By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter
This Christmas week is a good time to assess just where the four college basketball programs in Northern Kentucky find themselves. For the men, Northern Kentucky and Thomas More are on remarkably similar trajectories with winning overall records but each with a tough early home conference loss that has them in the bottom half of each league before the holiday break.
The NKU and TMU women could not be on more dissimilar paths with the Saints’ women winners of all but one game and at the top of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. And the road-weary NKU women just 3-11 and at the bottom of the Horizon League.
Here’s a look at each:
Norse men losers of two home games in a row
With an 85-74 nonconference home loss Sunday to the College of Charleston and former Xavier and Louisville coach Chris Mack — a onetime Northern Kentucky resident — NKU fell to is 9-5 overall and 1-2 in the Horizon League after dropping a game earlier in the week, 82-77, to an Oakland team that is tied for the Horizon lead and extended Michigan State in a single-digit loss Saturday.
The two home losses come after an NKU streak that saw the Norse winning eight of their previous nine games. But one thing is obvious from the two home losses in which the Norse allowed an average 83.5 points a game. It’s hard to win when your defense allows opponents to score like that — especially on your home floor. For the season, NKU is allowing an average 75.1 points a game.
In Sunday’s game, after falling behind, 40-30, at the half only to come roaring back for a 67-65 lead, NKU’s offense came apart the rest of the way as Charleston outscored NKU, 20-8, while shooting 54.7 percent from the field for the game to NKU’s 39.1.
Transfers Kael Robinson, with 22 points, and Donovan Oday, with 20, led NKU as the pair often do. But stopping the Cougars was a challenge the Norse could not meet.
“Really proud of our guys coming back after not playing well early but we just did not get the stops,” said NKU coach Darrin Horn. “We had some good looks,” late but could not get the ball to go down on offense. “We’ve got to get tougher mentally,” Horn said.
NKU, No. 8 in the Horizon with its 1-2 record, returns to action after Christmas, Dec. 29, when it’s back to the league schedule at No. 3 Robert Morris (10-4, 2-1 Horizon).
SCORING SUMMARY
CHARLESTON 40-45-85
N. KENTUCKY 30-44-74
College of Charleston (7-6): Counter 26, Hickman 16, Plunty 11, Machot 9, Kalu 5, Reeves 11, Curcic 3, Traylor 3, Davis 2: Total 85.
Northern Kentucky (9-5): Robinson 22, Oday 20, Gherezgher 18, Wells 7, Dozier 4, Elliott 0, Nelson 0, Tolliver 0, Rakotananahary 3: Total 74.
Attendance: 2,828.
Thomas More men over .500 but with two tough OT losses
With a home win Friday night, the TMU men improved to 6-4 but it’s a pair of tough GMAC overtime losses that define the Saint’s pre-Christmas season — losing 91-88 to Ashland at home and 102-100 to Northwood on the road — that will have TMU fighting something of an uphill conference battle in the new year.
After a one-sided 79-50 win over Miami-Hamilton Friday at home, TMU hosts Kentucky State Monday, Dec. 29, in a nonconference game before returning to the GMAC where the Saints are 1-3 and in 11th place in the 12-team league. TMU returns to GMAC play Monday, Jan.5, hosting an 8-3 Ohio Dominican team, tied for first in the GMAC, at 3-1 in the league.
With seven players scoring 7.5 points a game and four of those averaging in double figures, offense hasn’t been the problem for a Saints’ team averaging 83.0 points a game to opponents’ 74.0. Leading the way for TMU is Kai Simpson, a 6-3, 200-pound sophomore guard from Lexington’s Frederick Douglass averaging 19.1 points a game. Next in line is CovCath alum, 6-8, 240-pound senior Mitchell Rylee, with 12.8 ppg and 6.3 rebounds.
Also in double figures are 6-5 redshirt freshman guard Daniel Allen from Larue County, at 12.0 ppg along with another 6-5 guard, Colin McHale, a redshirt junior from Cincinnati Turpin, averaging 11.6 ppg in the five games he’s played.
Saints’ women brightest basketball light in NKY for 2025
They are 9-1 overall, 2-1 in the GMAC, and the bright light in Northern Kentucky college basketball for the 2025 portion of the season. Although in the fast-track GMAC, that 2-1 mark is good for just a No. 5 spot with three teams — Northwood, Walsh and Malone — all tied for first with 4-0 league records.
More impressive in the start for Coach Brian Neal‘s Saints is that they’re a perfect 5-0 away from home although their 94-84 two-overtime home win over Ashland, Dec. 13, TMU’s first-ever over the Ohio power, may be the high-water mark for the season thus far.
Senior Sereniti Webb, a Simon Kenton alum and transfer from Midway College, leads the Saints in scoring with 13.5 points a game as a 6-foot forward. Next in line is another senior, Newport Central Catholic alum Rylee Turner, a 5-11 forward with 11.9 points a game and a team-leading 8.1 rebounds.
Also in double figures is the third Rylee at TMU, 5-6 guard Rylee Leonard, a sophomore from Sardinia, Ohio, averaging 10.9 ppg while Izzy Rotert, a 5-10 junior from Cincinnati’s Mercy McAuley scores at 10.5 ppg.
The Saints return to action Wednesday, Dec. 31, with a home game against Trevecca Nazarene.
NKU women finding life tough on the road
They may be only 3-11 but
The Norse women have played nine of their 14 games away from Highland Heights. And in those nine, they’ve faced the likes of nationally ranked Louisville and Ohio State not to mention Marshall, Ball State, Butler, Chattanooga and Stetson.
But on Sunday at home, NKU lost a tough one, 62-61, to Bradley for their fifth straight loss. And after the Christmas break, the women are hitting the road again, at first-place Purdue-Ft. Wayne (9-4, 3-0), Monday, Dec. 29, in the Horizon where they’re 0-3 and dead last in 11th place.
“We’ve got to figure out ways to finish games,” Hans said after Sunday’s game, “we just didn’t make enough plays.”
Freshman Maddie Moody led NKU with 17 points Sunday.
CovCath’s Ipsaro off to hot start at Miami of Ohio
Not only has junior point guard Evan Ipsaro led his Miami of Ohio basketball team to a 12-0 record — the best start in school history — and a place among the half-dozen unbeaten Division I teams this far into the 2025-26 season, the 6-foot, 180-pound Covington Catholic alum has also been nominated for the Lou Henson Award, given to the nation’s top mid-major basketball player.
Ipsaro, averaging a career-high 13.9 points a game, scored a career-high 27 points last week at UNC-Asheville. He’s also averaging career highs in assists (3.3 a game), rebounds (2.3) and steals (1.4).
“He deserves it, he brings it every day at practice,” said Miami head coach Travis Steele. “He had a phenomenal spring, summer and fall as well, his growth since last years is exponential.”
Contact Dan Weber at dweber3440@aol.com. Follow him on X @dweber3440.