The Youngstown State Penguins will be at Bank of Kentucky Center to square off against the Northern Kentucky Norse in a Horizon matchup. The game starts at 7:00 pm ET on Thursday, Jan. 14 and will air on ES3.
The Norse lost to Wright State 60-46 the last time they played. Jalen Billups finished with nine points to lead the team. The Penguins, meanwhile, are coming off a 103-93 win over Green Bay in their last outing. Cameron Morse led the game in scoring with 44 points on 13-for-18 shooting.
Morse has been on fire over the last five games for the Youngstown State Penguins, averaging 26.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.4 steals, and 2.2 three-pointers.
Northern Kentucky is a small two-point favorite in this game and the Over/Under (O/U) is set at 152 points. The Norse enter the game with records of 4-10 Straight Up (SU) and 3-7 Against The Spread (ATS). In their last 10 games, they are 2-5 ATS.
On the other side, the Youngstown State Penguins head into the game with records of 8-5 ATS and 7-10 SU. When it comes to stealing the ball, the Penguins are one of the best in the nation with an average of 8.6 steals per game.
The conference rivals will be facing off in their first head-to-head contest of the season. When they last met the Youngstown State Penguins were winners, moving their SU record against Northern Kentucky to 1-0.
Predictions: SU Winner – YSU, ATS Winner – YSU, O/U – Over
Notes
The total has gone OVER in 5 of Youngstown State’s last 5 games on the road.
With 69.2 possessions and 1.000 points per possession, the Northern Kentucky Norse perform worse on both metrics than the Youngstown State Penguins. Youngstown State averages 75.4 possessions and 1.029 points per possession.
The Northern Kentucky Norse average an effective field goal percentage of 50.4% this season. The Youngstown State Penguins have an abysmal record of 2-8 when opponents have an eFG% of 50.4% or greater.
On average, Northern Kentucky attempts 20.0 three pointers and Youngstown State attempts 23.0. In games where they have 20 or more three point attempts, both have losing records. The Northern Kentucky Norse are 3-6 while the Youngstown State Penguins are 5-9.
Youngstown State ranks 58th in the nation with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.28. Northern Kentucky is ranked lower at 218th with an A/TO of .98.
Youngstown State has forced an average turnover percentage of 19.0% this season. Northern Kentucky is a winless 0-7 SU when its TO% is 19.0% or higher.
