Grambling St Tigers vs Northern Illinois Huskies prediction: Majkrzak's all-new Northern Illinois tips off at 3 a.m. against Grambling

Nobody knows these Huskies yet

College basketball's 2026-27 season starts in the middle of the night, and Northern Illinois starts with a blank slate. The Huskies return none of last season's minutes. Matt Majkrzak, hired in March after several successful seasons at Northern Michigan, rebuilt the roster almost entirely through transfers. Four of them, Klesmit, Bennett Basich, Trevor Polite and Keller Hanson, followed him from Northern Michigan. Mykolas Ivanauskas was the 12th signing of the offseason.

The only live look came in an Oct. 17 exhibition, when NIU routed Majkrzak's old program 78-43 and shot 50.8% from the field. That's the clearest evidence there is of what this group looks like. Last season's Northern Illinois team, which finished 335th in adjusted net efficiency (points per 100 possessions, adjusted for opponents), tells you almost nothing about this one.

Grambling's turnover habit, both ways

Grambling also turned its roster over, returning just 5.1% of last season's minutes. The constant is Patrick Crarey II, now in his second season, and his first team had a sharp identity. The Tigers forced turnovers on 23.0% of opponent possessions, 4th of 365 nationally, and ranked 25th in steal rate.

They were just as careless at the other end. Grambling's own turnover rate of 22.7% ranked 363rd. The players behind both numbers are gone, including Roderick Coffee III, who averaged 1.8 steals a game. The question in Rock Hill is whether Crarey's pressure is a system or a personnel quirk. Uzziah Buntyn, NIU's likely lead guard after averaging 3.5 assists a game at South Dakota, will find out first.

Where the points come from

Northern Illinois imported shooting. Max Weisbrod hit 38.3% of his threes at Northern Iowa last season, and David Douglas Jr. made 39.7% at Fresno State. Buntyn is a volume scorer whose threes didn't fall last season, but he made 84.4% of his free throws.

Grambling's backcourt has more to prove. Dwayne Pierce, a 23-game starter at North Carolina A&T, posted a 41.4% effective field goal percentage (threes count 1.5 times). Brandon Hardy, from Southern, shot 35.8% from deep in a smaller role. The interior is where Grambling may hold an edge: a Nov. 1 preview has the 7-foot-1 Miranda, a former four-star recruit, manning the middle. His minutes at Long Island University were limited, so his conditioning and fouls bear watching against Samuels on the glass.

There's a subplot, too. Hassan Washington, who started 14 games for Northern Illinois last season, now plays for Grambling. Grambling hasn't confirmed a starting lineup.

What the market is pricing

Northern Illinois is a 5.5-point favorite and the line hasn't moved since our feed first saw it Oct. 31. The moneyline sits at -250 for NIU and +197.5 for Grambling. That's notable because Grambling was the better team last season by adjusted net efficiency, 301st against NIU's 335th. The market is betting on Majkrzak's transfers over two sets of departed players.

The total of 147.5 is also unchanged. Tempo is the friction point: Crarey's team last season ranked 328th in pace (possessions per 40 minutes), one of the slowest in the country. If Grambling still plays that way, a 3 a.m. tip on a neutral floor could grind. If its pressure creates the turnovers it did a year ago, the extra possessions push the other direction.

What to watch

• Grambling's ball pressure early: whether forced turnovers resemble last season's rate against NIU's new guards.
• Miranda's minutes: a 7-footer who played sparingly last season could swing the paint.
• NIU's threes: Weisbrod and Douglas are the reason the Huskies are favored.
• Washington against his old program: a familiar face on an unfamiliar team.