HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Indiana Farmers Coliseum, site of the 2020 Horizon League Championship, hosts a 2 p.m. showdown between the Northern Kentucky men's basketball team and IUPUI. The contest marks the end of four-straight road contests for the Norse, who are currently 2-1 on the trip.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (11-6 Overall, 3-2 Horizon League)
IUPUI Jaguars (5-13 Overall, 1-4 Horizon League)
Sunday, Jan. 12 – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Indianapolis | Indiana Farmers Coliseum (6,800)
TV: ESPN+ with Greg Rakestraw (PxP) and Bob Lovell (Color)
Radio: ESPN1530 with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Rick Broering (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
 
Fast Break Points 
• NKU used a 30-0 run and held UIC scoreless for a stretch of 11:35 in the second half in a 68-52 win.
• NKU concludes its four-game road swing with a trip to Indianapolis to meet up with IUPUI. The Norse are 7-2 all-time against the Jaguars, including a 2-2 mark in Indianapolis.
• In addition to being on a current four-game road trip, the Norse are in the midst of a stretch of seven of nine being contested away from BB&T Arena.
• 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 49-17 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 83-36 (.697), 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.
• NKU has been stingy on the defensive end, holding teams to 64.8 points per game, and only one opponent has scored more than 73 points against the Norse this season.
• NKU makes its hay with the nation's 16th-best 3-point field-goal shooting defense, limiting foes to just 27.5 percent.
• The Norse have ripped off 141 steals so far, a total that ranks 23rd in the nation. The team's 8.3 steals per game also rank 53rd.
• Offensively, the Norse are letting it rain from long range this year. The team ranks 17th in the country in 3-point field-goal attempts (455) and 38th in made threes (147).
• 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 182-117.
• G Trevon Faulkner has reached double figures in each of the last five games. The sophomore is averaging 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
• F Adrian Nelson had a career night at UIC with 13 points and 15 rebounds for his first career double-double, setting new career highs in both categories. He's averaging 7.2 ppg and 7.8 rpg in league play.
• G Tyler Sharpe, a Preseason All-Horizon League Second-Team honoree, is second on the team in scoring, pouring in 14.4 ppg and has made 39 threes on the season, which ranks 91st in the country.
• Though only in his third season as a Norse, Sharpe ranks 31st all-time with 958 points as a Norse.
• After missing 10 games due to  injury, G Jalen Tate returned against Green Bay and has reached double figures in all four games since. He is averaging 10.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
• G Bryson Langdon has started the last 14 games for Northern Kentucky and averaged 4.2 assists in those outings.
• W Adham Eleeda has averaged 11.0 points per game over the last three contests, which includes a career-high 14 at Detroit Mercy.
• Over the last five games, Eleeda has shot 46 percent (12-of-26) from three.
• F Dantez Walton was averaging a team-best 18.4 ppg on the strength of 54 percent shooting, which includes 42 percent from 3-point range, prior to being side-lined with an injury.
• In his last seven games against DI foes, Walton averaged 24.9 points while shooting 59 percent from the floor and 52 percent from behind the arc.
 
Last Time Out
Thirty (30) unanswered points were part of a stretch of 11:35 in the second half where NKU erased a slim four-point deficit, 33-29, and turned it into an insurmountable 26-point Norse lead. During the run, Northern Kentucky forced eight UIC turnovers and held it to 0-for-13 from the floor. The Norse closed out the contest with a 68-52 victory. Faulkner scored 15 points to lead Northern Kentucky, while Nelson had a career night with new personal records in scoring (13) and rebounding (15) to register the first double-double of his career. Tate rounded out NKU's double-digit scorers with 12 points. The Norse held the Flames to 35 percent shooting for the game and outscored them 18-8 in points off turnovers, 34-16 in the paint, 15-5 on fast breaks and 29-8 off the bench. NKU also started the game 1-for-17 from three, but finished making seven of its last 11 attempts.
 
Scouting IUPUI
IUPUI is 5-13 on the season and 1-4 in league play with a convincing 93-78 victory at Green Bay on its ledger. Markus Burk scores at an 18.7 points per game clip to lead the team, while Jalen Minnett is close behind at 15.9 ppg. Minnett (60) and Burk (50) have combined to make 110 threes on the season, ranking second and 18th in the country, respectively. Elyjah Goss is a force on the boards, averaging 11.0 rebounds per game, which ranks 10th in the country. The Jaguars are turnover prone, giving the ball away 15.0 times per game but force opponents into 13.4 topg.
 
Series Stuff
The Norse are 7-2 all-time against the Jaguars in a series that dates back to 1981. Since IUPUI joined the Horizon League in 2017-18, NKU holds a 3-1 advantage. However, IUPUI claimed victory in the last contest between the two teams, 83-77, on Feb. 1 last year. Both Northern Kentucky losses in the series have come on the road, where it is 2-2 versus IUPUI.