HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. - Horizon League play tips off for the Northern Kentucky men's basketball team with a home matchup against Milwaukee. The Saturday matinee is set for a 1 p.m. start at BB&T Arena.
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (8-4 Overall, 0-0 Horizon League)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers (5-7 Overall; 0-0 Horizon League)
Saturday, Dec. 28 - 1:00 p.m.
TV: Fox Sports Ohio with Brady Laber (PxP) and Brad Redford (Color)
Also available on ESPN+, but is blacked out in Fox Sports Ohio's market.
Radio: 55KRC with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Rick Broering (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
Promotions and Tickets
A pair of ticket promotions are available for Saturday's tilt. All NKU students, who already receive free admission with their NKU ID, are also encouraged to bring a friend to the game free of charge. Just show your ID at the door for admission.
Saturday is also Youth Basketball Day. All youth basketball players and cheerleaders grades eight and under that show up wearing their youth basketball jersey will be admitted free of charge. To receive the ticket, just go to the box office on gameday and show your jersey. Coaches, friends, family, etc. gain admission for the regular price of $14 for adults and $9 for kids (ages 3-17).
Please visit NorseTickets.com to purchase tickets in advance. Tickets can also be purchased at the Alice Sparks BB&T Arena Ticket Office.
Fast Break Points
• NKU had its second three-game winning streak snapped with a 67-50 setback at UNCG on Dec. 21.
• NKU opens Horizon League play with Milwaukee on Saturday, a team it holds a 7-3 all-time record against. NKU is also riding a six-game winning streak in the series.
• The Norse were picked to finish second in the Horizon League, receiving 295 points and five first-place votes. Wright State was picked first with 350 points and 28 first-place votes.
• 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).
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 80-34 (.702), 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) or NIT (2018) every year. No other team in DI history has registered this level of accomplishments in its first three years with active status.
• 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.Â
• NKU has been stingy on the defensive end, holding teams to 65.3 points per game, and makes its hay with the nation's 14th-best 3-point field-goal shooting defense, limiting foes to just 26.7 percent.
• The Norse have ripped off 106 steals so far, a total that ranks 39th in the nation. The team's 8.8 steals per game also rank 38th.
• Offensively, the Norse are letting it rain from long range this year. The team ranks 37th in the country in 3-point field-goal attempts (329) and 55th in made threes (110).
• 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 a head coach, Horn has a career record of 179-115.
• G Tyler Sharpe, a Preseason All-Horizon League Second-Team honoree, has registered back-to-back 30-point performances, marking the second time this season a Norse has done so. He registered a career-high 33 points in NKU's last game against UNCG.
• Sharpe is second on the team in scoring, pouring in 15.9 ppg and has a team-high 23 steals, which rank 72nd in the country.
• Though only 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 36th with 904 points as a Norse.
• F Dantez Walton is averaging a team-best 18.4 ppg on the strength of 54 percent shooting, which includes 42 percent from 3-point range.
• In his last seven games against DI foes, Walton is averaging 24.9 points while shooting 59 percent from the floor and 52 percent from behind the arc.
• Walton has 871 career points, No. 38 all-time at NKU.
• G Trevon Faulkner is one of four returning starters for NKU this year. The sophomore guard is averaging 11.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.5 steals per game.
• G Bryson Langdon has started the last nine games for Northern Kentucky and averaged 4.1 assists in the outings.
Last Time Out
A second-straight career scoring night from Tyler Sharpe wasn't enough for the Norse, which suffered a 67-50 setback at UNC Greensboro. Sharpe converted 10-of-24 field goals and 6-of-15 attempts from beyond the arc en route to a career-best 33 points. NKU struggled shooting, making just 30 percent for the game (14-of-46), but did convert 33 percent (7-of-21) from 3-point range. The Norse held their own defensively, limiting the Spartans to 40 percent (27-of-67) shooting and just 31 percent (10-of-32) from deep, but the Norse were outrebounded, 41-33, including a 16-8 discrepancy in offensive boards.
Scouting Milwaukee
After starting the season with a 5-2 mark through the first seven games, the Panthers have hit the schneid with five-straight losses to now sit at 5-7 overall. Darius Roy leads a trio of players averaging double figures, pouring in 16.8 points per game, while Te'jon Lucas and Josh Thomas add 13.8 and 11.5, respectively. Five Panthers average between 4.3-4.9 rebounds per game, paced by Lucas' 4.9. Bolstered by a pair of 100-point games, Milwaukee averages 72.7 ppg. However, if those two games are removed from the average, the Panthers dip to a 65.9 scoring clip. Milwaukee has also failed to notch a true road win, checking in at 0-3 on the road. Including neutral-site games, the Panthers are just 1-5 away from home.
Series Stuff
Northern Kentucky owns a 7-3 record in the series that dates back to NKU's joining the Horizon League. After the Panthers won three of the first four meetings, the Norse have reeled off six straight in the series.
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