Bad backboarding proved costly to Kansas the last time out. Same for Northern Illinois’ women’s basketball team.

Thus both schools’ coaches will be paying close attention to carom counts when the Jayhawks and Huskies tangle tonight in Allen Fieldhouse.

Tipoff will be at 7 p.m. Sunflower Broadband Channel Six will have a live telecast.

Kansas went to Indiana eight days ago and came home on the short end of a 63-48 decision that was magnified by the Hoosiers’ 43-33 advantage in corralling missed shots.

“I was disappointed with our intensity in that game,” KU coach Bonnie Henrickson said. “Indiana wasn’t great. We were just worse than they were. It was bad live, and it looked worse on film.”

Meanwhile, Northern Illinois was riding a five-game win streak when it traveled to Illinois-Chicago last week and absorbed an 80-62 thumping that was caused in part by the Flames’ 44-31 edge on the boards.

“This game came down to rebounding,” second-year NIU coach Carol Owens said, “and we didn’t do a great job. I’m just really disappointed in our overall effort.”

Sound familiar? Both Henrickson and Owens clearly weren’t pleased.

Henrickson was so unhappy, in fact, that she prescribed extra running for her players after the Jayhawks returned to Lawrence.

“Sometimes running gets attention more than you think,” Henrickson said.

Kansas ranks last in the Big 12 Conference in rebounding. The Jayhawks surrender 36.1 boards a game while collecting 33.3, making them the only league team with a board deficit.

NIU boasts a point machine in Stephanie Raymond, a 5-foot-5 senior guard from Rockford, Ill., who is averaging 20.5 points a game. Raymond was named Mid-American Conference player of the week after a 30-point performance against Bradley two weeks ago.

For the Jayhawks, tonight will begin a stretch of four games in eight days. KU will be back in Allen Fieldhouse Sunday afternoon to meet Xavier, then open conference play Wednesday at Iowa State. The league home opener will be a week from Saturday against Baylor.