2020–21 Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball team

The 2020–21 Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball team represented Northern Illinois University in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Huskies, led by interim head coach Lamar Chapman, played their home games at the Convocation Center in DeKalb, Illinois as members of the Mid-American Conference. In a season limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Huskies finished the season 3–16, 2–12 in MAC play to finish in last place. They failed to qualify for the MAC tournament which had been limited to provide that the bottom four finishers would not be eligible.^[1] The MAC also announced the removal of divisions in cost-cutting measure partly attributed to COVID-19.^[1]

2020–21 Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Record	3–16 (2–12 MAC)
Head coach	Mark Montgomery (10th season) (interim, 1st season) Lamar Chapman
Assistant coaches	Anthony Beane Sr. Chris MacMartin
Home arena	Convocation Center
Seasons ← 2019–20 2021–22 →

2020–21 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Toledo	15	–	4		.789			21	–	9		.700
Buffalo	12	–	5		.706			16	–	9		.640
Akron	12	–	6		.667			15	–	8		.652
Kent State	12	–	6		.667			15	–	8		.652
Ohio †	9	–	5		.643			17	–	8		.680
Bowling Green	10	–	8		.556			14	–	12		.538
Miami (OH)	9	–	8		.529			12	–	11		.522
Ball State	8	–	9		.471			10	–	13		.435
Western Michigan	4	–	12		.250			5	–	16		.238
Eastern Michigan	3	–	11		.214			6	–	12		.333
Central Michigan	3	–	13		.188			7	–	16		.304
Northern Illinois	2	–	12		.143			3	–	16		.158
† 2021 MAC tournament winner

On January 3, 2021, it was announced that head coach Mark Montgomery had been relieved of his duties after the team's 1–7 start to the season. Associate head coach Lamar Chapman was named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.^[2]

Previous season

The Huskies finished the 2019–20 season 18–13, 11–7, to finish in a tie for first place in the MAC West division. They were scheduled to play Miami (OH) in the quarterfinals of the MAC tournament, but the remainder of the tournament was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.^[3]

Roster

2020–21 Northern Illinois Huskies men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 0 Chris Johnson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Sr South Suburban College Chicago, IL G 1 Trendon Hankerson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Jr Novi HS Novi, MI G 2 Kaleb Thornton 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) So Iowa Western CC Bolingbrook, IL G/F 3 Justin Lee 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) Jr Collins Hill HS Lawrenceville, GA G 4 Tavon Jones 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 180 lb (82 kg) Jr Odessa College Linden, NJ G 5 Zaire Mateen 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 170 lb (77 kg) Sr Laramie County CC Queens, NY F 11 Chinedu Kingsley Okanu 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 225 lb (102 kg) Jr Vincennes Gary, IN F 12 Zool Kueth 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Pratt CC Gallatin, TN C 13 Adong Makuoi 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Jr Daytona State College Edmonton, Alberta, Canada G 20 Daniel Filippone 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 175 lb (79 kg) So Antioch Community HS Antioch, IL G 23 Tyler Cochran 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 220 lb (100 kg) So Bolingbrook HS Bolingbrook, IL G 24 Darius Beane 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Jr Southern Illinois Carbondale, IL F 25 Nathan Scott 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Sr Olney Central College Naperville, IL F 32 Keenon Cole 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 200 lb (91 kg) So Streamwood HS Streamwood, IL G 50 Anthony Crump 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Jr Middle Tennessee Inkster, MI	Head coach Lamar Chapman (Lane College) Assistant coach(es) Anthony Beane Sr. (Kansas State) Chris MacMartin (Northern Illinois) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster Last update: January 16, 2021

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
November 25, 2020* 6:00 pm		UIC	L 61–65	0–1	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
December 2, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN3		SIU Edwardsville	L 53–73	0–2	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
December 5, 2020* 6:00 pm, ACCNX		at Pittsburgh	L 59–89	0–3	Petersen Events Center (500) Pittsburgh, PA
December 8, 2020 6:00 pm, ESPN3		Ball State	L 70–79 OT	0–4 (0–1)	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
December 13, 2020* 1:00 pm, FS1		at No. 3 Iowa	L 53–106	0–5	Carver–Hawkeye Arena (546) Iowa City, IA
December 18, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN3		Chicago State	W 64–54	1–5	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
December 22, 2020 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Toledo	L 55–78	1–6 (0–2)	Savage Arena  Toledo, OH
January 2, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN3		Bowling Green	L 42–68	1–7 (0–3)	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
January 5, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN+		at Ohio	L 73–76	1–8 (0–4)	Convocation Center  Athens, OH
January 9, 2021 12:00 pm, ESPN+		at Miami (OH)	L 58–70	1–9 (0–5)	Millett Hall  Oxford, OH
January 12, 2021 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Akron	W 67–65	2–9 (1–5)	Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
January 16, 2021 12:00 pm, ESPN+		at Ball State	L 58–78	2–10 (1–6)	Worthen Arena (132) Muncie, IN
January 19, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		Ohio	Postponed		Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
January 23, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN3		Buffalo	Postponed		Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
January 26, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		at Bowling Green	Postponed		Stroh Center  Bowling Green, OH
January 30, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN3		Eastern Michigan	Postponed		Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
February 2, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3		at Western Michigan	Postponed		University Arena  Kalamazoo, MI
February 6, 2021 1:30 pm, ESPN3		Central Michigan	Postponed		Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
February 9, 2021 2:00 pm, ESPN+		Toledo	Postponed		Convocation Center  DeKalb, IL
February 13, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Kent State	L 58–80	2–11 (1–7)	MAC Center  Kent, OH
February 16, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN3		at Akron	L 76–81	2–12 (1–8)	James A. Rhodes Arena (52) Akron, OH
February 20, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN3		Miami (OH)	L 64–69	2–13 (1–9)	Convocation Center (23) DeKalb, IL
February 23, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN3		Buffalo	L 74–102	2–14 (1–10)	Convocation Center (27) DeKalb, IL
February 27, 2021 12:00 pm, ESPN3		at Eastern Michigan	L 57–91	2–15 (1–11)	Convocation Center (75) Ypsilanti, MI
March 2, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+		Western Michigan	L 63–73	2–16 (1–12)	Convocation Center (24) DeKalb, IL
March 5, 2021 4:00 pm, ESPN3		at Central Michigan	W 79–74	3–16 (2–12)	McGuirk Arena  Mount Pleasant, MI
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern.

Sources^[4][5]