HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – With three-quarters of the Horizon League schedule in the rearview mirror, the Northern Kentucky men's basketball team sets its sights on Sunday afternoon's matchup with UIC. The regionally-televised broadcast can be seen on FOX Sports Ohio. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. at BB&T Arena
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (19-7 Overall, 11-3 Horizon League)
UIC Flames (12-15 Overall, 7-7 Horizon League)
Sunday, Feb. 16 – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Highland Heights, Ky. | BB&T Arena (9,400)
TV: FOX Sports Ohio with Brady Laber (PxP) and Brad Redford (Color)
The game will also be carried on ESPN+, but blacked out in the FOX Sports Ohio market.
Radio: ESPN1530 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.
 
The 1,000 students for $1,000 (#1K41K) promotion continues. If 1,000 students check into the game using their All-Card, one lucky student wins $1,000.
 
Fast Break Points 
• NKU won its fifth-straight game for the second time this season and is now 10-1 in its last 11 contests after posting an 84-70 victory against visiting IUPUI on Friday night.
• NKU wraps up its four-game homestand, the longest of the season, with Sunday's meeting against UIC on FOX Sports Ohio. The Norse are 7-2 all-time versus the Flames, including a 4-0 mark at home.
• BB&T Arena has been a particularly tough place to play for opposing teams. NKU is 11-2 at home this year and 52-7 (.881) since the start of the 2016-17 season.
• NKU has been stingy on the defensive end, holding teams to 65.5 points per game (74th in the country), and only two opponents have 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 28.7 percent.
• The Norse have ripped off 210 steals so far, a total that ranks 22nd in the nation. The team's 8.1 steals per game also rank 44th.
• Offensively, the Norse are letting it rain from long range this year. The team ranks 20th in the country in 3-point field-goal attempts (694) and 44th in made threes (223).
• Rebounding has been a key to NKU's success this year. The Norse are a perfect 15-0 when either leading or tying in the rebound battle. They are an additional 4-2 when being outrebounded, but keeping the margin within five caroms.
• 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 190-118.
• NKU has been the most dominant team in the Horizon League over the last three seasons, amassing a 57-18 (.760) 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 91-37 (.711), 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 Jalen Tate scored a career-high 31 points, while adding six rebounds, seven assists and career-best six steals, in Northern Kentucky's win over IUPUI. Tate made 10-of-14 shots and went 9-of-11 at the line.
• In the last two games, Tate has averaged 27.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 3.0 steals per game.
• F Dantez Walton is averaging a team-best 16.7 ppg and 7.1 rpg.
• In his last 11 games versus DI opponents, which includes missing 11 total games in the middle due to injury, Walton is averaging 20.3 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.
• 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 23rd all-time at NKU with 1,127 points.
• Sharpe is averaging 15.9 points per game and his 68 made threes rank 43rd in the nation.
• With Tate's 30-point showing against IUPUI, NKU has now had three players post a 30-point game this year. Sharpe (5), Walton (3) and Tate have combined for nine 30-point efforts.
• G Trevon Faulkner has reached double figures in 13-of-14 Horizon League games. He is averaging 13.2 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 steals per game overall, but 14.4 ppg in league games.
• F Adrian Nelson has hauled in double-figure rebound totals in seven of the team's 14 league contests. He's averaging 5.9 ppg and 8.3 rpg in league play.
• G Bryson Langdon registered a career-high 22-point performance at Green Bay and is averaging 8.7 points per game for the Norse.
 
Last Time Out
Tate was simply electric in leading NKU to an 84-70 win over IUPUI. Tate poured in a career-high 31 points behind 10-of-14 shooting, including 9-of-11 at the charity stripe, while also contributing six rebounds, seven assists and  career-high six steals. The Norse shot 53 percent (27-of-51) for the game and needed just 21 shots to register 42 points in the second stanza. Northern Kentucky's 47 percent (9-of-19) 3-point shooting performance was also its best of the season. Faulkner added 14 points, while Sharpe and Nelson contributed 13 and 11, respectively, to place four Norse in double figures. Silas Adheke had a team-best eight rebounds to help NKU win the rebound battle, 33-31.
 
Scouting UIC
UIC sits among a crowded pack in the middle of the Horizon League standings with a 7-7 league  mark and 12-15 overall record. The Flames average 67.3 ppg and surrender 70.7 to opposing teams. Preseason All-Horizon League First Team member Tarkus Ferguson scores at a clip of 14.4 ppg and adds 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game to lead the team in all three categories. Preseason second-teamer Marcus Ottey contributes 12.3 ppg and Godwin Boahen provides UIC with its third double-figure scorer at 10.0 ppg.
 
Series Stuff
Northern Kentucky is 7-2 all-time versus UIC, which includes a 68-52 win in Chicago earlier this season. NKU is 4-0 at home in the series as well.
 
In the first meeting, 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. Faulkner scored 15 points to lead Northern Kentucky, while Nelson had a career night with 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.