HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The postseason has arrived for the Northern Kentucky University men's basketball team, which, as the No. 2 seed, hosts No. 7 Detroit Mercy in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League Championship at 7 p.m. on March 6. The Norse concluded the regular season with a share of the Horizon League title, their second-straight regular-season crown.
 
Game Information
No. 2 Northern Kentucky University Norse (23-8 Overall, 13-5 Horizon League)
No. 7 University of Detroit Mercy Titans (11-19 Overall, 8-10 Horizon League)
Wednesday, March 6 – 7 p.m. (ET)
TV: ESPN+ with Brady Laber (PxP) and Brad Redford (Color)
Radio: FOXSports1360 with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Steve Moeller (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
 
How to Purchase Tickets
Tickets, which are $14 for adults and $9 for children (ages 3-17) are available for purchase through Ticketmaster.
 
Fast Break Points
• A 15-3 second-half run helped push Northern Kentucky to an 86-82 win at Green Bay, securing a second-straight regular-season title for the Norse.
• NKU earned the No. 2 seed in #MotorCityMadness and hosts Detroit Mercy in the quarterfinals.
• NKU is 7-1 all-time against Detroit Mercy and riding a six-game winning streak in the series, but the Titans' lone win came in BB&T Arena in 2016.
• NKU'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 has also 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 averaging 16.6 assists per game, No. 17 in the nation. The Norse also rank No. 9 in total assists with 516 and have eight games where they've handed out at least 20 dimes.
• NKU's 60.8 assist rate (assists per field-goals made percentage) ranks No. 14 in the country.
• The Norse also rank No. 23 nationally in 3-point defense, holding opponents to just 30.4 percent.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 43-15 against Horizon League competition, the best of any league school against the rest of the conference. Wright State is next at 41-17.
• Since the start of the 2016-17 season, NKU is a combined 69-29, 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 in its first two years of active status.
• F Drew McDonald drained a corner three with 7:01 remaining in the game against Green Bay to become NKU's all-time scoring leader, surpassing Craig Sanders' ('98-02) 2,007 points. McDonald now has 2,011 points.
• McDonald leads four Norse averaging double digits on the year at 19.3 points. He also leads NKU at 9.6 rebounds per game (25th in nation). His 13 double-doubles rank 23rd 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 2,000 career points (2,011) and 1,000 career boards (1,051) and is seventh among active players with 47 career double-doubles.
• G Jalen Tate is averaging 14.1 points behind 57.4 percent (144-of-251) shooting, which ranks 36th in the country.
• Tate is coming off of a career performance against Green Bay, drilling 11-of-19 field goals, 4-of-5 3-point attempts and 4-of-4 at the line en route to a career-high 30 points. He also added six assists.
• Tate was named #HLMBB Player of the Week after averaging 24 ppg, 5.5 rpg and 4.5 apg last week.
• G Tyler Sharpe is third in scoring for NKU, pouring in 14.0 points per game and, in 22 of the team's 31 games, has hit at least two threes. His 76 made threes on the season rank 91st nationally.
• F Dantez Walton is averaging 11.2 points, 5.2 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 21 double-digit scoring outputs in 31 games this year, including a career-best 20 points at IUPUI.
• In the last seven games, G Trevon Faulkner has made 16-of-22 field goals (72.7 percent), averaging 5.6 ppg. 
• C Chris Vogt has started the last two games for the Norse, averaging 9.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.
• G Paul Djoko was a key cog in NKU's regular-season championship clinching win, going 3-for-3 from the floor with seven points, two assists and two steals.
 
Last Time Out
After 20 minutes of action, Northern Kentucky and Green Bay were deadlocked at 41 points apiece. The Phoenix took a 56-52 lead with 13:41 left in the game before the Norse used a 15-3 run to pull ahead by eight. NKU eventually pushed the lead to as many as nine points on three different occasions and withstood a 7-0  run from GB to cut the Norse lead to a pair, 81-79, with 1:01 remaining. Jalen Tate converted a layup before Tyler Sharpe hauled in a defensive rebound and found Paul Djoko wide open down the court for an easy lay-in. Sharpe sealed the 86-82 win the a free throw, giving NKU its second-straight regular-season Horizon League Championship. 
 
Tate had a career game, shooting 11-of-19 from the field, 4-of-5 from three and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe en route to a career-high 30 points. Drew McDonald finished with 13 points, which included a corner three with 7:01 remaining to become Northern Kentucky's all-time leading scorer. He now has 2,011 points in his career. Sharped finished with 16 points. Dantez Walton buried a trio of treys in his 11-point showing, while Djoko was a perfect 3-for-3 from the field for a career-best seven points.
 
Scouting Detroit Mercy
Detroit Mercy closed the regular season with an overall mark of 11-19 and finished in a three-way tie for sixth in the Horizon League standings with Youngstown State and IUPUI. The Titans were slotted with the No. 7 seed by virtue of tie-breaker protocol.
 
Detroit Mercy had the hottest start in league play, racing out to a 5-1 mark through the first third of the league slate. However, the Titans closed the season winning three of their final 12 games. Antoine Davis is one of the three-most prolific scorers in the country, averaging 26.0 ppg (No. 3 nationally) and recently setting the NCAA's all-time freshman mark for 3-point field goals in a season. He now has 128 made treys this year for a Titans offense that averages 73.0 ppg. Josh McFolly contributes 13.1 ppg to that average as well. However, Detroit Mercy allows opponents to shoot at a 47.2 percent clip and pour in 78.8 ppg.
 
Series Stuff
NKU and Detroit Mercy are meeting for the ninth time in the series, with the Norse holding a 7-1 advantage. Northern Kentucky has won six in a row, but Detroit Mercy's lone win came at BB&T Arena where the Norse are 3-1 against the Titans.
 
In two contests this year, Northern Kentucky has outscored Detroit Mercy by an average of 96 ppg to 69 ppg. The Norse averaged 28 apg with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.8:1 (56 assists to 20 turnovers) in the two games. McDonald led NKU at 21.5 ppg, while Davis averaged 29.5 ppg for Detroit Mercy against the Norse.
 
Horizon League Basketball Championship
When the final weekend was ready to take place, the Horizon League standings were in pure chaos from a seeding perspective. With just nine contests remaining, over 500 possible scenarios could have played out. As it turns out, Northern Kentucky and Wright State tied for the regular-season title, with the Raiders earning the overall No. 1 seed by virtue of their head-to-head record against Oakland, which is the No. 3-seed. UIC and Green Bay tied for fourth, but the Phoenix were 2-0 against the Flames this season and were awarded the fourth-seed, accordingly. Then, sixth-place featured a three-way tie between Youngstown State, Detroit Mercy and IUPUI, with the teams earning seeds six, seven and eight, respectively, by virtue of head-to-head tie-breakers.
 
Wright State hosts IUPUI and Green Bay welcomes UIC on Tuesday, March 5, in the quarterfinal round. Then, on March 6, NKU plays Detroit Mercy at BB&T Arena and Oakland hosts Youngstown State. Winners advance to the semifinals at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit on March 11.