GREENSBORO, N.C.  –  UNCG men's basketball looks to open its three-game homestand with a win this Saturday, hosting 2019 Horizon League Champion Northern Kentucky at Fleming Gymnasium. The Spartans have a 1-1 record when competing at Fleming this year, but an overall of 6-2 when playing as the home team. Both teams are riding wins into this weekend's contest, with UNCG most recently defeating Vermont 54-53 on the road, and the Norse experiencing back-to-back home victories against Eastern Kentucky and Illinois State.

Who: Northern Kentucky
Where: Fleming Gymnasium | Greensboro, N.C.
When: Saturday, December 21 | 7 p.m. 
Watch Live | Live Stats

Series History

-- UNCG has never played the Norse, meeting the Horizon League member for the first time in program history

-- The Spartans are 0-2 against current members of the Horizon League all-time, falling to Youngstown State in 2014 and dropping a decision to Green Bay back in 2005

Five Facts To Know

-- The Spartans have jumped up to 73rd in the latest round of NET rankings, trailing only ETSU (No.72) for the highest rank among SoCon members. UNCG is ranked ahead of every member of the CAA, Big South, Big Sky, Big West, Sun Belt, OVC, WAC, Summit, Horizon, America East, NEC, MAAC, Patriot, SWAC and MEAC

-- UNCG was ranked No. 12 on College Insider's most recent 'Men's Mid-Major Top-25' poll defeating the No. 14 team on that list, Vermont, this past Wednesday

-- The Spartans held Vermont to just 53 points this past Wednesday. That's still only the fifth-lowest point total scored against UNCG this year, with Averett scoring 51, NC A&T scoring 50, App State putting up 41 and Tennesse Tech dropping just 30

-- UNCG has one of the top turnover margins in the nation currently, with its plus-6.2 ranking ninth in all of Division I men's basketball

-- With 857 career rebounds, James Dickey currently ranks fourth among active players in Division I, and is two boards away from tying Spartan alum Eric Cuthrell for the fifth-most in UNCG program history

The Norse

-- Last year's Horizon League tournament champion, Northern Kentucky has just 12 losses over the past two seasons, with only seven of those coming against teams outside the AAC or power-five conferences

-- Three-pointers are hard to come by when playing the Norse, NKU is holding opponents to just a 26.0 field goal percentage when shooting from beyond the arc

Coming Up Next
The Spartans face off with William Peace for the first time in program history on December 28th, before wrapping up their three-game homestand against SoCon-foe Mercer on New Year's Day. 

-- UNCG –