One star leaves, another stays, and one more returns
After Northern Kentucky’s exit in the semi-finals of the Horizon League Tournament at the hands of Milwaukee, the prevailing opinion was that the top two Norse stars, Marques Warrick and Trey Robinson, would use their extra year and seek out opportunities in the transfer portal. Given their service the NKU and accolades (Warrick was a multi-year all-leaguer and Robinson won Defensive Player of the Year last season), they could have been handsomely rewarded with power-conference offers, which, in this day and age, would have included NIL money.
As expected, Warrick did make his way into the portal, and almost as quickly, found himself a new home, ironically with a team helmed by an old foe. Dennis Gates, the current head coach at Missouri and former CSU coach, added ex-rival Warrick to his roster in Columbia. Given that Gates found early success at Mizzou with Horizon League transfer, having Warrick at his disposal is a callback he hopes will net similar results.
While Warrick’s departure from Northern Kentucky was a virtual certainty, Robinson’s future, initially, was a bit murkier. He did, however, clear that up pretty succinctly, announcing that rather than hitting the portal, he’d return to NKU defend his conference defensive player crown.
Robinson’s return isn’t the only major roster news for the Norse this upcoming season. Sam Vinson, who served as a key multi-tooled part of coach Darrin Horn’s lineup, will also be coming back, after being sidelined for most of last season due to a knee injury.
While Robinson and Vinson are the two main cogs in the NKU machine, Horn has plenty of other major pieces coming back as well. And with the addition of not one, but two Division II transfers, something Horn has had success with the last two seasons, the Norse are poised to once again make some noise, something that has been true throughout Northern Kentucky’s tenure in the conference and beyond.
“I do think there’s a long-standing tradition at NKU of winning and advancing in March that goes back to even before we were Division I,” Horn said at Horizon League Media Day. “I think our players understand that and value it and want to live up to it.”
Lineup
Sam Vinson – Back from his injury, Vinson will be looked upon as the primary playmaker for NKU, now that Warrick has left for Missouri. Before going down, he was already on pace for a career high in scoring (13.3 ppg) and rebounding (5.1 rpg), and above his average in assists. Vinson had always been just as comfortable running the point as he was shooting the basket, but with Warrick gone, he’ll be asked to shoulder considerably more of the load. And he’ll get all the opportunities to do so in this campaign.
Trey Robinson – The trio of Robinson, Warrick and Vinson were synonymously with NKU’s string of success under Horn. With Vinson out last season, Robinson was up to the task of compensating for the loss, notching a career high 11.7 points per game and grabbing seven boards per contest. As the defending Defensive Player of the Year, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he also averaged 1.8 steals per game as well. He’ll be gunning to repeat at the Horizon League’s top defensive player, while also remaining an offensive weapon.
Keeyan Itejere – If there was a highlight dunk during a Northern Kentucky game, you can be sure it was probably Itejere who did it. And with Robinson, he was one of the Norse’s main rebounders, which is all the more reason that when he was hampered by a leg injury down the stretch, NKU was also hampered as well, especially in the semifinals of the Horizon League Tournament. Now that he’s back healthy, Itejere will once again be critical to the Norse’s effectiveness in the frontcourt.
LJ Wells – Horn has long prided himself in providing an environment for his players to develop over the course of their college career. Key examples of this include, of course, Warrick, Robinson and Vinson. Wells can be pointed to as another good example of this, working his way into NKU’s rotation as a freshman and last year, finding himself starting 27 games. He was also second on the team in rebounds, pulling down 5.5 boards a game. This season, he will join Itejere and Robinson as both an offensive option and defensive presence in the paint.
Randall Pettus II – Rock Star Randy, as he’s called, was one of two freshman (the other being Jeremiah Israel, which we’ll talk about next), who took on bigger roles in the rotation when Vinson went down. Pettus, who was named to the Horizon League All-Freshman team, was used primarily as the sixth man, although he did notch five starts last season. He’s most noted, though, for his clutch offensive board in the second round of the Horizon League tournament against Wright State that forced overtime and shifted the moment in the Norse’ favor.
Jeremiah Israel – Like Pettus, Israel was called upon to fill some of the void left in Vinson’s absence, though it should be noted that his career-high 15 points against Eastern Kentucky was before Vinson was injured. Still, Israel remained part of the NKU’s core rotation, even starting twice. He will continue to be a key part of the rotation for this campaign.
Hubie Pivorius – The Lithuanian sharpshooter has returned to Highland Heights after redshirting with an injury last season. And while competition for a spot in the backcourt rotation will be fierce, if there’s a three-pointer to be made, there’s no doubt it’s Pivorius Horn will call on the make it happen.
Daniel Gherezgher – As mentioned, given how well things went with Horn’s previous D2 transfer, Xavier Rhodes (2022-23) and Michael Bradley, Jr. (2023-24), he wasn’t going to pass up on the opportunity to snag another Division II player, this time the Michigan Tech standout Gherezgher. Last season, his 15 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game were good enough to land him on the All-GLIAC second team. Unlike Rhodes and Bradley, who were only Norse for a year, Gherezgher has two years of eligibility left, so he has some room to develop even more.
Josh Dilling II – Not content with signing on one D2 star, Horn went in that direction again and brought Dilling on board. The former Northern State player was on the radar of multiple Division I schools, including a couple of NKU’s rivals. And it’s little wonder why. He averaged 19.8 points, 5.2 boards and 4.7 dimes as a junior last season at NSU, making him one of the more sought-after D2 players in the portal. At Northern Kentucky, he should serve as the perfect complement to Vinson in the backcourt and like Pettus, Israel and Gherezgher, will provide even more firepower to the guard position.
Cesar Tchilombo – The redshirt sophomore was used sparingly at the beginning of last season but saw more time in the frontcourt after the departure of Cade Meyer. This season, he will be looking to prove that he can be a part of the rotation, and with the Norse being rather thin at the forward position, he may well get the chance.
Paulius Rapolis – When Immanuel Zorgvol transferred to Youngstown State, Horn no longer had a seven-footer on his roster. In May, he fixed that, signing Lithuanian Paulius Rapolis, whose most recent stop was at the IMG Academy. He averaged a double-double last year with IMG, scoring 11 and grabbing 10 rebounds per game. As a freshman, naturally, his role in the rotation will depend on how quickly get can acclimate to the Northern Kentucky system and how he develops his skills as a player.
Outlook
For NKU, it’s a tale in two parts. The first part is the backcourt, and the Norse sport one of the strongest rotations in the Horizon League. Vinson is already a star, Pettus is poised to be a star in the making, and Dilling and Gherezgher are likely to make a huge impact.
The second part is the frontcourt, and while Robinson, Wells and Itejere are solid, the rotation itself is rather thin. And with size becoming more of a factor in the conference, Northern Kentucky may run into some trouble when faced with some of the bigger teams in the league, such as Green Bay and the aforementioned Penguins.
However, there’s nothing to suggest that the frontcourt will deter the Norse from fighting for the top spot in the Horizon League this season, much as they have for nearly the entire time that they have been a part of the conference. That said, Purdue Fort Wayne, Milwaukee, the team that bested NKU in the conference tourney semifinals thanks to a strong frontcourt, and the rest of the top HL teams stand in the Norse’s way.
