HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – With the end of the regular season quickly approaching, the Northern Kentucky University men's basketball team hosts Youngstown State in a key Horizon League matchup with implications on the league standings on the line.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (20-7 Overall, 10-4 Horizon League)
Youngstown State University Penguins (12-16 Overall, 8-7 Horizon League)
Thursday, Feb. 21 – 7 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN+ with Brady Laber (PxP) and Rich Hoyt (Color)
Radio: FOXSports1360 with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Steve Moeller (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
 
Tickets and Promotions
Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster. The first 500 students in attendance will receive a rally towel, while the first 250 students get a free walking taco.
 
Fast Break Points
• NKU slid to 20-7 overall and 10-4 in the Horizon League after suffering an 81-77 setback at Wright State that now leaves the Norse tied with the Raiders atop the league standings.
• NKU has 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 8-9 all-time against Youngstown State, but has won four in a row in the series and is 3-0 against YSU at BB&T Arena.
• NKU is riding a 19-game home winning streak, the sixth-longest in the country.
• NKU's 15 home wins so far this season are tied as the second-most in program history. The 1982-83 team went a perfect 17-0 at Regents Hall, while the 2006-07 team went 15-1 and the 2010-11 team posted a 15-2 mark.
• NKU is averaging 17.1 assists per game, No. 11 in the nation. The Norse also rank No. 7 in total assists with 463 and have eight games where they've handed out at least 20 dimes.
• NKU's 62.6 assist rate (assists per field-goals made percentage) ranks No. 6 in the country.
• NKU is letting it fly from 3-point range, ranking 51st in attempts (672) and 39th in made treys (246). The Norse are making 9.1 threes per game, which are the 56th-most nationally.
• The Norse are also rank No. 24 in the country in 3-point defense, holding opponents to just 30.2 percent.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 40-14 against Horizon League competition, the best of any league school against the rest of the conference. Wright State is next at 38-16.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 66-28, 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 third all-time at NKU in scoring with 1,949 points as a Norse. Craig Sanders ('98-02) is NKU's career leader with 2,007 points, but McDonald has Brady Jackson's 1,980 points in sight.
• McDonald leads four Norse averaging double digits on the year at 19.2 points. He also leads NKU at 9.9 rebounds per game (22nd in nation). His 12 double-doubles rank 21st nationally and he is one of just 24 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 (1,949) and 1,000 career boards (1,029). 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 21 of the team's 27 games, has hit at least two threes. His 71 made threes on the season rank 69th in the country.
• G Jalen Tate is averaging 13.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this year. He is making 55.7 percent (112-of-201) of his shots.
• F Dantez Walton is averaging 11.4 points, 5.1 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 18 double-digit scoring outputs in 27 games this year, including a career-best 20 points at IUPUI.
 
Last Time Out
Northern Kentucky made 61 percent of its first-half field-goal attempts, blitzing Wright State early en route to building a 16-point advantage. But the Raiders whittled away at the Norse lead, cutting it to five before half. After NKU took a 73-70 lead with just under five minutes remaining, WSU used an 11-2 run to put the game away in an 81-77 Raider decision. McDonald led NKU with 23 points and nine rebounds, while both Walton and Sharpe added 16 to the ledger. The loss drops Northern Kentucky into a tie for first place in the Horizon League standings with Wright State.
 
Scouting Youngstown State
The Norse get the distinct pleasure of playing arguably the two hottest teams in the league in consecutive outings. After taking on a Wright State squad that had won 7-of-8 entering the contest, Northern Kentucky now squares off against a Youngstown State side that has won six-straight games and is 8-7 in Horizon League play. Four of the six wins have been decided by two or fewer points and the last four have come at home. However, YSU is 4-3 on the road in league play. Darius Quisenberry averages a team-high 13.9 ppg, while Garrett Covington contributes 10.7 points. Naz Bohannon chips in 7.0 ppg, but hauls in 8.6 rpg.
 
Series Stuff
Youngstown State holds a slim 8-9 lead in the all-time series, but Northern Kentucky has won six of the nine meetings as Division I opponents. NKU is also riding a four-game win streak in the series and is 3-0 at BB&T Arena against YSU as members of the Horizon League.
 
NKU won the first meeting this season 82-74 in Youngstown, Ohio, with McDonald tallying 23 points on 8-of-10 shooting and pulling down seven boards. Tate and Sharpe each added 13 points. Donel Cathcart led YSU with 16 points.