NKU looks to sweep Cleveland St.

Cleveland State (8-21, 3-13) vs. Northern Kentucky (21-7, 11-4)

BB&T Arena, Highland Heights, Kentucky; Saturday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Northern Kentucky goes for the season sweep over Cleveland State after winning the previous matchup in Cleveland. The teams last played each other on Jan. 17, when the Norse outshot Cleveland State 49.2 percent to 47.3 percent and had five fewer turnovers en route to a 91-76 victory.

TEAM LEADERS: Northern Kentucky’s Drew McDonald has averaged 19.5 points and 10 rebounds while Jalen Tate has put up 13 points and 4.5 rebounds. For the Vikings, Tyree Appleby has averaged 17 points and 5.5 assists while Jaalam Hill has put up 10.2 points and 5.9 rebounds.

FACILITATING THE OFFENSE: Appleby has directly created 50 percent of all Cleveland State field goals over the last five games. The sophomore guard has 27 field goals and 38 assists in those games.

STREAK STATS: Cleveland State has dropped its last 12 road games, scoring 69.2 points and allowing 83.9 points during those contests. Northern Kentucky has won its last 16 home games, scoring an average of 80.4 points while giving up 62.1.

ASSIST RATIOS: The Vikings have recently converted baskets via assists more often than the Norse. Northern Kentucky has 42 assists on 82 field goals (51.2 percent) across its previous three matchups while Cleveland State has assists on 44 of 80 field goals (55 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: Northern Kentucky is ranked second among Horizon teams with an average of 79.4 points per game.

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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com