Thursday
NSU at Seattle, 10 p.m. EST, ShoWare Center
Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - Coming off an overtime win at Boston University, the Norfolk State men's basketball team will head out to the other side of the country for a Thursday evening tip at Seattle University at 10 p.m. EST. The game will be played at the ShoWare Center as part of the ShoWare College Classic.

Media Coverage: Fans can follow the live stats for the game against the Redhawks here.

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

About Seattle University: The Redhawks stand 7-3 on the year, with all five of their Division I wins coming against California schools. Most recently, Seattle downed Pacific Lutheran at home, 66-38, on Sunday. Isiah Umipig has tallied 18.0 points per game with a team-best 4.9 assists. Jarell Flora is the only other player in double figures at 11.6 points. Deshaun Sunderhaus and Clarence Trent each average 9.7 points and combine for 10.5 rebounds. Although no player averages better than six boards a game, the Redhawks as a team grab 40.2 a game, exactly eight more boards a contest than the opposition. Teams have scored only 66.3 points per game on the Redhawks this year.

Last Time Out: Pendarvis Williams scored the last six points of regulation and then went 5-of-6 from the free throw line within the last 10 seconds of overtime to give NSU an 86-82 victory at Boston University on Sunday. Williams scored 27 points on the day on 9-of-13 shooting and connected on a floater from seven feet out with nine seconds left in regulation to tie it up. Malcolm Hawkins added 17 points and Anell Alexis chipped in with 16. The Terriers shot 28-of-51 for the game, including 13-of-28 from the 3-point line, but were hurt by 18 turnovers compared to just eight for NSU.

Williams Named Player of the Week: Pendarvis Williams was named the MEAC Player of the Week on Dec. 16 after his 27-point performance at Boston University. It was the second time this year he won the award after. He was named player of the week on Nov. 18 after tallying a career-high 38 points with seven rebounds and four assists against Newberry on Nov. 13 and following that up with 16 points, nine boards and three assists against Virginia Union on Nov. 15.

Best D-I Start: With the win over Bethune-Cookman running its record to 7-3, 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 24-2 since the start of the 2012-13 season when leading or tied at the half and 44-3 dating back to the 2011-12 season.

Hot Hands: In his last seven games, Pendarvis Williams has posted 23 assists to just five turnovers, while Jamel Fuentes has a 20-4 assist-turnover ratio in his last three games.

Nationally Ranked: The Spartans rank 10th in the nation in field goal percentage at 50.6 (through Sunday's games). They also stand in the top 35 in scoring offense (23rd, 84.3) and assists per game (31st, 16.1).

Pendarvis Williams stands 26th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio at 3.36. Brandon Goode, meanwhile, ranks 27th in blocks per game at 2.91, while Jamel Fuentes is 36th in assists at 5.5.

Taking Care of the Ball: Only once in the last eight games has NSU had more turnovers than its opponent.

Better as We Go: NSU averages 5.8 more points in the second half compared to the first half, while opponents are scoring on average 8.4 more in the second stanza.

Dominating the Inside: Norfolk State has outscored opponents 456-321 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 11.7 points over the last three games on 13-of-19 shooting off the bench.

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. He tallied 16 points and seven rebounds at Boston U. on Sunday.

Brandon Goode also overcame a slow start to the year and has now scored in double figures in seven straight. During that time, he is averaging 14.9 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game while shooting 46-of-72 (63.9 percent).

Hot Shooting: Thanks to a 35-of-53 effort in the last five games, Pendarvis Williams is shooting 55.7 percent (73-of-131) from the floor this year, including 68.9 percent (51-of-74) from inside the arc. Williams has also connected on 11-of-23 from the 3-point line and 19-of-21 from the charity stripe in the last five games.

Brandon Goode and Riley Maye, meanwhile, have combined to hit 90-of-144 (62.5 percent) from the floor this year. As a team, the Spartans are shooting 50.6 percent.

The Spartans have shot at least 42 percent from the field in all 11 games this year, the best shooting stretch since hitting at least 40 percent in 15 straight from Jan. 17-March 9, 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.

Beginning the Climb: Sitting at No. 26 right now in the all-time scoring list at NSU with 1,312, Pendarvis Williams needs 11 more points to move into a tie for 25th with Charles Bonaparte and 38 to get to 24th.

Jamel Fuentes, meanwhile, has 312 assists in his career. He needs five 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. He now has 112 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.

College Insider Poll: NSU is currently receiving votes in the CollegeInsider.com top 25 mid-major poll. The Spartans are listed as the ninth team in the receiving votes category with 21.

MEAC Rankings: Pendarvis Williams and Brandon Goode rank first in the MEAC in assist-turnover ratio (3.4) and rebounding (7.5), respectively. Other current top 5 performances in the league include Jamel Fuentes (2nd - 5.5 assists, 2.9 assist-turnover ratio), Malcolm Hawkins (3rd - 17.9 points), Goode (2nd - 2.9 blocks, 4.9 defensive rebounds; 3rd - 61.1 field goal percentage), Williams (5th - 55.7 field goal percentage), Riley Maye (2nd - 64.8 field goal percentage) and Anell Alexis (5th - 84.6 free throw percentage).

As a team, NSU ranks first in scoring offense (84.3), field goal percentage (50.6), 3-point field goal percentage (35.1), assists (16.1) and assist-turnover ratio (1.4). The Spartans also stand second in scoring margin (+6.0), opponent rebounding (34.1), rebounding margin (+3.3), defensive rebounds (24.8) and third in field goal percentage defense (43.2), rebounding (37.4) and blocks (4.9).