Northern Kentucky University Athletics

HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky University closes out the regular season Thursday night by playing host to defending NCAA Division II national champion Bellarmine at 7:30 p.m. in a Division II Top 10 showdown.

NKU enters Thursday 21-4 overall, 13-4 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference. The Norse are No. 8 in this week's NCAA Division II poll and have won six straight games. Bellarmine is 23-2 overall, 15-2 in the GLVC. The Knights are No. 2 in the national poll.

Tickets are still available for the game. Click here for ticket information.

SENIORITY RULES: NKU will recognize seniors DeAndre Nealy, Jon Van Hoose, Tony Rack and manager Danny Boehmker prior to the Bellarmine game.

Rack, from Moeller High School in Cincinnati, buried five 3-pointers in his NKU debut against Ferris State as a freshman in the first regular-season game ever played inside The Bank of Kentucky Center.

THE SERIES: NKU holds a 43-36 lead in the all-time series with Bellarmine, but the Knights have beaten the Norse six consecutive times. Bellarmine has won eight of the last nine games against NKU, including a 64-60 decision earlier this season in Louisville, Ky.

The Norse's last win over Bellarmine came during the GLVC Tournament championship game on March 8, 2009, a 69-47 victory against the Knights in Evansville, Ind.  NKU is 22-15 all-time at home against Bellarmine, but the Knights are unbeaten (2-0) against the Norse in The Bank of Kentucky Center.

Bellarmine is the only opponent to have won twice in The Bank of Kentucky Center, where NKU is 53-6 all-time.

KING OF BLOCK: DeAndre Nealy swatted his way into school history Saturday afternoon and led NKU to a 69-55 win over Southern Indiana. Nealy scored 16 points and set a Norse single-season record for blocked shots. The 6-foot-6 rejection machine blocked three shots to bring his season's total to 74.

Nealy surpassed Patrick Holt's previous NKU record of 73 blocks when he swatted a shot by Southern Indiana's Lawrence Thomas with 4:45 remaining in the game. The Detroit, Mich., native leads the GLVC in shooting from the field (.647) and is No. 7 nationally in blocked shots (2.96 bpg).

STEAL THE DEAL: NKU freshman guard Ryan Fleming collected a career-best five steals in the win over Southern Indiana. Teammate Chad Jackson added five steals as the Norse forced Southern Indiana into 21 turnovers.

TREY-RIFFIC: NKU senior guard Jon Van Hoose leads the GLVC in 3-pointers made with an average of 3.36 treys per contest. Van Hoose also tops NKU in scoring at 12.0 points per game. He has made 84 3-pointers this season and is shooting 45.4 percent from behind the arc.

AGAINST NATIONALLY RANKED FOES: The Norse are 56-129 all-time against nationally ranked opponents, including a 3-3 record this season.

THE CIRCLE IS COMPLETE: Thursday marks the final time NKU will play a regular-season GLVC game, as the Norse are reclassifying to Division I and joining the Atlantic Sun Conference in 2012-13. Ironically, when NKU joined the GLVC for the 1985-86 season, the Norse's first-ever league game was against Bellarmine in Louisville, Ky. Bellarmine edged NKU in that game, 63-62, on Dec. 21, 1985.

THE LAST TIME AGAINST BELLARMINE: On Jan. 16, a late comeback by NKU fell just short during a 64-60 loss at Bellarmine.

NKU, which entered that game ranked No. 8 in the Division II poll, made just 29.6 percent of its shots in the first half and trailed by 12 points (33-21) at the break. Bellarmine, meanwhile, sizzled the nets for 59.1 percent shooting during the opening 20 minutes in front of a sellout crowd in Knights Hall.

Jeremy Kendle led Bellarmine with 16 points, while Chris Dowe scored 15. Dowe also made a pair of free throws with 9.1 seconds remaining to give the Knights a 64-60 advantage after Chad Jackson brought NKU with a basket with a driving layup.

Jon Van Hoose led NKU with 14 points, while Stretch Watson added 13 points and 10 rebounds. The Norse shot 42.1 percent from the field – 53.3 percent in the second half - but were just 6-for-24 from 3-point range.