HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky men's basketball continues Horizon League play with a Saturday night tilt against Cleveland State. The Norse welcome the Vikings to BB&T Arena for a 7 p.m. tip-off.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (13-6 Overall, 5-2 Horizon League)
Cleveland State University Vikings (7-12 Overall, 3-3 Horizon League)
Saturday, Jan. 18 – 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Highland Heights, Ky. | BB&T Arena (9,400)
TV: ESPN+ with Brady Laber (PxP) and Brad Redford (Color)
Radio: 55KRC (550AM) with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Rick Broering (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
 
Tickets and Promotions
To purchase tickets online, please visit TicketMaster.com. Tickets can also be purchased at the Alice Sparks Ticket Office at BB&T Arena.
 
It's Boone County Night at the game, where residents of Boone County can get a $9 ticket with proof of residence. The first 500 fans will receive an NKU hat. Before the game, join the Braxton Happy Hour from 6-7 p.m. in the beer garden. Following the game, kids 8^th-grade and younger will be able to head to the court for Shootaround Saturday, which features a chance to shoot some baskets and get autographs from select men's basketball players.
 
The 1,000 students for $1,000 (#1K41K) promotion is back. If 1,000 students check into the game using their All-Card, one lucky student wins $1,000.
 
Fast Break Points 
• NKU picked up its fourth-straight win with a dominant 88-63 win over Youngstown State.
• NKU welcomes Cleveland State to BB&T Arena on Thursday night. The Norse are 5-4 all-time against the Vikings, including a 2-2 mark at home.
• 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 51-17 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 85-36 (.702), 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 65.1 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 10th-best 3-point field-goal shooting defense, limiting foes to just 27.0 percent.
• The Norse have ripped off 153 steals so far, a total that ranks 26th in the nation. The team's 8.1 steals per game also rank 60th.
• Offensively, the Norse are letting it rain from long range this year. The team ranks 11th in the country in 3-point field-goal attempts (517) and 21st in made threes (171).
• 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 184-117.
• G Tyler Sharpe continues to score in droves, posting his fifth 30-point outing and second in a row with a career-high-tying 33 against Youngstown State.
• With his third three of the game, just four minutes into the contest, Sharpe tallied the 1,000^th point of his career. He now ranks 28th all-time at NKU with 1,024 points.
• Sharpe also buried 9-of-12 threes against YSU, setting a new DI era record for made threes in a game.
• Sharpe is averaging 16.4 points per game on the season.
• G Trevon Faulkner has reached double figures in all seven Horizon League games. The sophomore is averaging 12.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.5 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 6.6 ppg and 8.4 rpg in league play.
• After missing 10 games due to  injury, G Jalen Tate returned against Green Bay and has reached double figures in 5-of-6 games since. He is averaging 9.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
• G Bryson Langdon has started the last 16 games for Northern Kentucky and averaged 4.4 assists in those outings. His 4.7 apg in Horizon League play rank third in the conference.
• 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
Sharpe wasted little time in reaching the 1,000-point plateau, scoring nine points in the first four minutes of the game to reach the milestone. Northern Kentucky broke a 23-all tie with just under seven minutes left to play in the first half, closing the stanza on a 26-5 run to take a commanding 48-29 lead into intermission. NKU went on to post an 88-63 win. Sharpe finished with 33 points, the third time this season and second-straight game in which he hit his career mark. Faulkner added 22 points, while Tate and Langdon also reached double figures with 11 and 10, respectively. Nelson hauled in 10 rebounds, marking the third-straight double-digit rebounding effort for the sophomore.
 
Scouting Cleveland State
Cleveland State enters the game at 7-12 overall and 3-3 in Horizon League play after dropping a 75-62 decision at Wright State on Thursday. The Vikings average 63.2 points per game and surrender 72.5. Algevon Eichelberger averages team highs in scoring (13.6 ppg) and rebounding (6.6 rpg). Torrey Patton is second on the team in scoring at 11.0 ppg, while Craig Beaudion and Tre Gomillion contribute 9.2 and 9.1 ppg, respectively.
 
Series Stuff
While the Norse lead the all-time series, 5-4, the Vikings have been a thorn in their side of late. CSU knocked NKU out of the 2018 Horizon League Tournament in the first round, then defeated the Norse at home on senior day last year and have now won two of the last three meetings. The series began when NKU joined the Horizon League in the 2016-17 season and the Norse are 2-2 at home versus the Vikings.