HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Homecoming week festivities for Northern Kentucky University come to a close on Saturday night when the men's basketball team plays host to Detroit Mercy in the second game of the season series. A 7 p.m. tip-off is slated at BB&T Arena.
 
Game Information
Northern Kentucky University Norse (17-7 Overall, 9-3 Horizon League)
University of Detroit Mercy Titans (6-18 Overall, 4-7 Horizon League)
Saturday, Feb. 8 – 7:00 p.m. (ET)
Highland Heights, Ky. | BB&T Arena (9,400)
TV: ESPN+ with Brady Laber (PxP) and Brad Redford (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.
 
Doors open at 5:30 p.m. for the Northern Taste event, which features selections from local restaurants in the Braxton Beer Garden. The first 1,000 fans will also receive a pair of Victor E. Viking dress socks.
 
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. Saturday's game also features an official student tailgate.
 
Fast Break Points 
• NKU won for the eighth time in its last nine games, defeating Oakland 73-70 at BB&T Arena on Thursday night. The Norse had a whopping 4.5:1 assist-to-turnover ratio after distributing 18 dimes while only committing four miscues, which was a mere turnover from tying the program record for fewest in a game.
• NKU hosts Detroit Mercy on Saturday night to wrap up the university's Homecoming Week festivities. The Norse are 8-2 all-time versus the Titans, but saw Detroit Mercy snap a seven-game winning streak in the series earlier this season.
• BB&T Arena has been a particularly tough place to play for opposing teams. NKU is 9-2 at home this year and 50-7 (.877) since the start of the 2016-17 season.
• NKU has been stingy on the defensive end, holding teams to 65.3 points per game (78th 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 11th-best 3-point field-goal shooting defense, limiting foes to just 28.5 percent.
• The Norse have ripped off 190 steals so far, a total that ranks 33rd in the nation. The team's 7.9 steals per game also rank 54th.
• Offensively, the Norse are letting it rain from long range this year. The team ranks 15th in the country in 3-point field-goal attempts (653) and 47th in made threes (206).
• 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 188-118.
• NKU has been the most dominant team in the Horizon League over the last three seasons, amassing a 55-18 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 89-37 (.706), 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 Dantez Walton returned following a 10-game absence due to injury at Green Bay and has tallied double-doubles in two of the team's three games, going for 15 points and 10 boards against the Phoenix and 23 points and 11 caroms versus Oakland. He's averaging a team-best 17.5 ppg and 7.5 rpg.
• In his last 10 games versus DI opponents, which includes the 10-game absence in the middle, Walton is averaging 21.7 points and 8.3 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 26th all-time at NKU with 1,097 points.
• Sharpe is averaging 16.0 points per game and his 62 made threes rank 45th in the nation.
• G Trevon Faulkner has reached double figures in 11-of-12 Horizon League games. He is averaging 13.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game overall, but 14.3 ppg in league games.
• G Jalen Tate is averaging 10.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game on the season.
• Tate notched his second career double-double with 17 points and a career-high 12 rebounds at Green Bay and followed with a 16-point, nine-rebound, five-assist outing at Milwaukee.
• G Bryson Langdon registered a career-high 22-point performance at Green Bay and is averaging 8.8 points per game for the Norse.
• F Adrian Nelson has hauled in double-figure rebound totals in six of the team's league contests. He's averaging 5.5 ppg and 8.1 rpg in league play.
 
Last Time Out
Faulkner stole the ball from a driving Golden Grizzly with under  three seconds remaining and was fouled. He calmly sank both free throws to secure NKU's 73-70 win over Oakland. Faulkner had 21 point for the Norse, joining Walton with a 20-point showing as Walton poured in 23 points and hauled in 11 caroms for his fourth double-double of the season. Sharpe added 15 points and four assists, while Nelson contributed six points, 11 rebounds and a career-best five assists. NKU outrebounded Oakland, 39-34, which included 23 offensive rebounds that led to a 21-12 advantage in second-chance scoring. The Norse also turned the ball over just four times in the game and had 18 assists.
 
Scouting Detroit Mercy
Detroit Mercy is 6-18 on the year and 4-7 in Horizon League play, but owns a 66-58 win over the Norse in the first meeting. The Titans have been streaky in the win-loss column in league play, starting 1-4 before winning 3-of-4. But, the Titans are now on a two-game skid. Antoine Davis is the nation's third-leading scorer at 23.6 point per game and is joined in double figures by Justin Miller (10.4). Chris Brandon leads the team in rebounding, pulling down 7.8 boards an outing. The Titans are one of the nation's best free-throw shooting teams as well, converting 79.5 percent to rank fourth.
 
Series Stuff
Detroit Mercy snapped Northern Kentucky's seven-game win streak in the series when the teams met earlier this season in Detroit, pulling out a 66-58 decision. NKU still owns an 8-2 all-time mark and is 4-1 in BB&T Arena.
 
NKU led early in the first meeting, 9-0 and then 16-4, but gave up 14-unanswered points to let Detroit Mercy back into the game. Northern Kentucky settled and took a 27-26 advantage into intermission. After Tate scored the first basket of the second half, the Titans rattled off an 11-2 run and never trailed after that. NKU shot 33 percent (19-of-57) from the floor and 27 percent (7-of-26) from three, but allowed UDM to make 49 percent (25- of-51) of its field goals despite limiting it to 27 percent (4-of-15) from three. The Norse forced more turnovers (20-15), but were edged in points off the miscues, 23-14. Adham Eleeda tallied a career-high 14 points to pace Northern Kentucky; Faulkner and Tate also reached double figures with 13 and 11, respectively.