In the end, it was just too many injuries to overcome for the Northern Kentucky University men’s basketball team.
First it was Sam Vinson’s injury in December, Cade Meyer left the team in February and then Keeyan Itejere went down in late February and was limited from that point. On top of that, key reserve Hubertas Pivorious was unavailable all season with an injury. That’s four of what was expected to be the top 10 rotational players on the team.
The Norse’s season came to an end on Monday night with a 82-75 loss to Milwaukee in the Horizon League Conference Tournament Semifinals.
Unlike their 17-point comeback victory over Wright State in the quarterfinals, it was the Norse building a double-digit first half lead in this one on Monday in Indianapolis. NKU shot out to a 36-21 lead in the first half, but only found themselves up 38-31 at the break with the Panthers closing on a 10-2 run.
The momentum continued to shift in Milwaukee’s favor in the second half, eventually taking a 52-51 lead with 12:29 left in the game. That started an 11-3 Milwaukee run and the Panthers didn’t relinquish the lead from there.
Trey Robinson did all he could to keep the Norse in it, playing in what is most likely his last game in a Norse uniform, he finished with 33 points and nine rebounds, hitting 11-of-19 shots from the field, 3-of-5 from three and 8-of-9 from the free throw line.
LJ Wells followed with 15 points and six rebounds, Michael Bradley with 14 points, nine assists and just one turnover.
Along with Robinson, Marques Warrick also most likely played his last game in a Norse uniform. The most decorated player in program history will finish his career with 2,246 points.
Warrick, Robinson and Bradley are the three seniors on the team. In the days of the transfer portal and NIL, it’s a hard gauge of who returns and who doesn’t next season in Highland Heights.
In their 10th season as a Division I program, NKU has made the conference semifinals for six straight seasons and won the Horizon League conference tournament four times.