Slow Start, Slow Finish Doom Norse
The Northern Kentucky men’s basketball team lost its second straight Horizon League game Saturday night, 68-53, at the hands of the visiting Oakland Grizzlies (6-12, 3-4 HL). The 15-point loss, in which the Norse trailed wire-to-wire, levels their season record at 9-9 (4-3 HL).
The reigning Horizon League champions swept into Truist Arena on the heels of their own two game slide, with recent losses to conference foes Wright State and Robert Morris. Head coach Greg Kampe may not have the same Oakland squad back this season that dipped two round s deep into last year’s NCAA Tournament, with multiple players either transferring to power conference schools or signing pro contracts.
What Kampe does have is a talented squad that weathered the onslaught of a brutal non-conference road schedule prior to rolling into Highland Heights. In typical Kampe “Iron sharpens iron” fashion, his team took to the road early on and tested their mettle against the likes of Michigan, Boise State, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan State, Oregon State, Hawaii and Arkansas…all high-major conference programs that have a cumulative record of 96-32 (.750) as of this writing. Of those eight teams, seven of them were either ranked in the Top 25 or receiving votes in the Top 25 poll.
The Norse were sluggish out of the gate, trailing 15-6 at the 15:20 mark of the first half. Senior guard Hubie Pivorius threaded a three-pointer at 13:37 to trim the Oakland lead down to three, 15-12. But after a long series of missed three-pointers, missed free throws and turnover, the Grizzlies pounced on their opportunities and dragged the lead out to 17 (39-22) with under five minutes left in the half.
As the first half closed out, the Norse managed to whittle the lead down to nine on the strength of quick layups by junior forward LJ Wells and senior guard Sam Vinson, as well as a timely trey and a pair of late free throws by grad transfer Josh Dilling that left the score at 41-32 to end the half.
The second kicked off in grand fashion for the Norse, as junior post Keeyan Itejere swiped the ball free from Oakland guard DQ Cole and zipped down the floor for a thunderous dunk. At the 13:30 mark, senior wing Trey Robinson unleashed a jumper that found its mark to shrink the Norse deficit to six. The Grizzlies responded quickly and in less than two minutes they doubled their lead to 12 (53-41), immediately after the scheduled 12:00 mark media timeout.
The Norse were able to close the gap to seven at 9:27 (53-45), but Oakland’s depth and NKU’s poor shooting allowed the game to spiral far out of reach as the Grizzlies’ lead blossomed to 20 with just over 4:00 left in the contest.
Vinson (11 points/2 assists) and Dilling (10 points/3 rebounds/3 assists) led the way for the Norse, who shot just 36.4% from the field, 24.1% from behind the arc and 50% from the charity stripe on the night.
3 Key Stats That Plagued NKU?
Second Chance Points:
- NKU 15, Oakland 29 (-14 points)
Rebounds:
- NKU 27, Oakland 42 (-15 rebounds)
Free Throws:
- NKU 50%, Oakland 91.7% (-41.7% efficiency)
Norse Points To Ponder:
- Guard Sam Vinson continues to log the most per-game minutes (33.8) of his career, despite tearing his ACL one-third the way through last season. This is a pretty brisk recovery for an athlete who suffered a severe knee injury and plays with the intensity and athleticism that he has shown his four years in a Norse jersey. That said, here’s to hoping the Norse can start scoring some points in their upcoming games so the Ft. Thomas, Ky. native can save his best for the end of the season.
- Forward LJ Wells, who many around the Horizon League felt may be NKU’s “X Factor” this season after a substantial increase in playing time and production from his freshman to sophomore campaign, showed mature shot selection from the field. The 6’8” junior shot 67% from the floor in his 21 minutes of action, while also logging 2 steals and 2 rebounds.
- Guard Josh Dilling continues to show he’s not afraid to pull the trigger from deep, on his way to scoring 10 on the night. The grad transfer from Northern State averages just under 12 points per game, is second in the Horizon League in three-point percentage (40.1%), ranks in the top 15 in assists and has scored in double figures in 11 contests this season.
- Wing Trey Robinson, the returning Horizon League Defensive Player of the Year, has been nothing short of sensational this season but had a rare rough night Saturday against the Grizzlies. The Hamilton, Oh. native was 2-for-10 from the field in his 30 minutes of play, accounting for 5 points, 6 rebounds and a pair of steals.
- Forward/Center Key Itejere posted 7 rebounds and averages 5.5 boards per game. The Marquette transfer is shooting 49% from the floor after logging a blistering 69.4% last season. While this looks like substantial regression on the surface, the big man has been working to extend his shooting range this season as he attempts more shots away from the rim.
- Where has freshman center Paulius Rapolis’ playing time gone? The Lithuanian 7-footer from the famed IMG Academy was showing promise early in the season and even had his best showing of the season in his 12 minutes against a tough Purdue team. But he’s played less than a grand total of 20 minutes in the last six games…a tough look for a team that got decimated on the boards Saturday night.
The last time the Norse signed a well-known 7-foot post (Chris Vogt), he received little to no playing time at NKU, transferred to Cincinnati and then Wisconsin which developed him into a pro prospect, and he now plays professionally in Europe.
- The distribution of minutes Saturday night had a new wrinkle to it…
- Despite having only played 45 minutes all season, sophomore forward Cesar Tchilombo logged 14 minutes of playing time against Oakland. In his 14 minutes, he was called for 3 personal fouls but had no other statistics.
- Junior guard Dan Gherezgher played 9 minutes, his longest stint on the court since December 15 when he played 13 minutes in the Norse win over Norfolk State. The transfer from Michigan Tech has struggled in his transition from Division II, after starting the first three games of the season. Saturday he accounted for 2 assists and a rebound in the Norse loss.
The Norse have a short break before travelling to conference-leading Cleveland State (12-6, 6-1 HL) on January 15. If the transitive property theory applies in collegiate sports, CSU and NKU share a common opponent in Oakland this season…the Vikings dismantled the Grizzlies in December, 92-75.
Tipoff for the NKU/CSU game is slated for 7:00pm EST in the Wolstein Center.
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