The Norse open their season in a new, high profile event hosted by the Field of 68. Across two locations, there will be six games in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and two more in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, at the Sanford Pentagon. The matchups start with High Point against Liberty at midnight Nov. 2, with games at 12/3/6/8, followed by 5:30 and 8 p.m. tip offs. Sioux falls has two games, Murray State vs. Tennessee State at 11:30 a.m. and then 2:00 p.m is the UTEP vs. NKU matchup!

All games are free on Youtube, and this is an excellent opportunity for the Norse to get national attention on the opening day of the season.

WATCH

Here’s this season’s NKU preview:

The biggest question surrounding the Norse are the bigs. They’re starting off against a very long squad and their guards are likely going to need to carry most of the load early.

Ethan Elliott is officially day-to-day and we do not know if he will play. Willie Foster is in line to start if he is out. Ethan projects as the starter to start the season if healthy.

The other starters will likely be: Eric Acker, BJ Davis Ray, Noah Pagotto and Will Shortt. The above link goes more in-depth on this year’s squad, so give that a read as well!

UTEP

The UTEP Miners are headed into 2026-27 off a 11-20 season that ended with a loss to Jacksonville State. Their offense was no. 313 in the nation last season, while their defense was No. 200. They play at an extremely slow pace (no. 282 nationally), averaging 65.5 possessions per game. They turned the ball over 17.4% of the time, and struggled greatly to rebound the ball. Their worst area was 2 point shooting, where they shot 46.5%, and settled for mid-range jump shots frequently, resulting in an average 2 point shot of 7.6 feet from the basket. Both of those stats were among the bottom 25 in the nation.

Now, the good news for UTEP is that they have a reloaded roster. Exactly no one returned this season. They have also moved up to the Mountain West, where they project to be a middle of the road team.

UTEP’s Rotation

• Leif Moeller transferred in from Evansville after a solid freshman year where he put up 11 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. He shot 37% from deep last season on 131 attempts.
• Reese Miller transferred in after a year at William & Mary this summer. In his lone year at W&M, he put up 12 points, 3 rebounds, and 2 assists.
• Ryan Jackson Jr. played two years at William & Mary before transferring this offseason. He averaged 7 points, 3 rebounds and an assist last season.
• Augusto Cassia transferred in from Ole Miss this offseason after playing in 31 games last season. He averaged 2.2 points, 1.6 rebounds, and .5 assists. After committing to Butler out of high school, Cassia has failed to land on his feet, but his 6’10’, 230 frame shows he has the raw build to dominate at this level.
• Reid Cason is a 6’10’ center who transferred in from East Carolina this offseason. He scored in double figures 3 times last year, and put up one double double. He averaged 4 points and 3 rebounds and a block per game.
• Jace Whiting could very well start this season, likely in place of Cason. He averaged 11 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists at Weber State last season. He shot 36% from deep on the year, and added a steal each night. If he doesn’t start, he’ll play considerable minutes.
• Youssouf Traore is a 6’10” big from Mali who was the Mali national team MVP at the U18 AfroBasket championships, where Mali won. He averaged 13 points and 16 rebounds per night. The key for him is going to be adding muscle amd getting used to the college game.
• Cam McDaniels is a 6’5’, 220lb guard from Louisville KY, who was a second team all NJCAA All-American last season at John A. Logan College. He averaged 17 points, 5 rebounds. Ivan Perasovic is a 6’8″ Croatian forward who is academically a freshman, but has played six years in the first division in the Croatian top league. He scored 6.5 points, while shooting 57% from deep last season in Croatia. Over his career, he has shot greater than 50% (198-389).
• Janusz Ratowski is a redshirt sophomore from Stetson who scored 2 points and grabbed 2 boards last year.
• Kaleb Jackson is a 6’7″ freshman from Kingdom Collegiate Academy in Duncanville, TX. He averaged 16/7/2 last season.
• Mikey Kelvin II is a redshirt senior who transfers in from FIU after redshirting last season. He transferred to FIU from Queens University in Canada, where he averaged 10 points, 6 rebounds and a block per game.

The High School Trio: Criss, Ward and Tarpley were teammates at William J. Brennan High School

• Donovan Criss is a freshman from San Antonio and was rated as a four star recruit per ESPN. At 6’5’, 175lbs, he will provide a great scoring punch for the Miners once he acclimates to college ball.
• Isaiah Ward was a three star prospect coming out of high school, and was first district last season, and was voted all-state and all-region. He averaged 12/6/3 and a steal during his career.
• Delano Tarpley is a 6’10’ center who put up 10/8/2 and a block per game last season while shooting 162-241 in his senior year.

This UTEP team has plenty of talent this season. However, assembling an entirely new group of players is a monumental undertaking. They will likely lack chemistry and will struggle to start the year. However, the amount of talent on this roster makes it hard to ignore. This UTEP team will provide a tough test for the Norse.

Keys to the Game:

Rebound the ball: The Norse struggled with this on the defensive side of the ball last season, and now guys like LJ Wells and Kael Robinson are gone. Will Short, Noah Pagotto, and BJ Davis Ray are going to have to step up in a big way.

Take care of the ball: The Norse are going to be playing with a ton of new rotations and will possibly be missing their starting point guard in Ethan Elliott. Willie Foster is going to be a key on this team, but he’ll need to protect the ball from day 1.

Speed the game up: NKU was among the top 35 teams in the country in tempo last season, with an average offensive possession length of 15.8. This roster was built to be able to get out in transition again this season. They’ll look to run early and often off of turnovers or rebounds on the defensive side.

Hit the Deep Ball: The Norse were pedestrian last year from deep, shooting 34% on the season, good for no. 193 nationally. This year’s roster is guard heavy, and will need to connect from deep at a better rate to help open the paint up a bit.

Prediction:

NKU 84, UTEP 76