Horizon League play means it’s the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team’s time to shine.
With their new uniforms and on the court.
It’s the first of 20 games in league play, but the Norse wearing their new cream colored uniforms, responded like this game was a little different than the first six played to date this season.
The Norse opened up conference play action with Robert Morris, sending the Colonials home with a 77-59 defeat Wednesday night at Truist Arena in Highland Heights.
After a sloppy first half in which the two teams combined for 18 turnovers and 22-of-53 shooting, the Norse led 29-23 at the break. NKU (4-3, 1-0) got going in transition in the second half and scorched the nets by hitting 72% from the field, outscoring the Colonials 48-36 in the game’s final 20 minutes.
“That was the most complete game that we’ve played from start to finish and in terms of the number of guys that contributed at a level that they’re capable of playing,” Norse coach Darrin Horn said.
Marques Warrick led with a game-high 25 points, knocking down 9-of-13 shots from the field and getting three steals defensively. Warrick had 14 of the Norse’s 29 points in the first half, often times a defensive play leading to offense.
“That’s our team energy right there. Getting deflections, getting steals and that’s what we want to do is get out in transition from it,” Warrick said.
Knotted at 33 after a sluggish start to the second half as the Colonials (2-5, 0-1) went on a 10-4 run, Horn elected to let his team play through it and it paid dividends. They responded with a 24-4 run of their own to break the game open and take a 57-37 lead.
“Our biggest challenge in terms of playing well win or lose has been consistency. Throughout the game both individually and as a team at some point, you got to play through those things,” Horn said. “So I felt good about how they were during that stretch even though it wasn’t going well. To our guys credit, they did a good job of responding, which started on the defensive end and then we were able to get out in transition.”
Robert Morris could get no closer than 15 from there with the Norse leading by as much as 23 to take the conference opener for both teams.
Sam Vinson added 15 points, 13 of them coming in the second half. Cade Meyer chipped in 10, going a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and adding two blocked shots. Meyer is looking more comfortable in his role with each passing game after transferring over from conference foe Green Bay.
“Just trying to bring a spark,” Meyer said. “Getting more comfortable with the defense, I feel like that is the biggest thing for me because I know we can play at our best when we’re getting stops. I’ve played in this league for two years now and now I’m at a better program. I’m happy to be here, great group of guys that have been great to me and helping me get better. Definitely getting a lot more comfortable here.”
Michael Bradley’s floor game is what got the Norse going in transition. Recently taking on a bench role over the last three games as LJ Wells has been inserted into the starting lineup, Bradley tallied nine assists with just one turnover and chipped in seven points. Over Bradley’s last three games, he’s collected 17 assists to three turnovers.
“Teammates are in the right position,” Bradley said. “My job is to make their job easier. We have amazing scorers on this team. Just put them in position to score the ball and do what they got to do. I feel like that’s what we did. We got out in transition a lot and I feel like that helped a lot. Got a lot of stops on defense and just being able to run and play our game.”
The Norse have now won three straight to get over .500 for the first time in the young season, holding the Colonials to 34% shooting and 4-of-22 from the 3-point line. Leading scorer Josh Corbin came in averaging a shade over 16 points per game, but was held to nine points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field.
“Our veteran guys, when they do a good job of emphasizing those things, not only doing the right things, but talking during a possession to help everybody else through it. It makes a big difference and we’re gonna go as those guys go,” Horn said. “They’ve got the experience in these games and they understood league play started tonight and I thought we saw that response from them.”
Markeese Hastings led the Colonials with 14 points, who were a little shorthanded without TJ Wainright, the guard coming in averaging 12.7 points per game.
NKU will look to make it four wins in a row when they hit the road for their second conference game of the season at IUPUI on Saturday at noon.
New digs
The Norse broke out new uniforms on Tuesday evening, a cream color look with Norse in cursive lettering.
“The creams are nice. Appreciate the higher ups approving those. The important thing about that is the players love them,” Horn said.
Rings
The first 500 fans in attendance received a conference tournament and NCAA appearance replica ring. Tuesday’s attendance was over 2,700 people.
