HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky and Wright State are set to battle for first place in the Horizon League in a nationally-televised game on ESPNU Friday night at the WSU Nutter Center in Dayton. The Norse hold a slight one-game advantage over the Raiders as the teams sit one-two in the league standings.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (20-6 Overall, 10-3 Horizon League)
Wright State University Raiders (15-11 Overall, 9-4 Horizon League)
Friday, Feb. 15 – 9 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPNU with Jordan Bernfield (PxP) and Brooke Weisbrod (Color)
Radio: ESPN1530 with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Steve Moeller (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
 
Join the Gold Rush
Norse Nation is invited to join together to support the men's basketball team and wear gold to the game on Friday night, combatting Wright State's planned black out.
 
Fast Break Points
• NKU improved to 20-6 overall and 10-3 in the Horizon League after dropping Oakland, 79-64.
• NKU secured a third-straight 20-win season for the first time in the DI era and just the third time in program history. The last time NKU had three-straight 20-win campaigns came from 2006-07 to 2008-09. The program record is four-straight between 1994-95 and 1997-98.
• NKU is 11-23 all-time against Wright State, but is 4-4 against the Raiders in the DI era.
• NKU is riding a 19-game home winning streak, the sixth-longest in the country.
• NKU is averaging 17.3 assists per game, No. 9 in the nation. The Norse also rank No. 6 in total assists with 451 and have eight games where they've handed out at least 20 dimes.
• NKU's 63.6 assist rate (assists per field-goals made percentage) ranks No. 4 in the country.
• While already being one of the nation's best teams at sharing the ball, in the last six games the Norse have upped their assists to 20.7 apg.
• NKU is letting it fly from 3-point range, ranking 39th in attempts (645) and 28th in made treys (234). The Norse are making 9.0 threes per game, which are the 60th-most nationally.
• Foes are converting just 40.8 percent of their shots versus NKU, 46th-best nationally. The Norse are also rank No. 12 in the country in 3-point defense, holding opponents to just 29.6 percent.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 40-13 against Horizon League competition, the best of any league school against the rest of the conference. Wright State is next at 37-16.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 66-27, has won the Horizon League regular season (2018) and league tourney (2017), and has played in both the NCAA Tournament (2017) and NIT (2018). No other team in DI history has accomplished this feat.
• F Drew McDonald ranks fourth all-time at NKU in scoring with 1,926 points as a Norse. Craig Sanders ('98-02) is NKU's career leader with 2,007 points, but McDonald needs just two points to pass Richard Derkson (1,927 points) and move into third all-time.
• McDonald surpassed the 1,000-rebound milestone in the opening seconds of Thursday's game against Detroit Mercy, becoming the sixth player in Horizon League history to secure 1,000 boards.
• McDonald leads four Norse averaging double digits on the year at 19.0 points. He also leads NKU at 9.9 rebounds per game (19th in nation). His 12 double-doubles rank 16th nationally and he is one of just 22 players to register a triple-double this year.
• McDonald is one of five active players in Division I basketball with at least 1,900 career points (1,926) and 1,000 career boards (1,020). He also has the seventh-most career double-doubles (46) among active players.
• G Tyler Sharpe is second on the team in scoring, pouring in 14.3 points per game and, in 20 of the team's 26 games, has hit at least two threes. His 67 made threes on the season rank 66th in the country.
• G Jalen Tate is averaging 13.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game this year. He is making 55.6 percent (109-of-196) of his shots.
• F Dantez Walton is averaging 11.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.8 assists. In his first two seasons as a Norse (61 games), he posted nine combined double-figure scoring games. He has 17 double-digit scoring outputs in 26 games this year, including a career-best 20 points at IUPUI.
 
Last Time Out
Trailing by four at intermission, 36-32, the Norse defense turned up the pressure and NKU sprinted its way to a 79-64 win at BB&T Arena. The Norse defense forced nine second-half turnovers, converting them into 11 points, while outscoring the Golden Grizzlies 47-28 in the stanza. Northern Kentucky held large advantages in rebounds (43-30) and fast-break points (30-6) in the contest, while its defense limited Oakland to just 39.7 percent (23-of-58) shooting and a 20 percent (4-of-20) clip from 3-point range. McDonald posted a game-high 21 points and 13 boards for his 12th double-double of the season. Tate added 19 points and six assists, while Walton chipped in 15 points, seven rebounds and three assists without turning the ball over. Sharpe also finished with 11 points, three assists and zero miscues.
 
Scouting Wright State
The Raiders are arguably the hottest team in the Horizon League, entering Friday's matchup with the Norse having won three-straight contests and seven of their last eight games. Wright's State's home court inside the Nutter Center is a tough place to play, with WSU sporting an 11-2 home record on the season and impressive 5-1 mark in league games. Sophomore big man Loudon Love leads Wright State in scoring at 15.0 points and 8.4 rebounds per game. Bill Wampler contributes 14.4 ppg and Cole Gentry adds 12.7 ppg. The Raiders average 73.7 points per league outing and, while they allow teams to shoot 44.9 percent from the floor, sport the best scoring defense (68.5 ppg) in league play.
 
Series Stuff
Northern Kentucky trails Wright State 11-23 in the all-time series, but in the Division I era the series is tied at four apiece. Since NKU and WSU became rivals in the Horizon League in 2015-16, the teams have traded sweeping the season matchups. Wright State won both meetings in the 2015-16 and 2017-18 seasons. Northern Kentucky won all three meetings in the 2016-17 campaign, including a quarterfinal victory en route to the Horizon League Tournament Championship.
 
The Norse won the first matchup this season, 68-64, at BB&T Arena. The Raiders led by three at half, 30-27, and held the Norse to just 29 percent shooting, but NKU rallied behind 68 percent shooting in the second half to claim a 68-64 win. Drew McDonald posted a 22-point, 12-rebound double-double and Jalen Tate made 8-of-10 shots en route to 19 points. Loudon Love had 16 points and six boards to lead Wright State.