Tuesday
NSU at Illinois, 8 p.m. EST, Assembly Hall
ESPN3 | Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - After a win at home against UMBC, the Norfolk State men's basketball team takes a big step up in competition, hitting the road to face No. 10-ranked Illinois Tuesday night at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. EST) at Assembly Hall.

It will mark the first of two games this week for NSU against ranked teams, as the Spartans will follow this contest up with a matchup at No. 25 North Carolina State on Saturday night.

Media Coverage: The game against the Fighting Illini will be broadcast live on ESPN3 with Mike Couzens and Brooke Weisbrod on the call. Fans can also follow along with the live stats.

Last Time Out: NSU shot better than 50 percent in both halves and overcame foul trouble from several of its big men in an 83-66 win over UMBC Sunday afternoon at Joseph Echols Hall. NSU committed 27 fouls and saw three players leave the game with five fouls, but nevertheless the Spartans earned the victory while using several different and smaller lineups than usual throughout the game.

In the end, NSU got scoring from the usual suspects, with Malcolm Hawkins, Pendarvis Williams and Rob Johnson pacing the way. Hawkins had a career-high 20 points, while Williams had 19 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Johnson had a double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

Series History: This will mark the first-ever meeting between NSU and Illinois.

About Illinois: The Fighting Illini went out to the West Coast and took down then-No. 10 Gonzaga on Saturday to improve to 10-0 on the season. Illinois shoots 46 percent from the floor, including better than 40 percent from 3-point range, and makes nearly 11 3-pointers a game. Brandon Paul leads the offense with 19.5 points per game, with D.J. Richardson (12.2) and Tracy Abrams (11.6) also in double figures. Richardson also leads the team with 4.8 rebounds, while Paul tallies a team-leading 3.8 assists.

Solid 3-Point Defense: NSU enters the contest against a good 3-point shooting team in the Fighting Illini after holding UMBC to a 0-of-16 effort from beyond the arc. Since the 2002-03 season, NSU had never held an opponent to without a 3-point field goal until doing so against the Retrievers on Dec. 9. The Spartans rank first in the MEAC and 52nd in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage defense at 28.6.

Best Since Missouri: NSU hit nine 3-pointers and shot 54.0 percent from the floor against UMBC, the best marks since hitting 10 3-pointers and shooting 54.2 percent in the NCAA tournament upset of Missouri on March 16.

Spartans Stepping Up: Several players have stepped up their production recently for the Spartans. Rob Johnson (20) and Brandon Goode (16) both recorded career highs in points at South Carolina State, while Malcolm Hawkins (20) did the same in the next game against UMBC. Kris Brown (13) recorded a career high against Morehead State, and Johnson also had a big game, adding career highs of six assists and four steals.

Then against St. Francis Brooklyn, Jamel Fuentes topped his career high with 18 points. Brown (12) came up one point short of tying his career high as well but did reach double figures for the second time in his career.

Program Milestone: NSU's victory at South Carolina State was win No. 1,100 for the Spartan program.

Good From the Line: Pendarvis Williams ranks second in the MEAC and 14th in the nation in free throw shooting, hitting 93.5 percent of his charity stripe attempts on the year (29-of-31).

Back From Injury: Pendarvis Williams sat out two games while resting a sore knee and then came back against Savannah State with a vengeance. He added a game-high 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting and hit a pair of treys late in the game to extend NSU's lead to what turned out to be an insurmountable eight-point advantage. He followed that up two games later with 19 points, seven boards and five assists against UMBC.

Fuentes on Fire: Jamel Fuentes handed out 11 assists at Morehead State, the most since Aleek Pauline had 11 at Coppin State on Jan. 31, 2011. Fuentes followed that up with a 10-assist effort against St. Francis Brooklyn. The last time an NSU player had two straight games with 10 or more assists occurred Jan. 25 and 27, 1992, when Marcus Whitfield had 10 in back-to-back games.

The MEAC Leaderboard: Several players have cracked the top 5 in the MEAC statistics, including Pendarvis Williams, who ranks second in free throw percentage at 93.5. Brandon Goode sits second in field goal shooting at 62.7 percent. Rashid Gaston ranks fourth in offensive rebounds with 3.2 per game, while Malcolm Hawkins ranks fifth in 3-point field goal percentage at 41.7. The Spartans rank first as a team in opponent 3-point field goal percentage (28.6) and second in 3-point field goal percentage (33.5).

March to 1,000: Now with 783 career points, Pendarvis Williams needs just 217 more to become NSU's 30th all-time 1,000-point scorer. He is on course to accomplish the feat in late February.