By Don Owen
NKyTribune reporter
Could an attendance record be set tonight at BB&T Arena?
Northern Kentucky University plays host to Oakland at 9 p.m. Friday in a Horizon League showdown, and tickets are going fast. According to the BB&T Arena Ticketmaster, the lower bowl is sold out for the game. Only upper deck seats remain on sale.
Oakland is 13-8 overall, 5-3 in the Horizon League. The Golden Grizzlies also feature Kendrick Nunn, who averages a Horizon League-leading 26.4 points per game. Last Sunday at Detroit Mercy, Nunn pumped in a career-high 38 points to lead Oakland to a 92-86 victory.
Nunn’s 26.4 points per game is No. 2 in the nation, trailing only Oklahoma freshman Trae Young’s 30.3 points per contest. The 6-foot-3 Nunn has scored at least 30 points eight times this season, including a 32-point outburst against nationally ranked Michigan State.
The largest crowd to ever watch an NKU home basketball game is 8,408, which occurred on Nov. 8, 2008, when Louisville visited The Bank of Kentucky Center (now BB&T Arena) and posted an 84-69 victory against the Norse in an exhibition contest. It was the first-ever men’s college basketball game inside the facility, which had opened that fall.
NKU’s best regular-season home attendance came on March 2, 2013, when a crowd of 6,719 watched the Norse rally from a 13-point deficit in the final 2:36 of the game to post a 66-62 win over Jacksonville in The Bank of Kentucky Center. That game was also part of a doubleheader with the NKU women’s basketball team.