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#1 |
Epic Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 1,602
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Northern Kentucky
Sunday, November 19th, 2023
2:00 PM Fifth Third Arena ESPN+ The Bearcats (3-0, KenPom #51) end their week-long break with a visit from Northern Kentucky (1-2, KenPom #206) this weekend. The Norse will make the 9.4-mile trip across the Ohio River to visit Fifth Third Arena for the first time since December 4th, 2018, where the Bearcats won 78-65. NKU opened the 23/24 season with road losses at Middle Tennessee State (74-57) and Washington (75-67) before picking up a home victory against D3 Depauw on Tuesday night (85-68). Head coach Darrin Horn is in his 5th year in charge of the program and is coming off his first NCAA appearance with the Norse which produced a 63-52 first round loss to #1 seed Houston. NKU returns three starters from last year's team in 4th-year 6'2 guard Marques Warrick (18.8 ppg in 22/23), 3rd-year 6'5 guard Sam Vinson (11.8 ppg in 22/23), and 4th-year 6'6 guard Trey Robinson (7.0 ppg in 22/23). The Bearcats will eagerly look to avenge their 64-51 loss to NKU in Highland Heights last season - an affair that saw the Bearcats shoot 4-29 (13.8%) from the field in the 2nd half and 1-6 (16.7%) from the free throw line. The Norse shot 6-11 (54.5%) from beyond the arc in that game, but have struggled to find that same shooting touch in the early stages of this season where they've made just 19.3% of their 3-point attempts (6-31) against their only two D1 opponents so far. |
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#2 |
Senior Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 2,299
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NKU is pretty small, similar to us right now. 6'6" Trey Robinson may be a guard, but he's playing a lot at the 4 this year, much like Skillings. They run 6'0, 6'2, and 6'5 on the perimeter. A trio of 6'8 to 6'9 guys rotate through the interior but only average 20 minutes each. They're good on the offensive glass though, and everyone constributes.
Aside from three point shooting, their biggest weakness so far has been turnovers. They coughed it up 18 times against Middle Tennessee, and starting PG Micheal Bradley had 3 turnovers in each game. This seems like a good matchup for us. Our active perimeter defenders can exploit their weakness, and they don't have the size to take advantage of our lack of interior depth. |
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#3 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Down by river
Posts: 308
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I'll be at the game on Sunday!
Surprisingly my first game at the re-worked arena. I used to go regularly to the old place and just haven't gone for some (comfy couch) reason. A woman I'm dating is an NKU alum and surprised me with tix. Hopefully NKU doesn't get hot from three again this time. I'd say that's less likely on the UC court. |
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#4 | |
Epic Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 1,602
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Quote:
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#5 |
Epic Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 1,602
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-12.5
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#6 |
Senior Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 2,299
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We're dominating the boards as we should, and we finally started to create some turnovers in our big run to close the half.
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#7 |
Epic Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 1,602
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Probably our best performance of the young season so far.
37-17 run from the 3:00 mark of the 1st half to the 10:00 mark of the 2nd half was the difference maker. Really overwhelmed NKU with our length and athleticism. Day Day, Skillings, and Vik all had great games. Newman and Simas were both solid in complimentary roles. |
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#8 |
Senior Moderator
Join Date: Jan 2018
Posts: 2,299
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Everyone but Ody can hit shots. We can compete against good teams if we're hitting and we rebound like today.
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#9 |
Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Down by river
Posts: 308
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It was a fun game for the Cats. NKU was really struggling to get a flow. Skillings was Johnny on the spot multiple times. I'll take that!
I am a bit surprised they aren't working to create more open threes for Frederick. He needs more attempts, but doesn't create so well. Newman is such a bonus this season. |
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#10 | |
Epic Member
Join Date: Jan 2017
Posts: 1,602
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Quote:
He's still shooting 53.3% from 3 so far, so I appreciate that he's only taking good shots versus chucking for the sake of it like Davenport did. |
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