DALLAS, TX - MARCH 15: Head coach Scott Nagy of the Wright State Raiders looks on in the second half in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament against the Tennessee Volunteers at American Airlines Center on March 15, 2018 in Dallas, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
Thanks to some early-March dramatics, the Northern Kentucky Norse (24-8; 13-5 in-conference) are set to take on the Wright State Raiders (20-12; 13-5 in-conference) in the 2018-19 Horizon League Championship Game at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, Michigan on Tuesday night.
The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised on ESPN. If you don’t have cable, you can watch a live stream of ESPN on your computer, phone or streaming device via one of the following live-TV streaming services:
Hulu With Live TV: In addition to a Netflix-like on-demand streaming library, Hulu also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including ESPN.
You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Echo Show, or other streaming device via the Hulu app.
PlayStation Vue: PS Vue–which doesn’t require an actual PlayStation console to sign up or watch–offers four different live-TV channel packages: All four include ESPN.
You can start a free 5-day trial of PS Vue right here (select “Start Streaming” in the upper-right corner), and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the PS Vue website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation (3 or 4), or other supported device via the PS Vue app.
Sling TV: ESPN is included in the “Sling Orange” channel bundle.
You can start a free seven-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Sling TV website, or on your phone (Android and iPhone supported), tablet, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the Sling TV app.
How Wright State and Northern Kentucky got here:
Wright State has had… the “right” (almost) stuff so far in the Horizon League Tournament. The Raiders opened postseason play last Wednesday with a 71-56 victory against No. 8 seed IUPUI. They then followed their 15-point win with a 12- point (66-54) victory against No. 4 seed Green Bay on Monday. 6-foot-9 sophomore center Loudon Love, who averaged 15.5 points per game this season to lead the Raiders, finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds for a double-double in Wright State’s victory against Green Bay.
Northern Kentucky did not have an easy path to the finals. After soundly defeating Detroit 99-88 on Wednesday, the Norse needed senior forward Drew McDonald — who led the team with 19.3 points per game, while averaging 9.5 rebounds during the regular season — to sink a go-ahead three-point shot with 1.6 seconds remaining on the clock to edge past No. 3 seed Oakland (16-16 overall during the regular season), 64-63, on Monday.
Here is McDonald’s shot on the Norse’s final possession, which ultimately proved to be the game-winner and the first real “March Madness” moment of the postseason:
Here is Drew McDonald’s game-winning three to send NKU to the Horizon League championship game.
Both teams split the season series, battling down to the wire in each contest. Northern Kentucky narrowly defeated Wright State at home in the first meeting, 68-64, on January 11, while falling 81-77 on the road just over a month later on February 15.
Last year’s Horizon League Championship Game result:
Wright State as the No. 2 seed handily defeated No. 8 seed Cleveland State 74-57, the second-lowest seed to ever reach the Horizon League Championship Game (Milwaukee, 2016-17). The Raiders aim for back-to-back conference tournament titles for the first time in program history.
NCAA Tournament History:
Wright State has two previous NCAA Tournament berths, once in 2007 and once in 2018; the Raiders have won the Horizon League regular-season title on two separate occasions, 2007 and this season. As a Division I program, Northern Kentucky has won a share of the conference’s regular-season championship twice, during the past two seasons before 2018-19. The Norse’s only NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2016-17.
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