Saturday
Hampton at NSU (Battle of the Bay), Joseph Echols Hall, 6 p.m.
Radio: WNSB Hot 91.1 | Listen Live | Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN) Sirius XM 128
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - The game everyone circles on their calendars arrives on Saturday as Hampton and the Norfolk State men's basketball teams face-off against one another in the first Battle of the Bay this season. Tip-off is slated for 6 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall.

Media Coverage: The game can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1, with Ross Gordon and Maguell Davis on the call. Live stats and a live video feed will be available. The video feed will carry the WNSB radio call with it. The game will also be broadcast on Heritage Sports Radio Network (HSRN) Sirius XM 128.

MEAC Standings: NSU currently sits atop the conference at 6-0 behind North Carolina Central (4-0) and Savannah State (4-1). The Spartans also enter the contest riding a five-game win streak and carry an 11-10 overall record. Hampton is one of three teams along with Morgan State and North Carolina A&T sitting at 2-2 in conference play behind the top 3 squads.

Last Time Out: Morgan State erased a 14-point halftime deficit, but NSU shot 7-of-10 from the free throw line in the last minute-plus of the game and held on to defeat the Bears, 73-71, Monday night at Echols Hall. The Bears used an 18-4 run and an eventual 43-26 advantage on the boards to take the lead by two with seven minutes left in the game. NSU, though, took it back on a jumper in the lane from Malcolm Hawkins with 4:59 left and never relinquished the lead again.

Pendarvis Williams led all scorers with 20 points, while Brandon Goode had a career-high 18 and Rob Johnson chipped in with 17. Marese Phelps added 12 in the first half when NSU hit 17-of-27 (63.0 percent). The quartet hit 25-of-45 for the game, while the rest of the team shot just 1-of-15. The Spartans forced 29 Morgan State turnovers.

Series History: NSU leads the all-time series with Hampton, 79-41. NSU won both meetings last year in the regular season, while the Pirates were victorious in the previous four games, including in the 2010 and '11 MEAC tournaments.

About Hampton: The Pirates score slightly less than 60 points a game and enter the weekend 5-12 overall as well as 2-2 in conference play. Deron Powers is the only player in double figures at 11.7 points per game and a team-best 5.2 assists. Du'Vaughn Maxwell, this week's MEAC Defensive Player of the Week, ranks first on the team with 6.8 rebounds and 2.9 blocks and second in scoring (8.4). As a team, Hampton shoots just 36.4 percent from the floor, including 26.3 percent from 3-point range, but also limits the opposition to 63.5 points per game on 39.2 percent shooting.

Strong Defense: NSU piled up a season-high 14 steals on 29 Morgan State turnovers on Jan. 21. It marked the most turnovers by a Spartan opponent since Bethune-Cookman had 30 on Feb. 9, 2008. The Spartans have averaged 13.0 steals while forcing 24.5 turnovers over the last two games.

Only once in the past nine games has NSU committed more turnovers than its opponent. NSU's 14 steals against Morgan State marked the most since having 15 against Randolph on Nov. 16, 2011.

Making It Interesting: NSU has had a double-digit lead in the second half of all 11 wins this season, although the final margin in eight of those wins was 10 points or less. The Spartans have won all six of their MEAC contests by just 5.8 points per game despite having an average high lead of 13.8 points in the second half of those six games.

Heating Up: Pendarvis Williams has scored in double figures in eight straight and nine of the last 10 games after failing to do so in three of the previous four. He's averaged 15.5 points, 4.4 boards, 1.8 steals and shot 45.5 percent (40-of-88) from the field and 37.7 percent (20-of-53) from 3-point range over the last eight games.

Also coming up big lately have been Rob Johnson, Malcolm Hawkins and Brandon Goode. Johnson has posted 12.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.2 blocks the last six games after failing to score more than eight points in the previous four. Hawkins, meanwhile, tallied 15.2 points on 24-of-54 field goals (44.4 percent), including 10-of-25 from 3-point land (40.0 percent) with 3.0 rebounds 1.8 steals duirng a five-game stretch from Jan. 2-19

After scoring no more than six points in the prior eight games, Brandon Goode has now had three straight in double figures, including a career-high 18 against Morgan State and his second career double-double (11 points, 11 rebounds) against Coppin State. He's averaging 13.7 points on 15-of-25 shooting (60.0 percent) and 7.0 rebounds in his last three games.

Leading the Way: NSU is averaging 2,712 in attendance for its home games, tops among all MEAC teams and several hundred ahead of both Hampton (2,250) and North Carolina A&T (2,220).

First Half on Fire: For the third time this season, NSU hit better than 60 percent in a half after shooting 17-of-27 (63.0 percent) against Morgan State in the first half. NSU also went 15-of-24 (62.5 percent) against Navy in the first stanza and 18-of-26 (69.2 percent) against St. Francis Brooklyn in the second half.

NSU hit 54.5 percent against Navy for the entire game as well, the best shooting percentage since connecting on 56.8 percent (21-of-37) against Howard on March 7, 2012 in the MEAC tournament. NSU led for the entire game against the Midshipmen.

Thanks for the Free Points: NSU has averaged 20.3 made free throws in the previous three games.

Better in the 2nd: NSU is averaging 29.8 points per game in the first half but bumps that up to 35.9 points in the second half. Opponents are the same, averaging 30.0 in the first stanza but 38.0 in the second.

Road Warriors: NSU played 16 of its first 19 games of the season on the road, including all four of its conference games. The Spartans will end the year with eight of 12 games at home and also play the MEAC tournament at the Norfolk Scope, just 1.6 miles from their home arena.

March to 1,000: Now with 922 career points, Pendarvis Williams needs just 78 more to become NSU's 30th all-time 1,000-point scorer. He is on course to accomplish the feat late in the season.

Good From the Line: Pendarvis Williams ranks second in the MEAC and 29th in the nation in free throw shooting at 88.2 percent. So far this year, Williams has connected on 53-of-61 attemps from the charity stripe.

The MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: Several players stand in the top 5 in the MEAC statistics, including Pendarvis Williams and Jamel Fuentes. Fuentes ranks second in assists (5.6) and fourth in assist-turnover ratio (1.9), while Williams sits second in free throw percentage at 86.9 and fifth in 3-point field goals per game (1.8). Fuentes also sits 40th in the nation in assists per game.

Rashid Gaston ranks third in offensive rebounds with 3.0 per game and fifth in field goal percentage (54.8), and Rob Johnson ranks fifth in defensive rebounds (4.4). As a team, the Spartans rank third in 3-point field goal percentage (31.9) and defensive rebounding (22.8).

Crashing the Offensive Glass: For the entire season, Rashid Gaston has had an almost 50-50 split in terms of his offensive and defensive rebounds. So far this year, Gaston has had 54 of his 114 total rebounds on the offensive glass.