Men’s Basketball: Muskingum (1-13 Overall, 1-6 OAC) at Ohio Northern (6-8 Overall, 2-5 OAC)
Saturday, Jan. 14, 2023, 2 p.m. - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio
Saturday's Preview: The Polar Bears continue Ohio Athletic Conference play on Saturday hosting Muskingum in the opener of a men's-women's doubleheader … ONU is in eighth place in the conference standings and sits one game back of a three-way tie for fifth between Otterbein, Baldwin Wallace and Capital … The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 21-25 … Northern is coming off Wednesday's 70-63 loss at Baldwin Wallace … Senior C.J. Napier led ONU with 20 points, and senior Adam Scott added a season-high 18 points … Senior Landen Long finished with nine points, and senior Michael Berner tallied eight points and nine rebounds … Through 14 games this season, Napier is averaging a team-best 16.3 points per game, which ranks fourth in the OAC … Long is averaging 11.6 points per game, and Scott is averaging 10.6 points per game … Napier is averaging a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game, which ranks fifth in the OAC … Berner is second on the team in rebounding with 5.5 per game … Napier has 1,062 career points and is the 40th member of ONU's 1,000-Point Club … Napier ranks 38th on the all-time scoring list … Long has made a team-leading 20 3-pointers and is shooting 40% from beyond the arc, which is tied for ninth in the OAC … Sophomore Ethan Bell leads the team with 38 assists, which ranks sixth in the OAC … Freshman Will Miller has a team-high 21 steals, which ranks sixth in the OAC … Berner leads the team with 16 blocks, which ranks fifth in the OAC … Muskingum is coming off Wednesday's 69-63 home win over Wilmington, which marked its first victory of the season after opening the year with 13 straight losses … Junior Luken Hill posted a double-double to lead MU, tallying career-highs with 19 points and 15 rebounds … Freshman Logan Stotzer added 10 points … Through 14 games this season, Stotzer leads the team with 10.1 points per game followed by sophomore DJ Donnell (9.6) and Hill (9.0) … Hill is averaging a team-high 6.3 rebounds per game, followed by sophomore Zaveon Croff with 4.1 … Sophomore Jayden Humphrey has a team-best 14 assists … Croff is tied for 10th in the OAC with 18 steals … Stotzer has made a team-high 22 3-pointers, which is tied for seventh in the OAC, and is shooting 37.3% from beyond the arc … MU ranks last in the OAC in points per game (60.6) and points per game allowed (78.7).
ONU Statistical Leaders:
Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
1. | Napier | 16.3 | 1. | Napier | 7.0 | 1. | Long | 20 | 1. | Bell | 38 | 1. | Miller | 21 | ||||
2. | Long | 11.6 | 2. | Berner | 5.5 | 2. | Bell | 15 | 2. | Miller | 21 | 2. | Bell | 14 | ||||
3. | Scott | 10.6 | 3. | Scott | 4.9 | 3. | Miller | 12 | 3. | 4 tied | 20 | Long | 14 | |||||
Studer | 14 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Muskingum by a 73-50 margin, including a 41-17 mark in Ada … ONU has won 12 of the past 14 meetings … The teams met three times last season, as MU swept the regular-season meetings by scores of 83-56 and 76-69 before ONU came away with an 82-73 overtime victory in the first round of the OAC Tournament.
Head Coach Neal Young: Young is in his first season at ONU and has a 6-8 record. He is 134-129 in 10 seasons overall after five seasons as head coach at Covenant (Ga.) and four seasons as head coach at Goshen (Ind.).