KWC out to end streak - Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

Kentucky Wesleyan College Athletics

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Kentucky Wesleyan College is looking to break what has been an extremely long losing streak to Northern Kentucky University tonight in Highland Heights.

The No. 13 Panthers have lost 11 straight to NKU. Whether KWC can do it on the road is another matter.

"For us, we've got five (games in a row) on the road, and every game is going to be a challenge," KWC coach Todd Lee said. "Every one of those teams has a winning record. Every game is a different challenge. Our road games, they are unbelievable the rest of the way."

KWC (18-2, 7-1 Great Lakes Valley Conference) made it through a significant challenge at Rockhurst on Monday, winning 80-55.

"It was a strange day," Lee said. "We had to travel Sunday, it was a Monday afternoon game, there weren't any fans there. If you look at the game we held them to 35 percent, we kept the player of the year (Aaron Hill) to 1-for-12, we won by 25 on the road. You look at all that and say it was the best road win of the year. I don't think either team was overly sharp mentally. It was the third game in five days for both of us. I was proud of our guys because of the long travel and the emotional week we'd had, and we go in there and beat them."

To upend Northern Kentucky (9-8, 2-6) in Highland Heights, the Panthers will have to contend with a major weapon they do not possess -- a big man in the middle.

That player would be David Palmer, a 6-foot-9, 250-pound senior who graduated from Iowa and had a year of basketball eligibility remaining.

Palmer is averaging 18 points and 7.7 rebounds a game. He was also a player who was interested in coming to KWC.

"We recruited him and visited him," Lee said.

KWC, however, has a rule that it doesn't give scholarship money to what would be considered a graduate student, according to Lee.

"Palmer is the best post player in the league, and he's going to command a lot of attention," Lee said. "We've got to make him work on the defensive end, draw him away from the basket. He's a very good rebounder. We've got to make him work for his catches."

The Panthers will rotate Jay Ivey and Andree' Wilson against Palmer.

KWC's perimeter defense will also be tested with the addition of Norse shooters Dennis Gagai and Jon Van Hoose to the lineup. Lee said both had been out of the lineup lately. Van Hoose has only played in two games this season.

"They will get the defense more spread out," Lee said.

KWC has also moved forward more from the death of Southern Indiana player Jeron Lewis last Thursday night, following USI's 74-69 win over KWC at the Sportscenter.

"I think it's gotten better, going out of town might have helped," Lee said. "It gets more and more normal every day. Some of the guys have been affected by it more and differently than others."

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