Sunday
NSU at Boston University, 1 p.m., Case Gym
Live Video | Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - Following a week off, the Norfolk State men's basketball team will hit the road for the first of four straight non-conference games away from home, beginning on Sunday at Boston University with a 1 p.m. tip-off at Case Gym.

Media Coverage: Fans can watch the game live on the Patriot League Network available here. Live stats will be available as well here.

Series History: This will mark the first-ever meeting between these two teams.

About Boston University: The Terriers dropped their last two games against George Washington and Harvard in overtime to fall to 6-4 on the year. NSU and BU have played one common opponent, as the Terriers defeated LIU Brooklyn 72-57 on Nov. 24. Three different players score in double figures, led by Maurice Watson Jr. at 14.5 points per game along with a team-best 5.9 assists and 2.2 steals. D.J. Irving (12.7 points) and Dom Morris (12.4) also add scoring punch, and Morris leads the team with 7.7 rebounds. BU, though, has been outrebounded by nearly five boards a game this year with only 12 blocks in 10 games.

Last Time Out: Tied at 30-30, NSU slowly pulled away as the second half wore on in a 59-45 victory over Bethune-Cookman on Dec. 7 at Joseph Echols Hall. The Spartans held Bethune-Cookman to just 30.2 percent shooting on the night to win their 21st straight regular season conference game. Riley Maye tied his career high with 15 points off the bench, while Brandon Goode added 10 points, nine rebounds and five blocks. Pendarvis Williams (11) and Malcolm Hawkins (10) also scored in double figures as NSU hit a season-low 42.3 percent on 22-of-52 shooting.

Best D-I Start: With the win over Bethune-Cookman, NSU secured its best 10-game start to a season since starting the 9-1 in 1995-96, the program's next-to-last season in Division II.

Ahead at the Half: NSU had a two-point lead at the intermission in the loss at LIU Brooklyn, marking just the second time in the last two years the Spartans have lost after leading at the break. The Spartans are 23-2 since the start of the 2012-13 season when leading or tied at the half and 43-3 dating back to the 2011-12 season.

Good Defense: NSU held Bethune-Cookman to just 45 points on Dec. 7, the fewest the Spartans have given up since the Spartans defeated Savannah State 55-45 on Dec. 1, 2012.

Hot Hands: In his last six games, Pendarvis Williams has posted 20 assists to just two turnovers.

Nationally Ranked: The Spartans rank 12th in the nation in field goal percentage at 50.7 (through last Sunday's games). They also stand in the top 35 in scoring offense (27th, 84.1) and assists per game (32nd, 16.2).

Pendarvis Williams stands 10th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio at 4.25. Brandon Goode, meanwhile, ranks 25th in blocks per game at 3.10, while Jamel Fuentes is 36th in assists at 5.6.

Goode Honored: Brandon Goode has been named the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week the last two weeks. He averaged 17.3 points on 23-of-35 shooting (65.7 percent) with 10.3 rebounds, 4.3 blocks and 1.3 steals in three games to earn the honor on Dec. 2, and 10.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in two MEAC games to repeat on Dec. 9. He's averaged 15.7 points on 41-of-63 shooting with 9.2 rebounds and 3.5 blocks in his last six games.

Dominating the Inside: Norfolk State has outscored opponents 418-295 in points in the paint, an average of 12.3 points per game. Against East Carolina, the Spartans had a 50-16 edge in points in the paint, and against Stillman that margin was 62-26.

Stepping Up: With injuries taking their toll on the team's depth, Riley Maye has stepped up recently, averaging 14.0 points over the last two games on 10-of-14 shooting.

After a slow start to the year, Marist transfer Anell Alexis has started to catch fire. In five games from Nov. 19-Dec. 5, all starts, he posted 12.8 points on 21-of-39 shooting (53.8 percent), shot 17-of-20 (85 percent) from the foul line and averaged 4.6 rebounds per game.

Beginning the Climb: Sitting at No. 27 right now in the all-time scoring list at NSU with 1,285, Pendarvis Williams needs 10 more points to move into a tie for 26th with Morrell James and 38 to get to 25th.

Jamel Fuentes, meanwhile, has 307 assists in his career. He needs 10 more to reach the top-10 all-time at NSU.

With five blocks against Bethune-Cookman, Brandon Goode moved into sole possession of second place on the all-time list with 111 career blocks. Of course, the best Goode can finish is second, as the all-time leader is Kyle O'Quinn, who had 283 in his four-year career. Goode had a career-high six blocks against Stillman, the most since O'Quinn had six on Feb. 15, 2012 against Delaware State.

Hot Shooting: Thanks to a 26-of-40 effort in the last four games, Pendarvis Williams is shooting 54.2 percent (64-of-118) from the floor this year, including 66.7 percent from inside the arc. Brandon Goode, Anell Alexis and Riley Maye, meanwhile, have combined to hit 112-of-186 (60.2 percent). As a team, the Spartans are shooting 50.7 percent this year, including 229-of-407 (55.7 percent) from 2-point range.

The Spartans shot at least 44 percent from the field in the first nine games this year, the first time shooting that well in nine straight since doing so in nine games from Jan. 22-Feb. 19, 2011. The Spartans have already topped 60 percent shooting twice this year, the fifth and sixth times during the D-I era they have done so.

Home, Sweet Home: NSU is currently riding a 16-game home win streak, dating back to a loss to Delaware State on Feb. 15, 2012. It marks NSU's longest home win streak since tallying 22 victories in a row from Dec. 11, 1987-Feb. 15, 1989.

Conference Win Streak: In fact, that setback against Delaware State was also the last time the Spartans lost a regular season conference game. NSU has won 21 in a row, which includes last year's 16-0 record. The Spartans currently have the longest active win streak in regular season conference games, with Memphis second at 20.

MEAC Rankings: Pendarvis Williams and Brandon Goode rank first in the MEAC in assist-turnover ratio (4.3) and rebounding (7.3), respectively. Other current top 5 performances in the league include Jamel Fuentes (2nd - 5.6 assists; 4th - 2.7 assist-turnover ratio), Malcolm Hawkins (3rd - 18.0 points), Goode (2nd - 3.1 blocks; 3rd - 61.7 field goal percentage, 4.6 defensive rebounds), Riley Maye (2nd - 65.3 field goal percentage) and Anell Alexis (4th - 83.3 free throw percentage).

As a team, NSU ranks first in scoring offense (84.1), field goal percentage (50.7), 3-point field goal percentage (35.8), assists (16.2) and assist-turnover ratio (1.3). The Spartans also stand second in scoring margin (+6.2), field goal percentage defense (42.3), rebounding (38.3), rebounding margin (+4.1), defensive rebounds (25.2), offensive rebound percentage (38.6) and blocks (5.3) and third in opponent rebounding (34.2).

Rare Breed: Hefeng Sun is just one of two players on Division I rosters who hails from China. The other is Tao Xu of San Francisco.