Game Notes
The journey without injured senior star
Cardell McFarland begins tonight for Kentucky Wesleyan.
The Panthers, who tumbled from No. 1 to No. 7 in this week's NABC/NCAA Division II coaches poll, visit No. 9 Northern Kentucky tonight in Highland Heights, where the Norse have gone 11-0 this season.
The Panthers (15-2, 7-2 Great Lakes Valley Conference) are without McFarland, who partially ruptured the plantar fascia tendon of his left foot early in the second half of KWC's 80-77 last-second loss to Indianapolis on Saturday at the Sportscenter.
A preseason All-American selection, McFarland is the GLVC's leading scorer (21.1 ppg), and also contributes 3.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game.
McFarland will miss at least a month, and could be lost for the remainder of the season, but Wesleyan head coach Todd Lee said the Panthers must find a way to deal with the loss if they expect to be a major factor down the homestretch of the regular season and into postseason play.
“We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves,” Lee said, “and nobody's going to feel sorry for us, considering we reached a point where we were No. 1 in the nation.
“We play at Northern (tonight) and on Saturday (defending national champion and new No. 1) Bellarmine comes to our place. We've got
to pull together, dig into this thing as a team, and find a way to play quality basketball against two outstanding teams.”
Northern Kentucky (15-2, 7-2), which eliminated KWC in the first-round of the NCAA Tournament last March in Louisville, is once again locked and loaded.
The Norse feature five players in double figures, led by 6-foot-5 senior guard Jon Van Hoose, who averages 13.9 points per game. Others expected to start include6-4 sophomore guard Chad Jackson (10.5 ppg), 6-foot senior guard Tony Rack (10 ppg), 6-1 junior guard Ethan Faulkner (8.1 ppg) and 6-7 junior forward Ernest Watson (8.8 ppg).
First off the bench for NKU are 6-4 junior swingman Eshuante Jones (10.8 ppg) and 6-6 senior center DeAndre Nealy (10.4 ppg).
Northern shoots 53 percent from the field, including 44 percent from 3-point range, and makes free throws at a 71 percent clip. Coach Dave Bezold's Norse are 50-5 all-time in the 9,400-seat Bank of Kentucky Center.
“Northern is very athletic, they shoot the ball well, and they are definitely one of the top 10 teams in the country,” Lee said. “They play very well at home, and we've obviously got our work cut out for us if we expect to go up there and win this game.”
Without McFarland, much of KWC's scoring load will now fall on 6-7 senior forward
Anthony Young (20 ppg, 8 rpg). Others expected to start are Dominque Dawson (10 ppg, 7 rpg),
Brandon Johnson (11 ppg, 4 apg),
Cornbread Walker (8 ppg, 4 rpg) and
Kreig Oxley (4 ppg), a 6-2 junior who will take over the point for McFarland.
Marseielles Stewert (9 ppg, 4 rpg) and redshirt freshman point guard
Travis Johnston (2 ppg) will likely see more minutes off the bench due to McFarland's injury.
The Panthers opened the season 14-0, but have lost two of their last three league games, including a 72-57 setback at rival Southern Indiana on Jan. 16.
