HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Coming off of back-to-back 20-win seasons, the Northern Kentucky men's basketball team lifts the lid on its 2018-19 campaign with a home matchup against regional opponent Wilmington. This marks the second-straight season the Norse have played the Quakers early in the nonconference portion of their schedule.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (0-0 Overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
Wilmington College Quakers (0-0 Overall, 0-0 OAC)
Tuesday, Nov. 6 – 7:00 p.m. (ET)
BB&T Arena (9,400) in Highland Heights, Ky.
TV: ESPN+
Radio: FOXSports1360 (1360 AM)
Stats: Live Stats
Tickets: Ticketmaster
 
Fast Break Points
• NKU doubled up local foe Thomas More in an 84-47 decision this past Tuesday, with five Norse reaching double figures in the contest.
• NKU is coming off a 22-10 campaign in which it won the Horizon League regular-season title and played in the NIT.
• Over the last two years, NKU is a combined 46-21, has won the Horizon League regular season (2018) and league tourney (2017), and has played in the NCAA Tournament (2017) and NIT (2018), accomplishing a feat no other team has done in its first two years of active DI I status.
• The Norse were picked to finish second in the Horizon League preseason poll, receiving 356 points and 10 first-place votes. Wright State was picked first with 377 points.
• NKU opens the season No. 136 in KenPom.com's ratings. The Norse finished No. 90 last season thanks in part to the 23rd-best effective defensive field-goal percentage (47.1) and the 61st-highest effective offensive field-goal percentage (53.8).
• NKU was stout in its 3-point defensive field-goal percentage, allowing teams to convert just 31 percent from beyond the arc, the 9th-toughest in the country.
• NKU also shared the ball well last season, ranking 25th nationally at 16.3 assists per game.
• The Norse return seven players from last season and welcome eight new faces to the fold.
• Northern Kentucky is on the cusp of recording its 800th win in program history. Entering its 48th season, NKU has amassed 799 wins and is going for No. 800 against Wilmington.
• F Drew McDonald led USA Team to a gold medal in the FISU Americas (collegiate version of Pan-Am Games) to close out July before earning Horizon League Preseason Player of the Year and preseason all-league first team honors in October. He was also named one of 20 candidates for the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame's Karl Malone Power Forward of the Year award.
• McDonald led five Norse in double figures with 14 points and a game-best nine rebounds in the win over Thomas More.
• G Jalen Tate followed last season's Horizon League All-Defensive and All-Freshman honors with preseason All-Horizon League Second Team accolades to begin the season.
• McDonald and G Zaynah Robinson, a graduate transfer from Norfolk State, were named to the Mid-Major Madness Preseason First and Second Teams, respectively.
• F Dantez Walton earned his way into the starting lineup in the last four games of the 2017-18 campaign and averaged 8.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in that span, a significant improvement from his season averages of 5.3 points and 3.4 rebounds.
• G Tyler Sharpe finished second in the nation last year among walk-ons with 209 points. The junior guard is now on scholarship for the Norse.
• F Silas Adheke joins the Norse after leading Eastern Florida State to the JUCO National Semifinals, where he helped the Titans to a third-place finish in the JUCO National Tournament.
• In addition to Robinson and Adheke, the Norse added freshmen G Trevon Faulkner (Kentucky's Mr. Basketball), G/F Bryant Mocaby and F Adrian Nelson.
 
Last Time Out
Northern Kentucky was business-like in an 84-47 victory over Thomas More on Tuesday. The Norse shot 66.0 percent (35-of-53) from the floor, but were a perfect 24-of-24 from two-point territory, not missing a single attempt from inside the arc. Thomas More converted just 30 percent of its shots. McDonald paced five players in double figures with a game-high-tying 14 points and a game-best nine boards. McDonald and Walton, who finished with 13 points, both went 5-of-6 from the floor. Mocaby added 11 points and both Sharpe and Nelson contributed 10. Robinson paced the offense with seven assists. He also added eight points to the cause.
 
Scouting Wilmington
Wilmington is coming off of an 11-14 campaign where it averaged 81.8 points per game, but allowed opponents to post 82.4 ppg. The Quakers lost their top-two scorers from last season, Christian Jones (19.1 ppg) and Nathan Scott (12.4 ppg), but return the services of Will Patrick, the team's third leading scorer at 12.2 points a contest.
 
Series Stuff
Northern Kentucky is 8-1 all-time versus Wilmington, including last season's 93-65 Norse victory in Highland Heights, Ky. McDonald had 18 points and 11 rebounds in just 16 minutes of action in that game, while Walton added seven points and a game-high five assists.
 
Going for 800
It's been nearly 47 years since then Northern Kentucky State College first took to the court. The Norse won that inaugural game 109-65 against Calvary College on Nov. 12, 1971. Since its inception, NKU has won 799 games and its next victory will give the perogram its 800th win.
 
Numbers throughout the years:
- NKU has posted 30 winning seasons.
- NKU has 16 20-win seasons to its credit, including each of the last two.
- NKU has participated in 17 postseason tournaments, including the NCAA and NIT at the DI level, 13 DII NCAA Tournaments with back-to-back runner-up finishes in 1996 and 1997, and two NAIA appearances
- Entering Tuesday's game, Northern Kentucky is 799-558 all-time with a .589 winning percentage.