Men’s Basketball: Ohio Northern (9-10 Overall, 5-7 OAC) at Otterbein (12-7 Overall, 6-6 OAC)

Wednesday, February 1, 2023, 7 p.m. - Rike Center, Westerville, Ohio

Wednesday's Preview: The Polar Bears continue Ohio Athletic Conference play on Wednesday at Otterbein … ONU is tied with Baldwin Wallace for seventh place in the conference standings with matching 5-7 records … The top six teams qualify for the OAC Tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 21-25 … In the teams' first meeting this season, on Jan. 4, ONU got a 73-71 overtime win at home over Otterbein courtesy of a close-range shot from senior C.J. Napier with 1.2 seconds left … Napier led ONU with a 24-point, 13-rebound double-double in the game … Northern is coming off Saturday's 73-66 home loss to No. 3 Mount Union … Napier led ONU with 20 points and nine rebounds … Senior Landen Long tallied 12 points, and senior Adam Scott and freshman Will Miller added 11 points each … Through 19 games this season, Napier is averaging a team-best 17.3 points per game, which ranks fifth in the OAC … Long and Scott are each averaging 10.6 points per game … Napier is averaging a team-high 7.2 rebounds per game, which ranks fifth in the OAC … Senior Michael Berner is second on the team in rebounding with 5.0 per game … Napier has 1,161 career points and is 27th on the program's all-time scoring list … Napier has 540 career rebounds and needs five more to move into ONU's top 20 career list in that category … Long has made a team-leading 23 3-pointers … Sophomore Ethan Bell leads the team with 45 assists, which is tied for seventh in the OAC … Miller is tied for first in the OAC with 34 steals … Berner leads the team with 20 blocks, which is tied for sixth in the OAC … Otterbein is coming off Saturday's 91-61 home win over Muskingum … The 91 points marked a season-high for OU, which made a season-best 15 3-pointers … Five players scored in double figures for the Cardinals led by 18 points from freshman Julian Heckman and 13 from junior Cam Evans … In OU's overtime loss at ONU earlier this season, Evans led three Cardinals in double figures with 22 points … Through 19 games, Evans leads the OAC in scoring with 18.7 points per game … Senior Dallas Patrick (11 points per game), Heckman (11) and sophomore Alex Hannah (10.4) are also averaging double figures in scoring … Hannah leads the team in rebounding with 6.0 per game, which ranks seventh in the OAC … Heckman ranks fourth in the OAC with 55 assists … Evans has a team-high 23 steals … Heckman has made a team-best 34 3-pointers and is shooting 42.5% from beyond the arc, both of which rank sixth in the OAC … OU leads the OAC in points per game allowed (67.1).

ONU Statistical Leaders:

All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series with Otterbein by a 75-59 margin, including a 29-34 mark in Westerville … In the teams' earlier matchup this season, ONU got a 73-71 overtime win at home on Jan. 4, ending a four-game losing streak in the series … ONU's last win at Otterbein was in 2018.

Head Coach Neal Young: Young is in his first season at ONU and has a 9-10 record ... He is 137-131 in 10 seasons overall after five seasons as head coach at Covenant (Ga.) and four seasons as head coach at Goshen (Ind.).