Northern Kentucky to open against Houston, the second overall No. 1 seed in the NCAA bracket
Northern Kentucky, one of the commonwealth’s two entries in this year’s men’s NCAA Tournament field along with Kentucky, will start its title quest Thursday against Houston in Birmingham, Alabama.
The Norse, the Horizon League Tournament champions, earned a 16 seed and will face the 1-seeded Cougars in the first round, it was announced Sunday night. Houston is the tournament’s second overall No. 1 seed.
Northern Kentucky (22-12, 14-6) played its way into the field by defeating Cleveland State 63-61 in the Horizon League championship game on Tuesday night in Indianapolis.
“You get down the road a little bit in this business, and you’re happy for your players, you’re happy for your fans, you’re happy for your university,” NKU head coach Darrin Horn said after the title game. “You know the impact being in the NCAA Tournament has in terms of exposure and bringing people together and creating excitement and pride in your school and your program.”
Next up is Houston, ranked second in the final Associated Press Top 25 poll of the season. The Cougars (31-3) lost 75-65 to Memphis in the American Athletic Conference Tournament championship game on Sunday.
“Our goal is to try to repeat what we did here in terms of how we want to play,” Horn said just after the league tournament. “To me, item number one is, can your team play its best in how it needs to play to be good, above and beyond any matchup? Obviously, we’re going to have a really difficult matchup. … The important thing is can we get our guys to play their best. And for us that starts with being aggressive on both ends, and we’ll just see what happens.”
NKU’s school colors are black and gold, but there’s a ton of Bluegrass connections on the Norse roster.
They are coached by Horn, a former Tates Creek and Western Kentucky standout. Their leading scorer is former Henry Clay star Marques Warrick, a second-team Horizon League selection for the second straight season. Trevon Faulkner, who played at Mercer County, was the league’s Sixth Man of the Year. And Sam Vinson, a former Highlands standout, was voted a third-team Horizon League selection and was named to the league’s All-Defensive Team.
Warrick, a 6-2 junior guard, averages 19.1 points per game and shoots 39.1% from three-point range. Vinson, a 6-5 sophomore guard, is second in scoring, averaging 11.7 points to go with 2.4 steals. And Faulkner, a 6-4 fifth-year guard, contributes 8.6 points and 2.8 rebounds.
In all, half of the Norse’s 16-player roster are Kentuckians. The other five are 6-4 sophomore guard Isaiah Mason (Bowling Green), 5-10 freshman guard Mitchel Minor (Scott), 5-11 freshman guard Cole Sherman (St. Xavier), 6-1 junior guard Jake Evans (Male) and 7-1 junior center Noah Hupman (Covington Catholic).
Xavier Rhodes, from Lee’s Summit, Mo., averages a team-best 3.7 assists along with 7.7 points, and Chris Brandon, from Houston, Texas, leads the way with 9.8 rebounds in addition to 6.8 points.
Northern Kentucky’s 14-6 league record tied for second behind Youngstown State at 15-5. Some of the Norse’s biggest games of its non-conference schedule included a 79-57 home loss against Kent State (Quad 2), a 64-51 home win against Cincinnati (Quad 2), an 82-69 neutral site loss to Toledo (Quad 2), a 68-47 loss at Washington State (Quad 1) and a 67-52 loss at Florida Atlantic (Quad 1).
This is Northern Kentucky’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament with Horn, though his first squad in 2019-20 had qualified before the COVID pandemic canceled the event.
“It’s huge (to be back in the NCAA Tournament),” Horn said. “One of hardest things that I’ve ever been a part of as a coach was having to tell that group that the tournament’s canceled, you’re not going to get to play in it. … It was a major kick in the gut at the time. We’re just thankful to be a part of it.”
Horn, who has a 74-40 record at NKU, previously was the head coach at Western Kentucky (111-48) and South Carolina (60-63). He has reached the NCAA Sweet 16 once as a player with WKU in 1992-93 and once as the head coach at WKU in 2007-08.
Northern Kentucky’s tournament opener
No. 16 seed Northern Kentucky vs. No. 1 seed Houston
What: NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional
When: About 9:20 p.m. Thursday
Where: Birmingham, Ala.
TV: TNT
Records: Northern Kentucky 22-12, Houston 31-3
ABOUT HOUSTON
Location: Houston, Texas
Enrollment: 47,035
Nickname: Cougars
School colors: Scarlet and White
Head coach: Kelvin Sampson (230-72 in 10 seasons at Houston and 655-299 in 30 seasons overall)
Conference: American Athletic
NCAA berth: At-large (Houston finished first in the American Athletic regular season and lost to No. 2 seed Memphis in the championship game of the conference tournament)
All-time series: First meeting
Common opponents with Northern Kentucky this season: Houston beat Kent State 49-44 on Nov. 26 and Cincinnati 72-59 on Jan. 8, 75-69 on Jan. 28 and 69-48 on March. 11. Northern Kentucky lost to Kent State 79-57 on Nov. 7 and beat Cincinnati 64-51 on Nov. 16.
Notable games this season: Houston defeated NCAA Tournament teams Oral Roberts, Texas Southern, Kent State, St. Mary’s, Virginia and Memphis and lost to Alabama and Memphis.
