HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – First place in the Horizon League standings is on the line Friday night, as the Northern Kentucky men's basketball team heads an hour North to Dayton, Ohio, for a 9 p.m. showdown at Wright State. The game is nationally broadcast on ESPNU, marking the second national contest of the season for NKU. The Raiders enter one game ahead of the Norse in the standings.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (14-6 Overall, 6-2 Horizon League)
Wright State University Raiders (17-4 Overall, 7-1 Horizon League)
Friday, Jan. 24 – 9:00 p.m. (ET)
Dayton, Ohio | Nutter Center (8,000)
TV: ESPNU with Jordan Bernfield (PxP) and Rob Kennedy (Color)
Radio: ESPN1530 (1530 AM) with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Rick Broering (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
Purchase Tickets: WSURaiders.com 
 
Fast Break Points 
• NKU extended its winning streak to five straight with a dominant 75-49 victory over Cleveland State.
• NKU held CSU without a 3-point field goal, marking the first time since Nov. 15, 2009 when an opponent failed to convert a three against the Norse.
• NKU heads back on the road for a three-game swing that starts with a nationally-televised showdown with rival Wright State. NKU is 12-24 all-time against WSU, but the series is tied at 5-5 with both teams playing at the Division I level.
• The Norse are in the midst of a stretch of seven of nine games being contested away from BB&T Arena.
• NKU has been stingy on the defensive end, holding teams to 64.3 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 third-best 3-point field-goal shooting defense, limiting foes to just 26.7 percent.
• The Norse have ripped off 161 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 (541) and 21st in made threes (178).
• 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 185-117.
• 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 52-17 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 86-36 (.705), 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-plus years with active status.
• G Tyler Sharpe became NKU's 28th member of the 1,000-point club with a career-high-tying 33-point outing versus Youngstown State, his fifth 30-point showing this year. He now ranks 27th all-time at NKU with 1,042 points.
• Sharpe is averaging 16.5 points per game and his 55 made threes rank 23rd in the nation.
• G Trevon Faulkner has reached double figures in all eight Horizon League games. The sophomore is averaging 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game overall, but 15.9 ppg in league games.
• Faulkner is coming off a career-high-tying 24-point performance against CSU, where he made 8-of-10 shots from the floor and all six at the charity stripe.
• F Adrian Nelson has hauled in double-figure rebound totals in the last four games and five of the team's eight league contests. He's averaging 6.8 ppg and 8.6 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-7 games since. He is averaging 9.3 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
• G Bryson Langdon has started the last 17 games for Northern Kentucky and averaged 4.3 assists in those outings. His 4.5 apg in Horizon League play rank seventh 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
An 18-0 run in the first half pushed the Norse ahead by 17 at intermission and Northern Kentucky never looked back in a dominant 75-49 win against Cleveland State. NKU's defense was stout, holding CSU without a 3-point field goal in the game, marking the first time since 2009 the Norse held a team without a made three. It was also the first time in nearly two years (Jan. 28, 2018 vs. UIC) that a DI Norse opponent was held below the 50-point threshold. Faulkner scored a game-high and career-high-tying 24 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 6-of-6 at the stripe. Sharpe, who was honored pregame for scoring his 1,000th career point, added 18 points. Nelson corralled 10 boards and added eight points.
 
Scouting Wright State
Wright State is 17-4 overall and 7-1 in the  league, while also being ranked in both the Other Top-25 (23rd) and College Insider Mid-Major Top-25 (10th). The Raiders have won 10 of their last 11 games. On the season, they score at an 80.9 ppg clip and surrender just 70.0 ppg. Preseason All-Horizon League First Team member Loudon Love is averaging 15.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game to pace WSU. Bill Wampler adds 14.6 points, while Cole Gentry and Tanner Holden contribute 11.2 and 10.9 ppg, respectively. The Raiders have owned the glass, hauling in 870 rebounds, which are the second-most in the nation. They've also made their hay at the free throw line, ranking fourth in total attempts (482) and 15th in makes (318).
 
Series Stuff
Wright State holds a commanding 12-24 record in the all-time series, including a 3-14 mark in Dayton, which began clear back in Dec. 1972. Since both teams began meeting as Division I foes within the Horizon League, the series is tied up at five wins each. NKU is just 1-3 at the Nutter Center with the lone road triumph coming on Feb. 21, 2017.