HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – BB&T Arena plays host to a Sunday afternoon matchup for the Northern Kentucky men's basketball team against the MEAC's Coppin State Eagles.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (2-1 Overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
Coppin State University Eagles (1-2 Overall, 0-0 MEAC)
Sunday, Nov. 17 – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN3 with Brady Laber (Px) and Brad Redford (Color)
Radio: 55KRC (550 AM) with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Steve Moeller (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
 
Purchase Tickets
Tickets can be purchased in advance at Ticketmaster or on game day at the Alice Sparks Ticket Office in BB&T Arena.
 
Fast Break Points
• NKU improved to 2-1 on the year with a 69-68 road win over Coastal Carolina.
• Northern Kentucky returns home for a Sunday matinee against Coppin State, marking the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 campaign, NKU is 42-5 at BB&T Arena. The Norse also sold a program-record 1,403 season tickets this year.
• The Norse have ripped off 33 steals so far, a total that ranks 23rd in the country. The team's 11.0 steals per game also ranks 29th.
• NKU is in the first year of the Darrin Horn era, as the Kentucky native is just the sixth head coach in the 49th season of the program. In his 10th year as head coach, Horn has a career record of 173-112.
• NKU is coming off of its second trip to the NCAA Tournament in the last three years, where it fell 72-57 to No. 3 Texas Tech, which finished as the national runner-up.
• NKU has been the most-dominant team in the Horizon League over the last three seasons, amassing a 46-15 mark against league foes while winning four of the combined six league championships (regular season and tournament).
• With a DI-era record 26 wins last year, NKU secured a third-straight 20-win season for the first time in the DI era and just the third time in program history.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 74-31 (.705), has won the Horizon League regular season twice (2018, 2019) and league tourney twice (2017, 2019), and has played in both the NCAA Tournament (2017, 2019) and NIT (2018). No other team in DI history has registered this level of accomplishments in its first three years with active status.
• The Norse took a summer tour to the U.S. Virgin Islands, going 3-0 against the UVI and BVI National Teams.
• W Karl Harris is third on the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game and is coming off a 22-point outing at Coastal Carolina, his second double-digit scoring output this year.
• Harris is shooting at a 63 percent clip from both the field (12-of-19) and 3-point range (5-of-8)
• G Tyler Sharpe, a Preseason All-Horizon League Second-Team honoree, is averaging 14.0 points per game to lead the Norse.
• Though early in his third season as a Norse, Sharpe moved into the top-50 all-time scorers at NKU with his 18-point showing at Missouri. He now ranks 49th with 755 points as a Norse.
• G Trevon Faulkner is one of four returning starters for NKU this year. The sophomore guard is averaging 12.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.3 steals per game.
• G Jalen Tate collected his second-straight Horizon League All-Defensive Team nod to end last year and earned distinction as a preseason all-league first-team honoree this year.
• Tate, who was recently named to the Lou Henson Award Watchlist, is averaging 8.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game.
• F Silas Adheke earned his first career start versus UC Clermont and the redshirt junior is averaging 8.3 points per game behind white-hot 86 percent (12-of-14) shooting.
• F Dantez Walton averaged 11.1 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists last year. He joins Sharpe and Tate as returning Norse who averaged double digits in scoring.
• A senior for the Norse, Walton is currently averaging 8.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. And, when he next takes the court for the Norse will do so in his 100^th game played.
 
Last Time Out
Faulkner scored 11 of his 13 points to help Northern Kentucky keep pace with Coastal Carolina before Harris led an 11-0 surge by the Norse to close the first half. NKU then withstood an early second-half charge from CCU and countered with a run to go up by as many as nine. The Chanticleers put together another late run the Norse weathered before holding onto a 69-68 road win. Harris used 7-for-12 shooting, including a 5-for-7 showing from 3-point  land, in scoring 22 points. He also grabbed seven boards, while Faulkner added five assists. Tate impacted several aspects of the game, posting a stat line of 13 points, seven rebounds and seven assists to help NKU improve to 2-1 on the young season.
 
Scouting Coppin State
Coppin State heads into the weekend at 1-2 overall, but has a game at Northern Illinois on the docket for Friday night. CSU plays at one of the fastest tempos in the country, ranking 10th as the Eagles' average offensive possession lasts only 15.2 seconds and they play defense for an average of just 14.7 seconds. CSU is also one of the nation's worst shooting teams, converting 32.0 percent (342nd nationally) from the floor and 25 percent (308th nationally) from 3-point range. Three Eagles average double figures led by Kamar Knight at 14.7 ppg. Dejuan Clayton, who has 950 career points entering Friday's game versus NIU, chips in 14.0 ppg and Andrew Robinson adds 12.3 ppg.
 
Series Stuff
Coppin State is one of eight first-time opponents for the Norse this season, joining Arkansas, Ball State, Illinois State, Midway (Ky.), Mizzou, Texas Southern and UNC Greensboro. NKU dropped its decision against Missouri, 71-56, to sit at 0-1 against first-time opponents. The Norse are 4-2 all-time versus teams from the MEAC.