# 2021–22 Northern Kentucky Norse men's basketball team

The 2021–22 Northern Kentucky Norse men's basketball team represented Northern Kentucky University in the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Norse, led by third-year head coach Darrin Horn, played their home games at BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, Kentucky as members of the Horizon League.
This was the final season in which the Norse's home was known as BB&T Arena. In 2020, the arena's sponsor BB&T merged with SunTrust to create Truist Financial. However, the merged company did not start branding its Kentucky locations with the new corporate name until late 2021. On April 5, 2022, the venue was officially renamed Truist Arena.

## Previous season

The Norse finished the 2020–21 season 14–11, 11–7 in Horizon League play to finish in fourth place. In the Horizon League tournament, they defeated Detroit Mercy in quarterfinals, before losing to Oakland in the semifinals.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| November 4, 2021* 7:00 pm | | Lake Erie | W 75–64 | – | BB&T Arena Highland Heights, KY |
| Regular season ||||||
| November 9, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Wheeling | W 82–54 | 1–0 | Truist Arena (2,146) Highland Heights, KY |
| November 12, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | UNC Greensboro | L 69–70 $^{OT}$ | 1–1 | Truist Arena (2,489) Highland Heights, KY |
| November 18, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Eastern Michigan Blue Demon Classic | W 74–73 | 2–1 | BB&T Arena (2,220) Highland Heights, KY |
| November 22, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Western Illinois Blue Demon Classic | L 67–69 | 2–2 | BB&T Arena (2,065) Highland Heights, KY |
| November 26, 2021* 5:00 pm, FS2 | | at DePaul Blue Demon Classic | L 68–77 | 2–3 | Wintrust Arena (2,465) Chicago, IL |
| December 2, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Cleveland State | L 58–72 | 2–4 (0–1) | Wolstein Center (1,729) Cleveland, OH |
| December 4, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Purdue Fort Wayne | L 57–71 | 2–5 (0–2) | Allen County War Memorial Coliseum (1,143) Fort Wayne, IN |
| December 8, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Canisius | W 75–62 | 3–5 | BB&T Arena (2,235) Highland Heights, KY |
| December 12, 2021* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Alice Lloyd | W 91–55 | 4–5 | BB&T Arena (1,897) Highland Heights, KY |
| December 18, 2021* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Eastern Kentucky | L 68–81 $^{OT}$ | 4–6 | McBrayer Arena (3,057) Richmond, KY |
| December 22, 2021* 7:00 pm, BTN | | at Indiana | L 61–79 | 4–7 | Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall (12,497) Bloomington, IN |
| December 30, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Green Bay | W 79-74 | 5–7 (1–2) | BB&T Arena (2,384) Highland Heights, KY |
| January 1, 2022 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Milwaukee | L 55–61 | 5–8 (1–3) | BB&T Arena (2,365) Highland Heights, KY |
| January 6, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | IUPUI | Canceled due to COVID-19 protocols | Canceled due to COVID-19 protocols | BB&T Arena Highland Heights, KY |
| January 8, 2022 2:00 pm, BSOH | | UIC | Canceled due to COVID-19 protocols | Canceled due to COVID-19 protocols | BB&T Arena Highland Heights, KY |
| January 10, 2022 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Wright State | Postponed to Jan. 25 due to COVID-19 protocols | Postponed to Jan. 25 due to COVID-19 protocols | BB&T Arena Highland Heights, KY |
| January 13, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Youngstown State | W 68–67 | 6–8 (2–3) | Beeghly Center (1634) Youngstown, OH |
| January 15, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Robert Morris | L 64–74 | 6–9 (2–4) | UPMC Events Center (703) Moon Township, PA |
| January 20, 2022 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at UIC | W 74–70 $^{OT}$ | 7–9 (3–4) | Credit Union 1 Arena (2,024) Chicago, IL |
| January 22, 2022 12:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at IUPUI | W 60–41 | 8–9 (4–4) | Indiana Farmers Coliseum (795) Indianapolis, IN |
| January 25, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Wright State Rescheduled from January 10 | W 73–63 | 9–9 (5–4) | BB&T Arena (2421) Highland Heights, KY |
| January 28, 2022 7:00 pm, BSOH | | Purdue Fort Wayne | W 59–49 | 10–9 (6–4) | BB&T Arena (2,563) Highland Heights, KY |
| January 30, 2022 12:00 pm, BSOH | | Cleveland State | W 78–72 | 11–9 (7–4) | BB&T Arena (1993) Highland Heights, KY |
| February 4, 2022 7:00 pm, BSOH | | Oakland | W 87–78 $^{OT}$ | 12–9 (8–4) | BB&T Arena (2,073) Highland Heights, KY |
| February 5, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Detroit Mercy | L 68–74 | 12–10 (8–5) | BB&T Arena (3,100) Highland Heights, KY |
| February 9, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Milwaukee | W 75–39 | 13–10 (9–5) | UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena (1,931) Milwaukee, WI |
| February 11, 2022 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Green Bay | W 71–62 | 14–10 (10–5) | Kress Events Center (1,735) Green Bay, WI |
| February 13, 2022 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Wright State | W 75–71 | 15–10 (11–5) | Nutter Center (3,232) Dayton, OH |
| February 18, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Detroit Mercy | L 52–60 | 15–11 (11–6) | Calihan Hall (1,441) Detroit, MI |
| February 20, 2022 3:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Oakland | W 71–66 | 16–11 (12–6) | Athletics Center O'rena (3,505) Auburn Hills, MI |
| February 24, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Robert Morris | W 78–64 | 17–11 (13–6) | BB&T Arena (3,300) Highland Heights, KY |
| February 26, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Youngstown State | W 75–61 | 18–11 (14–6) | BB&T Arena (2,747) Highland Heights, KY |
| Horizon League tournament ||||||
| March 3, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | (3) | (6) Detroit Mercy Quarterfinals | W 77–59 | 19–11 | BB&T Arena (2,177) Highland Heights, KY |
| March 7, 2022 9:30 pm, ESPN2 | (3) | vs. (2) Purdue Fort Wayne Semifinals | W 57–43 | 20–11 | Indiana Farmers Coliseum Indianapolis, IN |
| March 8, 2022 7:00 pm, ESPN | (3) | vs. (4) Wright State Championship | L 71–72 | 20–12 | Indiana Farmers Coliseum Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern. ||||||
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