Stetson Cruises in 2nd Half to victory

This game was truly a tale of two sides. NKU jumped out on Stetson and at one time led 27-20 eventually slipping in the waning moment in the 1st half to allow Stetson to crawl back within a 4 point deficit 31-27. Chad Jackson for NKU was the star of the 1st half as well as the game for the Norse. He posted a impressive stat line of 15 points and 8 rebounds nearly missing a double double. Joel Naburgs for Stetson stole the show and led the Hatters to a impressive 71-59 win. Naburgs had 17 points while dishing out 8 assists. This led to a route in the 2nd half where Stetson outscored NKU 44-28. 

NKU falls to 4-10 and 2-4 in the A-Sun, they play again @ Florida State Gulf Coast this Saturday at 5:15

NKU                        Stetson

Watson - 5               Graham - 13

Jackson - 15            Pegg - 13

Faulkner - 12           Naburgs - 17

Jones - 8                 Perez - 17

Interview With Dean Danos



Arguably the best thing to come to NKU's campus since Chipotle, Dean Danos an NKU commit for the class of 2013 was nice enough to give us an interview with him. We had a recruit profile on him last week, you can check it out here. Danos is from Chicago and plays his high school ball in Wisconsin. Danos is also one of three commits for NKU so far for the class of 2013 that includes Cole Murray and Deontae Cole. 

 Tyler Cox(Norse Sports): Who do you have on your playlist on your iPod?

Dean Danos: I go from listening to some Kendrick Lamar to The Fray and songs like that. I like variety though.

TC: Do you have any pre-game rituals or superstitions? What are they?

DD: No superstitions, I just do my pre-game shooting workout, pray and I'm ready to go.

TC: If you could play 1 on 1 with any basketball player, dead or alive, and talk with them, who would it be? And what would you talk about?

DD: It would either be Steve Nash or John Stockton. I would just ask them questions like how they made it to the top. Also ask what were some key things that they did to simplify the game and really make the game easier.

TC: What do you think is the most important virtue that a basketball player could posses?

DD: I think the most important virtue that a basketball player could posses is confidence

TC: Do you think you have this virtue?

DD: I believe I do simply because of the amount of time I put into this game.

TC: What are your Strengths?

DD: Some strengths are winning games, working hard, staying positive, and making my teammates better every single day

TC: What do you need to work on before you step on campus?

DD: Before I go to NKU I need to work on my accent.On my visit I definitely felt out of place when I was talking because of the funny looks I got. It made realize what to improve on before I stepped foot on campus.

TC: Other than NKU, what other schools were you considering?

DD: Other schools besides NKU was LIU Brooklyn, St. Bonaventure, Wisconsin Milwaukee, Miami (Ohio), Northeastern, Eastern Illinois, Georgia State, American and North Dakota State.

TC: What made you say, that's it, that's the reason why I'm going to NKU?

DD: The coaching staff, the education, the atmosphere, and the facilities obviously helped sway the decision.

TC: What will you be majoring in?

DD: I'm leaning more towards Biology

TC: What would you like to say to Norse Nation?

DD: I would just liketo thank Norse Nation, the school and the coaching staff for allowing an opportunity for me to be apart of something so great. It is my goal and vision to continue the winning and successfull tradition that NKU has both as a basketball team and as a community. I am looking forward to finally stepping foot onto campus and being a part of a family that is welcoming me with open arms.

 GO NK!

Tyler White Awarded with Co-Newcomer of the Week

After averaging 10.5 points a contest last week and scoring a career high 18 against Lipscomb, Tyler White earned a co-newcomer of the week honors in the Atlantic Sun. Tyler White is actually 2nd in the Atlantic Sun in 3-point percentage, at 41%.  This is NKU's first newcomer award in theAtlantic Sun. 

White shared the honor with Jacksonville's Jarvis Haywood, who also went for a career high 18 points Friday, and averaged 13.5 points, 4.5 rebounds a contest last week.

NKU Recruiting Profiles: Cole Murray

COLE MURRAY

CLASS OF 2013

6'6" - SF

Delphi Community HS, IN
Twitter: @Murray_C25

Committed 9/25/2012

Junior Stats:

Points: 10.6

Assists: 4.2

Rbs: 2.5

Steals: 1.6

3pt%: 27.6

Good length and shoots the ball well from the outside for a guy of his size.  Cole is active on the glass, a good offensive rebounder.  Nice hands around the basket.  Cole came into the summer circuit with just 3 offers and finished up with 10; he may have done more for his recruitment than just about anybody in the state.  He has added some strength and gotten better off the dribble.  I really like his game.  One of the best pure shooters in the state.

Dave Bezold Was On Sports Rock Last Night

Men's Basketball Video Intro 2012-2013

NKU 44 - ETSU 49: Game Recap

If there would be one word to describe this game it would have to be sloppy. Though ETSU was less sloppy than NKU, they still had their share of bad moments.  NKU came out the gates in a slump whereas ETSU came out on fire jumping out to an early 9-1 lead.  The Norse would be saved by the 3-point line.   Tyler White would hit a 3 and Jones followed with one of his own.  ETSU would jump back out to a big lead of 20-11, and again NKU would use the three to cut the lead. The Norse used 5 first half threes to make it only a 20-26 deficit. 

 NKU scored in the first minute of the second half to make the fans happy and got everyone free appetizers at Mellow Mushroom in Wilder .

 NKU traded baskets with ETSU to begin the second half. Then, much more of the same happened, trading baskets.  Towards the end of the game it was the teams getting sloppy it was the refs. And let me tell you, it was definitely one-sided.  There was an awful shooting foul called on Eshuante Jones when the ETSU player clearly went over Jones back. There were a couple of other really bad calls and the fans let the refs know about it.  NKU would only be down 5 with one minute left. NKU went to the line and made both free throws to make it a 3 point game. ETSU inbounded the ball only to miss their shot and NKU had a chance to tie and they didn't. NKU would go on to lose 49-44. They drop to 3-9 on the season and 1-3 in A-Sun play.

_________________________________________
LEADING SCORERS

NKU      

Jones - 18
Jackson - 9
White - 6
Snodgrass - 5
Watson - 3

ETSU

Jones - 12
Harris - 12
Wilson - 11
Walton - 5
Rembert - 5

_________________________________________

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

NKU

Eshaunte Jones - (7/12 FG) (4 Rebounds) (1 Asist)

ETSU

Jarvis Jones - (4/11 FG) (4/4 FT) (4 Rebounds) (3 Assists)

NKU Recruiting Profiles: Dean Danos

DEAN DANOS

CLASS OF 2013

6'0" - PG

St John's Northwestern Military Academy WI

Committed 11/10/2012

Junior Stats:

Points: 19.8

FT%:   84%

Assists: 5.5

3FGM: 67

Release from NKU:

"HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – Northern Kentucky University basketball head coach Dave Bezold announced Thursday that the Norse have signed guard Dean Danos to a national letter of intent.

Danos, a 5-foot-11 ballhandling wizard and a 2012 graduate of Bishop Noll Institute of Hammond, Ind., is currently enrolled at St. John's Northwest Military Academy prep school in Wisconsin. He averaged 13.5 points and 3.2 assists per game as a senior last season at Bishop Noll, one of the top 2A basketball programs in Indiana.

Before arriving at Bishop Noll, Danos led Aurora Christian to the Illinois Elite Eight during the 2010-11 season, averaging 19.8 points and 5.5 assists per game.

“He can shoot the ball, handle it and pass with the best of them,” Bezold said. “We're really excited to have Dean join our program.”

Danos, who wears number 44 in honor of the late “Pistol” Pete Maravich, has also patterned some of his floor game after the one-time LSU scoring machine. Danos is extremely quick off the dribble and is known for his no-look passes to teammates for wide-open baskets. One recruiting service compared his skill set to that of a smaller John Stockton, who starred at Gonzaga and later in the NBA.

“Our fans will enjoy watching Dean play,” Bezold said." 

NKU Recruiting Profiles

Through the next couple of weeks, every Monday, we will have a profile of all the NKU recruits, including ones that have already committed. We will start with the ones that have committed first. NKU fans should look forward to our basketball future! To do that it would be good to get to know who will be coming to play for the Norse.

Stay tuned...

NKU Loses Close One To USC Upstate

From the very beginning, the tipoff, you could tell that this was going to be a good game between our Norse and USC Upstate. That's exactly what it was, a good close game. 

NKU trailed USC Upstate for most of the first half thanks to the play of the post player for USC. NKU kept it close trailing 19-15 at the 7:15 mark.  Then came halftime and NKU found themselves in a whole, down 33-24.

NKU however would start off the second half on fire! Tyler White and Eshuante Jones started raining threes. Despite the 3's USC Upstate scored too. Eventually NKU cut the lead to 5 by a score of 43-38 at the 13:49 mark. And then, NKU, shortly after that would take the lead 50-47 on a Jones 3. That lead wouldn't last too long as USC Upstate would take the lead back 56-54, and they didn't look back. NKU falls to USC Upstate 60-54.

Though NKU is 3-8 on the season and 1-2 in the A-Sun, all of the games have been close.  That is encouraging to know that NKU could very well be 6-5 right now in their first season as a D1 school. But, they didn't win those games this the 3-8 record. It seems as if our Norse have trouble closing out games as they have squandered leads late. I'm sure, however, that they can over come this! Go Norse!

Photo Property of NKU Taken by Tyler Cox