Avoid First Losing Season Since 2015-16
Peaking at the tail end of the regular season has become a bit of a tradition during the Division I era in Highland Heights, a rite of passage if you will, for those faithful to the NKU men’s basketball team.
On Saturday afternoon in Northern Kentucky University’s Truist Arena, the Norse (16-15, 11-9 HL) clipped Youngstown State University, 88-79, to end their 2024-25 regular season on a four-game win streak. The win also kept the Penguins (19-12, 13-7) from securing their 20th win of the regular season, a feat they successfully achieved the past two seasons.
The regular season finale win – which took place on the program’s annual Senior Day – came on the heels of consecutive wins over Purdue Fort Wayne, IU-Indianapolis and Wright State. All told, the Norse have won seven of their last nine games, dating back to their February 1 win on defending Horizon League champion Oakland’s home court.
NKU head coach Darrin Horn had this to say about his senior players after the home win:
“We’ve got really special dudes, man. We’ve got really high, high level dudes…these are guys who’ve given so much to our program and they’ve been about winning, and about each other. They’ve all gotten better and they’ve all grown as people…and we are nothing without our players.”
Saturday afternoon, senior guards Trey Robinson and Josh Dilling both set the scoreboard on fire, while the Norse also received substantial contributions from senior guard Sam Vinson, junior guard Dan Gherezgher and senior post Keeyan Itejere.
Robinson poured in 24 points while adding 7 rebounds and an assist to his game resume’, while Dilling hit 7-of-14 from deep to lend 23 points to the winning effort, in addition to snaring 5 boards and adding 2 assists.
Vinson added a gritty performance with his 14 points, 3 boards and 6 assists on the day, and spent much of the game crashing through bodies, diving for loose balls and throwing himself in harm’s way to aid in the winning effort.
Emerging star Gherezgher continues to garner the starting nod at the point, notching 36 minutes on the court on his way to 9 points, 4 boards and 2 assists. On the surface this could be seen as an off night for the junior guard transfer from Michigan Tech, but despite the tough night from the floor (4-for-11, 1-of-4 from behind the arc) he is still averaging 15.8 points per game the past four games.
In just 20 minutes of play, Itejere was uber-efficient while scoring 12 points, shooting a perfect 6-of-6 from the field to go along with 5 boards. While junior forward LJ Wells came off the bench to eat up 29 minutes down in the paint, the Norse got a much needed big game from the big transfer from Marquette.
The recent four-game surge has not come without its share of players stepping up at the right time to play their best basketball of the season. In one way or another, all five regular starters and the first man off the bench for the Norse are playing above their season statistics during the current hot streak.
The Past Four Games – Averages:
Trey Robinson:
- 18.5 points per game – 5.5 rebounds per game – 2 assists per game
- Season Averages: 15.7 ppg – 6.1 rpg – 1.8 apg
Josh Dilling:
- 17.5 ppg – 4 rpg – 2.3 apg
- Season Averages: 12.7 ppg – 2.8 rpg – 2.7 apg
Daniel Gherezgher:
- 15.8 ppg – 3.8 rpg – 3 apg
- Season Averages: 6.8 ppg – 1.6 rpg – 1.8 apg
Sam Vinson:
- 8.8 ppg – 6.3 rpg – 4.8 apg
- Season Averages: 10.9 ppg – 4.7 rpg – 4.1 apg
Keeyan Itejere:
- 7.5 ppg – 4.5 rpg – lots of highlight dunks
- Season Averages: 7.1 ppg – 5.5 rpg – 52 blocked shots
LJ Wells:
- 8.3 ppg – 5.8 rpg – 1 apg
- Season Averages: 7.0 ppg – 5.0 rpg – 1 apg
Not only is the team winning, but over the past four games they are winning by lighting up the scoreboard at a pace far surpassing their offensive averages on the season. Coming into the recent four-game win streak, the Norse were averaging just 68.3 points per game versus their Division I opponents this season.
During the current hot streak, they are posting 79.5 points per game and seemingly have a different hero every night. The production is being spread more and more evenly, and the team – while still surrendering 74 points per game during this period – are getting key defensive stops and creating chances off turnovers at all the right times.
As it stands right now, the Norse will be receiving the 6 or 7 Seed in the upcoming Barbasol Horizon League Tournament which is slated to start on March 5th. While final pairings are still to be decided, one fact remains…the Norse are now in “win and in” territory. As they have done multiple times in the past five years, if the Norse win the upcoming conference tournament, they get a free pass to the NCAA Tournament.
While the conference title could easily be won by one of any of the top 5-6 teams in the conference, the odds-on favorite has to be Robert Morris University (23-8. 15-5). The Colonials – experiencing a phenomenal season after going 10-22 overall last season – may well be the only team in the HL hotter than the Norse, as they rode a seven game win streak on their way to winning the regular season title. Stay tuned!
