The NKU men’s basketball team began their 2025-26 campaign on Monday night looking to make a statement to start the season. Make a statement they did as the Norse won in resounding fashion, 126-69, against the UC Clermont Cougars. This was the first time NKU hit the century mark in a game since a match-up with this very Cougars team in 2019. The 126 points tallied by NKU tied a program record for points recorded in a game.
NKU was able to get out to a hot start thanks to newcomer and graduate transfer Kael Robinson. Robinson had eight of the team’s first 13 points behind two perimeter makes and a put back layup to give the Norse a 13-5 lead at the first media timeout. The Cougars would continue to feel the onslaught as Robinson and freshman point guard Ethan Elliot combined for 10 of the next 17 points on the way to a 30-8 advantage for the Norse just eight minutes into the game.
The returners for NKU put their stamp on the game over the next stretch as LJ Wells and Dan Gherzgher showed why they are looked at as leaders for this team. They scored a majority of NKU’s points over the next four minute stretch in multiple ways, finding success making contested layups, and shots from behind the arc. The Norse led 41-15 as eight minutes remaining in the half drew near.
Northern Kentucky continued to show their depth as graduate transfer Tae Dozier joined the scoring festivities, scoring 8 of the Norse’s next 16 points. The half would not end before another made three-pointer from Kael Robinson, he shot 4-5 in the half from deep, and had 16 of his 22 points in the opening half. Robinson said after the game that his impressive start in his first regular season game with the Norse came from the push from the coaches.
“It comes from the coaching staff telling me to be aggressive, shooting the ball and they made it easy for us.” Robinson said. The Norse led 63-28 at the half and never looked back. They scored an identical 63 in the second half. That was something that impressed head coach Darrin Horn.
“Really what you’re looking for is can your team stay focused? Not only when they come out, but we got up very big early very quickly and can they stay focused on playing the game the right way? And I thought by and large, we did a really nice job of that tonight.” Horn said. The one thing the Cougars had going on the night was freshman guard Austin Southerland who had 18 of the team’s 28 first half points and poured in 25 points overall for the game as he drained deep shot after deep shot, much to the amazement of the Highland Heights crowd.
One big thing the Norse had an emphasis on going into the season opener was rebounding as NKU is a little more undersized than usual. Senior LJ Wells said he took the responsibility of setting the tone on the boards on his shoulders.
“I feel like I got to be an aggressor and I got to be physical. So coming out and doing that from the beginning is super important to set that tone and just moving forward being consistent with that. Head coach Darrin Horn echoed those sentiments, saying he noticed Wells and the team as a whole getting rebounds, especially on offense. “That’s going to be really important for us. That’s an effort, that’s a focus, that’s a toughness thing.” Horn said.
NKU moves on and sets their sight on upcoming road match-ups with their next two games being on the road, the first of which being a contest with Tennessee on Saturday.
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