at the keys to victory that we identified in our game previews and providing a quick analysis of how each team delivered on those goals.

NIU keys to victory:

Ball control – Limit turnovers
Find open looks from 3
Shoot, Shoot, Shoot

UT Keys to Victory

Force the turnover
Limit 2nd and 3rd chance opportunities
Points in the paint.

This game really got away from Northern Illinois in the first half with the Huskies failure to execute on most of the keys that we identified in the preview. Toledo took a 16-point lead to the locker room and the following halftime stats explain why:

Turnovers: NIU/UT - 14/3
Points in the paint: NIU/UT - 2/18
Points off turnovers: NIU/UT - 0/11

These 3 statistics from the 1st half really tell the story. Northern Illinois could not control the ball, and as a result they got off far less shots than Toledo and had trouble working it into their offense effectively. When the Huskies did keep control of the ball they still only shot 32% in the first half.

Coming into the 2nd half, this game still looked liked a blowout with Toledo jumping off to a 21-point lead near the 17-minute mark, but Northern Illinois quickly stormed back. By shooting nearly 60% in the 2nd half, and only turning the ball over twice, the Huskies methodically cut-down Toledo's lead, giving them a chance in this game that looked far out-of-reach early in the 2nd half.

Final Thoughts
I was impressed to see the way that the Huskies stormed back in this one, but in the end Toledo's consistency from half to half was too much to match. It was disappointing to see Todd Peterson, one of the conference's premier shooters, not get a shot on the final possession. Call it good defense by Toledo, or a poor job by Coach Judson drawing up a play, or Anthony Maestranzi getting Peterson the ball, but I would have liked to see the senior get a chance to tie it with time expiring.

Toledo could give a backcourt fits if it's not ready to handle their speedy, turnover causing guards. Whoever wins the Akron/Western Michigan match-up is going to need good guard play to get past the Rockets in the semi-finals.

By Dan Whitmyer, VanDelaySports.com Head Basketball Writer

published 03.09.06

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