HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The final two games of the regular season are upon the Northern Kentucky men's basketball team, which involves a road trip to Wisconsin for a pair of games against Milwaukee and Green Bay. The Norse kick off the trip with a Thursday night showdown against the Panthers. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (21-8 Overall, 11-5 Horizon League)
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers (9-20 Overall, 4-12 Horizon League)
Thursday, Feb. 28 – 8 p.m. (ET)/7 p.m. (CT)
TV: ESPN+ with Wayne Larrivee (PxP) and Justin Lettenberger (Color)
Radio: ESPN1530 with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Steve Moeller (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
 
Fast Break Points
• NKU slipped up in Horizon League play in an 83-77 setback to Cleveland State, dropping the Norse into second place in the 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 6-3 all-time against Milwaukee and riding a five-game winning streak in the series, but the Panthers are 2-1 against the Norse in Milwaukee.
• NKU has already secured a home quarterfinal contest in the Horizon League Championship, where NKU has been a tough opponent. It's 16 home wins so far this season are the second-most in program history, trailing the 1982-83 team's perfect 17-0 mark.
• NKU is averaging 17.0 assists per game, No. 15 in the nation. The Norse also rank No. 9 in total assists with 492 and have eight games where they've handed out at least 20 dimes.
• NKU's 62.4 assist rate (assists per field-goals made percentage) ranks No. 8 in the country.
• NKU is letting it fly from 3-point range, ranking 50th in attempts (712) and 46th in made treys (256). The Norse are making 8.8 threes per game, which are the 69th-most nationally.
• The Norse are also rank No. 22 in the country in 3-point defense, holding opponents to just 30.4 percent.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 41-15 against Horizon League competition, the best of any league school against the rest of the conference. Wright State is next at 40-16.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 67-29, 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 second all-time at NKU in scoring with 1,998 points as a Norse, needing two points to reach 2,000 for his career and 10 to become NKU's all-time leader. Craig Sanders ('98-02) is NKU's career leader with 2,007 points.
• McDonald leads four Norse averaging double digits on the year at 19.6 points. He also leads NKU at 9.9 rebounds per game (22nd in nation). His 13 double-doubles rank 17th 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 (1,998) and 1,000 career boards (1,048). He also has the seventh-most career double-doubles (47) among active players.
• G Tyler Sharpe is second in scoring for NKU, pouring in 14.1 points per game and, in 21 of the team's 29 games, has hit at least two threes. His 73 made threes on the season rank 84th nationally.
• G Jalen Tate is averaging 13.3 points behind 56.8 percent (125-of-220) shooting, which ranks 39th in the country.
• F Dantez Walton is averaging 11.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists. In his first two seasons as a Norse (61 games), he posted nine combined double-figure scoring games. He has 19 double-digit scoring outputs in 29 games this year, including a career-best 20 points at IUPUI.
• In the last five games, G Trevon Faulkner has made 13-of-17 field goals (76.5 percent), averaging 6.4 ppg.
• F Adrian Nelson grabbed a career-high eight rebounds against CSU.
 
Last Time Out
The Norse hit a bump in the road against Cleveland State on Saturday night, falling to the Vikings 83-77. After taking a 58-56 lead with 9:08 left in the game, NKU surrendered a 16-4 run. A pair of Walton threes sandwiched around two free throws from Nelson cut the deficit to four with 10-seconds remaining, but CSU closed out the game with a pair of free throws. McDonald paced NKU with 22 points and seven rebounds. Tate added 19 points and finished with 12. Sharpe added eight points to the cause, while Nelson finished with a career-high eight rebounds to help NKU to a 37-32 rebounding advantage. However, Cleveland State converted 51 percent of its field-goal attempts compared to Northern Kentucky's 43 percent shooting.
 
Scouting Milwaukee
Milwaukee is 9-20 overall and 4-12 in Horizon League action. After starting league play at 4-3, the Panthers have found themselves on a nine-game slide. Darius Roy tops MKE in scoring at 15.8 ppg, while DeAndre Abram provides a second double-figure scoring option at 12.3 ppg. Vance Johnson and Jake Wright contribute 9.8 and 9.4 ppg, respectively. Milwaukee converts 42 percent from the floor and 35 percent from three in averaging 70.0 ppg, but allows opponents to convert 44 percent of all shots and 34 percent from long range en route to a 75.3 ppg average.
 
Series Stuff
Following a 73-60 victory in the first meeting this season, Northern Kentucky is 6-3 all-time against Milwaukee and riding a five-game winning streak. However, the Norse are just 1-2 against the Panthers in Milwaukee, which includes 91-64  NKU triumph in the last meeting at UWM Panther Arena (Jan. 18, 2018).
 
After trailing 34-30 at halftime of the first meeting, the Norse blitzed the Panthers 43-26 in the second half. McDonald posted a 30-point, 13-rebound double-double to lead four Norse in double figures. Tate, Walton and Sharpe added 13, 12 and 10 points, respectively. Milwaukee was led by Wright's 16 points. Johnson tallied 11 points and 12 rebounds.