HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – In the midst of a four-game road swing, the Northern Kentucky men's basketball team heads to Chicago for a primetime, nationally-televised meeting against UIC. The Norse and Flames will tip at 7 p.m. (ET)/6 p.m. (CT) on ESPN2. This marks the 13^th nationally-televised game for NKU since the start of the 2016-17 campaign, with the Norse holding a 6-6 record in those contests.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (10-6 Overall, 2-2 Horizon League)
University of Illinois-Chicago "UIC" Flames (6-11 Overall, 1-3 Horizon League)
Friday, Jan. 10 – 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Chicago | Credit Union 1 Arena (8,000)
TV: ESPN2 with Jordan Bernfield (PxP) and Rob Kennedy (Color)
Radio: ESPN1530 with Jim Kelch (PxP) and Rick Broering (Color)
Stats: Live Stats
 
Fast Break Points 
• Five Norse reached double figures as NKU pulled out a 75-64 road win over Oakland on Sunday.
• NKU continues its four-game road swing with a trip to the Windy City to face UIC in a nationally televised contest on ESPN2. The Norse are 6-2 all-time against the Flames, including a 2-2 mark in Chicago.
• 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 48-17 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 82-36 (.695), 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 65.6 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 12th-best 3-point field-goal shooting defense, limiting foes to just 26.9 percent.
• The Norse have ripped off 133 steals so far, a total that ranks 31st in the nation. The team's 8.3 steals per game also rank 54th.
• 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 (427) and 42nd in made threes (139).
• 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 181-117.
• G Tyler Sharpe, a Preseason All-Horizon League Second-Team honoree, is second on the team in scoring, pouring in 14.9 ppg and has made 38 threes on the season, which ranks 87th in the country.
• Though only in his third season as a Norse, Sharpe moved into the top-50 all-time scorers at NKU with his 18-point showing at Missouri. He now ranks 32nd with 951 points as a Norse.
• After missing 10 games with a hand injury, G Jalen Tate returned against Green Bay and has scored 11 points in all three games. He is averaging 9.7 points, 4.5 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game.
• G Trevon Faulkner is one of four returning starters for NKU this year. The sophomore guard is averaging 12.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game.
• G Bryson Langdon has started the last 13 games for Northern Kentucky and averaged 4.3 assists in the outings.
• Langdon is coming off a career-high scoring effort, posting 21 at Oakland.
• W Adham Eleeda has averaged 12.0 points per game over the last two contests, which includes a career-high 14 at Detroit Mercy.
• Eleeda has shot 45 percent (9-of-20) from three over the last four games.
• 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
Eleeda came out firing on all cylinders early and Langdon turned it on shortly after to help Northern Kentucky post a 75-64 victory. Eleeda buried three first-half treys en route to 10 points, while Langdon was highly efficient in converting 5-of-8 shots, including 4-of-6 from three, and all seven free throws on his way to a career-high 21 points. After Oakland took a 50-48 lead with 8:51 remaining, NKU went on an 11-0 run over the next 3:40 to assume control of the game. The Golden Grizzlies shrunk the lead to four, 64-60 with 2:02 left, but Tate converted a layup to spark an 11-4 run to close the contest. The Norse shot 62 percent (13-of-21) in the second half. Faulkner (12), Tate (11) and Adrian Nelson (10) also reach double figures, giving NKU five for the game.
 
Scouting UIC
The Flames are 6-11 on the season and 1-3 in league play, scoring at a 66.2 points-per-game clip while allowing opponents to put up 72.5. UIC leads the Horizon League with 66 blocked shots on the year, but offensively turns the ball over the second-most times in the league at 16.4 topg. Preseason All-Horizon League First Team member Tarkus Ferguson averages a team-best 14.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game. Marcus Ottey, who was on the preseason second team, contributes 12.3 points. However, the Flames spent the first 10 games of the season without Ottey in the lineup and fellow senior Jordan Blount - who is averaging 6.2 points and 4.8 rebounds - missed the first 11 games, both due to injury.
 
Series Stuff
Northern Kentucky leads the all-time series 6-2, but UIC won the last meeting, 69-67, thanks to a Jamie Ahale 3-point basket with two seconds left. The Norse are 2-2 in the series in games played in against the Flames in Chicago.