# 2018–19 Northern Kentucky Norse men's basketball team

The 2018–19 Northern Kentucky Norse men's basketball team represented Northern Kentucky University (NKU) during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Norse, led by fourth-year head coach John Brannen, played their home games at BB&T Arena in Highland Heights, Kentucky as members of the Horizon League. They finished the season 26–9, 13–5 in Horizon League play, to win a share of the regular season championship with Wright State. They defeated Detroit Mercy, Oakland, and Wright State to be champions of the Horizon League tournament. They received the Horizon League's automatic-bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Texas Tech.
During the season, forward Drew McDonald became the school's all-time career leader in both scoring and rebounds. He passed LaRon Moore's previous record of 859 rebounds in a December 8 loss to Eastern Kentucky, and passed Craig Sanders' previous record of 2,007 points in a win over Green Bay in the team's final regular-season game on March 2.

## Previous season

The Norse finished the 2017–18 season 22–10, 15–3 in Horizon League play, to win the Horizon League regular season championship. They were upset in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League tournament by No. 8 seed Cleveland State. As a regular season league champion who failed to win their league tournament, they received an automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament where they lost in the first round to Louisville.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| Oct 30, 2018* 7:00 pm | | Urbana | W 84–47 | | BB&T Arena (2,973) Highland Heights, KY |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 6, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Wilmington (OH) | W 102–38 | 1–0 | BB&T Arena (2,454) Highland Heights, KY |
| Nov 9, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Northern Illinois | W 88–85 $^{2OT}$ | 2–0 | Convocation Center (895) DeKalb, IL |
| Nov 11, 2018* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Wabash NKU Basketball Classic | W 99–59 | 3–0 | BB&T Arena (2,472) Highland Heights, KY |
| Nov 16, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | UNC Asheville NKU Basketball Classic | W 77–50 | 4–0 | BB&T Arena (2,936) Highland Heights, KY |
| Nov 17, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Manhattan NKU Basketball Classic | W 59–53 | 5–0 | BB&T Arena (3,351) Highland Heights, KY |
| Nov 18, 2018* 6:00 pm, FSOH | | Coastal Carolina NKU Basketball Classic | W 89–83 | 6–0 | BB&T Arena (2,718) Highland Heights, KY |
| Nov 24, 2018* 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at UCF | L 53–66 | 6–1 | CFE Arena (3,374) Orlando, FL |
| Nov 27, 2018* 7:30 pm, ESPN+ | | at Morehead State | W 93–71 | 7–1 | Ellis Johnson Arena (2,874) Morehead, KY |
| Nov 30, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | UMBC | W 78–60 | 8–1 | BB&T Arena (3,462) Highland Heights, KY |
| Dec 4, 2018* 7:00 pm, FSOH | | at Cincinnati | L 65–78 | 8–2 | Fifth Third Arena (11,218) Cincinnati, OH |
| Dec 8, 2018* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Eastern Kentucky | L 74–76 | 8–3 | McBrayer Arena (3,035) Richmond, KY |
| Dec 16, 2018* 7:00 pm, FSOH | | Miami (OH) | W 72–66 | 9–3 | BB&T Arena (3,100) Highland Heights, KY |
| Dec 20, 2018* 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Northern Illinois | W 65–62 | 10–3 | BB&T Arena (2,757) Highland Heights, KY |
| Horizon League regular season ||||||
| Dec 28, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | IUPUI | W 92–77 | 11–3 (1–0) | BB&T Arena (3,303) Highland Heights, KY |
| Dec 30, 2018 6:00 pm, FSOH | | UIC | W 73–58 | 12–3 (2–0) | BB&T Arena (2,923) Highland Heights, KY |
| Jan 3, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Oakland | L 74–76 | 12–4 (2–1) | Athletics Center O'rena (3,281) Auburn Hills, MI |
| Jan 5, 2019 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Detroit Mercy | W 95–73 | 13–4 (3–1) | Calihan Hall (1,241) Detroit, MI |
| Jan 11, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN2 | | Wright State Men's Basketball Alumni Night | W 68–64 | 14–4 (4–1) | BB&T Arena (5,848) Highland Heights, KY |
| Jan 17, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Cleveland State | W 91–76 | 15–4 (5–1) | Wolstein Center (866) Cleveland, OH |
| Jan 19, 2019 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Youngstown State | W 82–74 | 16–4 (6–1) | Beeghly Center (2,950) Youngstown, OH |
| Jan 24, 2019 7:00 pm | | Green Bay | W 87–65 | 17–4 (7–1) | BB&T Arena (3,257) Highland Heights, KY |
| Jan 26, 2019 7:00 pm | | Milwaukee | W 73–60 | 18–4 (8–1) | BB&T Arena (4,225) Highland Heights, KY |
| Feb 1, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at IUPUI | L 77–83 | 18–5 (8–2) | Indiana Farmers Coliseum (1,169) Indianapolis, IN |
| Feb 3, 2019 4:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at UIC | L 67–69 | 18–6 (8–3) | Credit Union 1 Arena (1,060) Chicago, IL |
| Feb 7, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Detroit Mercy | W 97–65 | 19–6 (9–3) | BB&T Arena (3,025) Highland Heights, KY |
| Feb 9, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Oakland Homecoming | W 79–64 | 20–6 (10–3) | BB&T Arena (6,792) Highland Heights, KY |
| Feb 15, 2019 9:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Wright State | L 77–81 | 20–7 (10–4) | Nutter Center (6,233) Fairborn, OH |
| Feb 21, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Youngstown State | W 76–69 | 21–7 (11–4) | BB&T Arena (3,408) Highland Heights, KY |
| Feb 23, 2018 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Cleveland State Senior Night | L 77–83 | 21–8 (11–5) | BB&T Arena (5,047) Highland Heights, KY |
| Feb 28, 2019 8:00 pm | | at Milwaukee | W 65–55 | 22–8 (12–5) | UW–Milwaukee Panther Arena (1,792) Milwaukee, WI |
| Mar 2, 2019 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Green Bay | W 86–82 | 23–8 (13–5) | Resch Center (2,889) Ashwaubenon, WI |
| Horizon League tournament ||||||
| Mar 6, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) | (7) Detroit Mercy Quarterfinals | W 99–88 | 24–8 | BB&T Arena (3,394) Highland Heights, KY |
| Mar 11, 2019 9:30 pm, ESPNU | (2) | vs. (3) Oakland Semifinals | W 64–63 | 25–8 | Little Caesars Arena (5,280) Detroit, MI |
| Mar 12, 2019 7:00 pm, ESPN | (2) | vs. (1) Wright State Championship | W 77–66 | 26–8 | Little Caesars Arena (5,612) Detroit, MI |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| Mar 22, 2019* 1:30 pm, TNT | (14 W) | vs. (3 W) No. 9 Texas Tech First Round | L 57–72 | 26–9 | BOK Center (12,352) Tulsa, OK |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. W=West region. All times are in Eastern Time. ||||||
Source:

## Awards and honors
### All-American

* Honorable Mention: Drew McDonald