HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – A Friday night primetime matchup on ESPNU with Horizon League foe Wright State awaits the Northern Kentucky University men's basketball team. Tip-off at BB&T Arena is slated for 7 p.m. In addition to the national television broadcast, the game can be heard locally on ESPN1530. Seniors Dantez Walton, Tyler Sharpe and Karl Harris will be honored pregame for their time as Norse.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (21-8 Overall, 13-4 Horizon League)
Wright State University Raiders (24-6 Overall, 14-3 Horizon League)
Friday, Feb. 28 – 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Highland Heights, Ky. | BB&T Arena (9,400)
TV: ESPNU with Jordan Bernfield (PxP) and Rob Kennedy (Color)
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. Fans are encouraged to join the team in wearing white.
 
A variety of promotions exist for the game:

• White Northern Kentucky basketball t-shirts for the first 2,000 fans
• The first 1,000 fans will receive an NKU Norse water bottle
• Food Friday – A $14 ticket that includes a $5 concessions voucher*
• Kenton County Night - $9 adult/$7 youth tickets with proof of residence
• Rally towels for the first 1,000 students
• Braxton Happy Hour will take place in the beer garden from 6-7 p.m.

 
Fast Break Points 
• NKU won for the 12th time in its last 14 outings with a 61-59 victory at Youngstown State.
• The win is NKU's 21st of the season, part of a fourth-straight 20-win campaign for just the second time in program history, joining the 1994-95, 1995-96, 1996-97 and 1997-98 teams.
• NKU wrapped up the road portion of its 2019-20 schedule as one of 11 teams nationally with 10 or more road wins.
• NKU hosts Wright State with the Horizon League regular-season title on the line. The Norse are 12-25 all-time against the Raiders, but 7-9 at home and 5-6 in the DI era, which includes a 2-1 mark in BB&T Arena.
• BB&T Arena has been a particularly tough place to play for opposing teams. NKU is 11-3 at home this year and 52-8 (.867) since the start of the 2016-17 season.
• NKU has been stingy on the defensive end, holding teams to 65.3 points per game (68th 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 31st-best 3-point field-goal shooting defense, limiting foes to just 29.8 percent. However, in the last nine games opponents have hit 36 percent (67-of-184) from three.
• The Norse have ripped off 234 steals so far, a total that ranks 26th in the nation. The team's 8.1 steals per game also rank 35th.
• Offensively, the Norse are letting it rain from long range this year. The team ranks 18^th in the country in 3-point field-goal attempts (778) and 51^st in made threes (242).
• Rebounding has been a key to NKU's success this year. The Norse are a perfect 16-0 when either leading or tying in the rebound battle. They are an additional 5-2 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 192-119.
• NKU has been the most dominant team in the Horizon League over the last three seasons, amassing a 59-19 (.756) 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 93-38 (.710), 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.
• F Walton is averaging a team-best 16.4 ppg and 6.9 rpg, but has missed 11 games to injury this season. He currently ranks 32^nd all-time in scoring at NKU with 964 points.
• Walton posted back-to-back 20 point efforts in Northeast Ohio and now has seven such games on the season, which also includes three 30-point scoring efforts and two 30-point double-doubles.
• Over the last five games, G Jalen Tate has averaged 19.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.6 steals. This is familiar territory for Tate, who averaged 20.5 ppg and 4.3 apg over the last four regular-season games last year.
• On the season, Tate averages of 12.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.9 steals per game.
• G 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 1,154 points.
• Sharpe is averaging 15.2 points per game and his 72 made threes rank 65^th in the nation.
• G Trevon Faulkner has reached double figures in 13-of-17 Horizon League games. He is averaging 12.2 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.3 steals per game overall.
• F Adrian Nelson has hauled in double-figure rebound totals in eight of the team's 17 league contests. He's averaging 5.5 ppg and 8.2 rpg in league play.
 
Last Time Out
NKU led by 14 at intermission and held on for a 61-59 win as YSU made a late charge in the final minutes. The victory secured a top-2 regular-season finish for the Norse, which provides a bye to the semifinals of the league tournament. Walton poured in a game-high 20 points, while Tate added 18. Sharpe gave the Norse a third double-figure scorer. Faulkner contributed a career-high tying eight rebounds. NKU owned the paint, outscoring YSU, 34-14. The Norse also shot 48 percent (24-of-50), compared to just 33 percent (24-of-50) for the Penguins.
 
Scouting Wright State
Wright State sits one game in front of the Norse with a 14-3 league record and sports a 24-6 overall mark. Loudon Love paces the league's highest scoring offense (82.0 ppg) at 16.1 ppg. He also adds 9.5 rpg. Bill Wampler contributes 15.8 ppg, while Tanner Holden and Cole Gentry give the Raiders a quartet of double-figure scorers at 12.3 and 11.0 ppg, respectively. WSU hits 46 percent of its shots and an impressive 37 percent from 3-point range.
 
Series Stuff
The Norse are just 12-25 all-time against the Raiders in a series that dates back to Dec. 1972. This is just the 12^th meeting with both teams being NCAA Division I members and WSU holds a 6-5 advantage.
 
When the teams met in January, NKU's five-game winning streak was snapped in the 95-63 setback at Wright State. Sharpe led a trio of Norse in double figures with 18 points. Bryson Langdon and Tate both added 16 points. The Raiders scored on their first possession and never trailed in the contest. NKU surrendered more than 73 points for just the second time in the season, and allowed WSU to shoot better from the field (61 percent) and 3-point range (55 percent) than any other opponent all season.
   
* Concession voucher cannot be used towards the purchase of alcohol.