Men's Basketball: Ohio Northern (3-4 Overall, 3-4 OAC) v #9 Marietta (7-1 Overall, 7-1 OAC)
Friday, February 26, 2021, 6 p.m. - ONU Sports Center, Ada, Ohio
Saturday, February 27, 2021, 6 p.m. - Ban Johnson Fieldhouse, Marietta, Ohio
This Weekend's Preview: The Polar Bears will wrap up their abbreviated 2021 regular season with a home-and-home series with #9 Marietta this weekend ... The teams will play on Friday night at 6 pm at Ada and will wrap up the series with a 6 pm contest at Marietta on Saturday ... No fans will be allowed to attend the games due to the OAC's COVID-19 policy ... Northern was slated to play Baldwin Wallace twice this weekend, but the games were canceled due to COVID-19 protocol issues at BW ... The games with Marietta will mark the seventh consecutive contest ONU has played against a team that has appeared in the D3hoops.com poll ... ONU has also faced Mount Union (as high as No. 2) and Heidelberg (as high as No. 15) four times ... Northern snapped a 3-game losing streak by defeating No. 15 Heidelberg 74-68 last Friday ... Junior Brandon Waugh had a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, sophomore C.J. Napier scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds and sophomores Grant Heileman and Landen Long added 10 points each for ONU ... Napier leads the team and is sixth in the league in scoring at 17.7 ppg and leads the team and is second in the OAC in rebounding at 9.6 rpg ... Waugh is second on the team in scoring at 14.6 ppg ... He is also fourth in the OAC in rebounding at 7.0 rpg and is 8th in the OAC with 28 assists ... ONU has made 112 FTs this season, while its opponents have attempted only 96 ... ONU will return to action next week with the annual OAC Tournament set to begin with the quarterfinals on Tuesday ... The seeds for the OAC Tournament will be determined by a weighted system that factors in a team's winning percentage (2/3) and its opponents' winning percentage (1/3) ... Baldwin Wallace and Capital will not compete in the OAC Tiournamenrt due to COVID-19 concerns, so the tournament will be an 8-team affair ... The Pioneers are ranked 9th nationally in the latest D3hoops.com poll ... MC was scheduled to play a home-and-home with Capital this weekend, but the games were canceled due to COVID-19 protocol issues at CU ... MC leads Heidelberg by .5 game in the OAC standings and would clinch the OAC Regular Season title with two wins this weekend ... Junior Mason Lydic was named to the D3hoops.com Team of the Week ... He averaged 24.0 ppg last week in a pair of wins over No. 9 Mount Union ... Lydic leads the team in scoring at 16.7 ppg, Jason Ellis is second at 15.6 ppg, Lukas Isaly is third at 13.2 ppg and Tim Kreeger is fourth at 11.6 ppg.
ONU Statistical Leaders:
| Scoring | Rebounding | 3FGs | Assists | Steals | ||||||||||||||
| 1. | Napier | 17.7 | 1. | Napier | 9.6 | 1. | Waugh | 12 | 1. | Waugh | 28 | 1. | Waugh | 16 | ||||
| 2. | Waugh | 14.6 | 2. | Waugh | 7.0 | 2. | Long | 10 | 2. | Napier | 16 | 2. | Long | 7 | ||||
| 3. | Berner | 12.7 | 3. | Berner | 4.7 | 3. | Unruh | 7 | 3. | Unruh | 12 | 3. | Scott | 4 |
All-Time Series: Ohio Northern leads the all-time series between the two schools by a 59-38 margin ... ONU is 32-15 at home, is 29-14 at the ONU Sports Center and is 27-22 at Marietta ... MC has won four straight in the series, including 93-61 and 75-55 decisions last year.
Head Coach Rich Bensman: Bensman is in his fifth season at ONU with a 54-57 record, a winning percentage of .486.
