Some college basketball rivalries are so potent the teams rarely meet, for fear of destruction and bloodshed.
This is not one of those rivalries.
Still, the last two years, the Northern Kentucky/Wright State games were enormously consequential for each team’s NIT hopes. In 2018, NKU’s all-but-assured automatic bid was put in peril by twin losses to the Raiders, with only a stunning IUPUI upset of Wright State saving the Norse. Last year, it was Wright State escaping at the last gasp with a loss to NKU in the conference title game to punch their own NIT ticket.
It might not be chippy (I honestly don’t know if it is or isn’t). It might not be historic (NKU’s kind of new to Division I). But it’s important, especially for NIT fans.
Wright State enters the game with just one conference loss, a narrow road defeat at the hands of UIC. Questions have arisen about the lads from Dayton, though, while Northern Kentucky has surged following a 1-2 start to league play themselves. Dantez Walton isn’t back yet, but even so, the Norse are playing at a level we haven’t seen from them since mid-December, coupling dominant performances from Trevon Faulkner with stalwart perimeter defense. Wright State will try to speed them up tonight, hoping Loudon Love will feast on NKU’s uninspiring big men. Watch for NKU to send him to the line with frequency, a territory in which he’s struggled to convert.
This is just the first matchup between these two this year. There’s a lot of time before their end-of-February showdown in Highland Heights. The stakes are not low, though. If Wright State can hold serve in the Nutter Center, they’ll have room for error on next weekend’s Wisconsin road trip. If NKU steals it, they’ll go home with the head-to-head advantage in a tied race for the regular-season crown.
All eyes on ESPNU.
All eyes on Nutter.
