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Northern Kentucky (20-6, 10-3 Horizon) at Wright State (15-11, 9-4 Horizon) – 9:00 PM EST (ESPNU)
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day takes us to Dayton, Ohio – the Wright State Raiders play host to the Northern Kentucky Norse in a 1-2 matchup in the Horizon League. Last season, it was NKU that won the regular season crown, but after a wild conference tournament that saw the Norse get upset early, Wright State ended up winning the league’s auto bid to the NCAA Tournament. This season, NKU won the first matchup 68-64 in their home arena. NKU’s Drew McDonald is only 74 points away from being the second player in program history to reach the 2,000-point career mark and 81 points away from being the all-time leading scorer in NKU history.
Wright State has won seven of their last eight games; they are a game behind NKU for first place and one game ahead of Illinois-Chicago in the standings. However, UIC has swept their season series from the Raiders and has denied them a shot at a share of the conference lead (and therefore gives the Norse a tiebreaker edge should UIC finish 3rd in the standings). Loudon Love leads the Raiders with 15 points per game and 8.3 rebounds per game.
NEWS AND NOTES
– Gonzaga had their first real test in the WCC last night during their game at Loyola Marymount; the Lions were able to keep their game close for the first 36 minutes of the game before the Zags finally pulled away in the final four minutes.
– Illinois continues to take a wrecking ball to the rest of the Big 10; they won at Ohio State last night for their first win in Columbus in a decade. It’s not a fatal loss for the Buckeyes, but they are still far from feeling safely in the field.
– For other UTR programs, it was a big night for Furman and Omaha. Furman was able to beat UNC-Greensboro at home and ended up getting a season split with the Spartans in the SoCon. Omaha hit a shot from the baseline as the clock expired in regulation to give them a win against South Dakota State and are now a half-game behind the Jackrabbits in the Summit League.
– While Omaha did beat the clock, Austin Peay did not. They had a shot to send their game against Murray State to send their game to overtime, but the ball was in the shooter’s hand as the clock expired. This now leaves Belmont and Murray State alone on top of the OVC standings.
– Shout out to Chad Sherwood for highlighting Youngstown State’s fifth win in a row – this is the first time they’ve ever done so in the Horizon League. The Penguins are suddenly 7-7 in conference play.
– Arizona has now lost six straight after blowing a late lead against Utah. The Wildcats have not had this long of a losing streak since the 1983-84 season. That was also the first season of Lute Olson’s distinguished tenure at Arizona.
HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-BUFFALO AT TOLEDO (MAC). This normally would have been the UTR Game of the Day, but Buffalo remains on the radar and in the Top 25. For the Bulls, this is probably their last shot at a Quadrant 1 victory for the season. For the Rockets, this is their opportunity to join the leaders atop the MAC.
-HARVARD AT PRINCETON (Ivy League). Both teams are tied for second place, and Harvard will be looking for at least one road win in the vaunted Princeton-Penn roadie this weekend.
-SOUTH ALABAMA AT GEORGIA STATE (Sun Belt). Georgia State is a game behind Texas State in the standings, but cannot overlook a challenge from the Jags tonight.
-DARTMOUTH AT PENN (Ivy League). The Quakers finally return to the Palestra – they (like Princeton) will play six of their final eight league games at home. Consequently, they have no margin for error tonight.
-SAINT JOSEPH’S AT DAVIDSON (A-10). Davidson exhausted whatever margin of error they had with their loss at UMass last weekend. We’ll see if they’re able to rebound against a Saint Joe’s team that is battling through injuries this season that have probably hurt their team more than anyone else in the league.
-YALE AT COLUMBIA (Ivy League). The Bulldogs lead the Ivy and shouldn’t have too much trouble at Columbia tonight.
-MONMOUTH AT RIDER (MAAC). The Broncs have melted down with a 5-game losing streak, but a win tonight vaults them back into the picture for the #1 seed in the MAAC and would bring Monmouth back to the pack as well.
-BROWN AT CORNELL (Ivy League). This is a winnable game for Cornell, but they best not be looking ahead to an even bigger game with Yale tomorrow night.