Northern Kentucky (16-15) vs Detroit Mercy (8-23)
March 4, 2025 at 07:00 PM EST
The Line: Betting Odds: Northern Kentucky -12.5 — Over/Under: 138.5
The Detroit Titans and the Northern Kentucky Norse meet Tuesday in Horizon League Tournament college basketball action from BB&T Arena. Here’s a Detroit vs Northern Kentucky prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Detroit vs Northern Kentucky pick. We will examine:
The Detroit Titans’ recent form and player performance
The Northern Kentucky Norse’s recent form and player performance
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Detroit Titans
Recent betting trends and streaks involving the Northern Kentucky Norse
Recent betting trends in games played between Detroit and Northern Kentucky
A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for the Detroit vs Northern Kentucky game
Detroit Titans Betting Preview
The Titans have had a few decent (and brief) runs this year, but overall it’s been a struggle. Detroit went just 6-10 over their first 16 games, beating Cleary U, Niagara, Ball State, Eastern Michigan, Fort Wayne, and Robert Morris. After losses to Milwaukee, IUPUI, Fort Wayne, Oakland, Cleveland State, and Wright State, the Titans beat Northern Kentucky and Green Bay. Since then it’s been losses to Robert Morris, Youngstown State, Oakland, IUPUI, Cleveland State, Green Bay, and Milwaukee. That gives Detroit an 8-23 record on the season overall.
In the Milwaukee road matchup over the weekend, the Titans came out of the break sporting a 43-31 deficit. Detroit was outscored 46-36 the rest of the way, resulting in an 89-67 defeat in the end. Leading the team in scoring was TJ Nadeau with 15 points and two rebounds. Emmanuel Kuac doubled up with 10 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, and three blocks over 28 minutes of action during the defeat as well.
Northern Kentucky Norse Betting Preview
Over on the Northern Kentucky side, they struggled for most of the year as well but they’ve been doing much better since February began. The Norse opened the year on a 2-6 stretch, then hit a nice 7-1 run in December and January that featured only a triple-overtime loss to Robert Morris on December 29. After losses to Youngstown State, Oakland, Cleveland State, Wright State, Milwaukee, and Detroit, the Norse have since won seven of nine. The losses in that time were versus Robert Morris and Milwaukee. Otherwise, it was wins over Oakland, Cleveland State, Green Bay, Wright State, IUPUI, Fort Wayne, and Youngstown State. That gives the Norse a 16-15 record across 31 games this year.
Matched up against Youngstown State at home on Saturday, the Norse kicked things off with a 43-35 advantage. Northern Kentucky hit another 45 points in the second half for a nice win 88-79. Trey Robinson led the scoring on 24 points with seven rebounds, while Josh Dilling wasn’t far behind with 23 points, five rebounds, and two assists. Sam Vinson added 14 points with six assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Why the Northern Kentucky Norse will win
- Detroit Mercy has lost each of its last 22 road games against Conference opponents.
- Northern Kentucky has won 10 of its last 11 home games against Detroit Mercy.
- Detroit Mercy has lost the first half in each of its last four games at Truist Arena against non-AP-ranked opponents.
Detroit vs Northern Kentucky Prediction
I’m staying with Northern Kentucky. The Norse put away a decent Youngstown State team over the weekend, hitting 51.7 percent from the field with 19-of-23 (82.6 percent) from the line and a 32-24 rebounding advantage. That gives Northern Kentucky four straight wins with 71 or more points scored in each. That said, three of those wins came by five points or fewer.
These teams split their two season meetings, with the Norse winning 73-60 on December 18 at home and Detroit taking the January 30 matchup 68-57 for their own home win. That late January meeting marked the sixth straight loss for Northern Kentucky, as they didn’t play well. The Norse shot just 30.2 percent from the field with a 43-35 rebounding deficit. Detroit shot 43.4 percent on the other side with 17-of-19 (89.5 percent) from the line. There’s plenty to improve upon in this third meeting, and I like the Norse to turn things around at home.