DeKALB – As Northern Illinois men’s basketball coach Mark Montgomery puts it, sometimes players just have to wait for an opportunity.

One of six freshmen on Montgomery’s 2012-13 roster, J.J. Cravatta came to DeKalb as a preferred walk-on. For the first two months or so of the season, he bided his time near the end of NIU’s bench, waiting for that one opportunity, rarely getting on the scoreboard.

He played 19 minutes in the Huskies’ blowout win over NAIA Judson University Nov. 18, and had a 16-minute effort in a win over SIU-Edwardsville Dec. 5, but outside of those two games there wasn’t much playing time for Cravatta.