Thursday
NSU vs. Florida A&M, 8 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Live Video/Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - The 2013-14 MEAC basketball season kicks off on Thursday, as the Norfolk State and Florida A&M men's teams will play the first conference game of the year at Joseph Echols Hall. Game time is 8 p.m. or approximately 25 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game that starts at 6.

Media Coverage: The game can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM with Ross Gordon and Antoine Perry on the call. Fans can also listen to the game and watch the live video stream at the same time with the Spartan Showcase Video Streaming portal. Live stats will be available as well here.

Series History: Norfolk State leads the all-time series with Florida A&M, 14-9. The Spartans have won the last nine meetings with the Rattlers. The last FAMU win against the Spartans came on Jan. 6, 2007, an 81-71 victory in Tallahassee, Fla.

About Florida A&M: The Rattlers own a 2-5 overall record, with victories over Stetson by three and Florida Memorial by 18. Jamie Adams, named to the preseason All-MEAC second team, has been the big scorer for FAMU, averaging 17.4 points per game with a team-best 3.3 assists. Reggie Lewis is the only other double figure scorer at 10.6. Bobby King has a team-leading 8.0 rebounds with 5.4 points for a Rattler squad that gets outrebounded by almost four boards a game.

Last Time Out: Gerrell Martin's last-second layup gave LIU Brooklyn a 74-72 victory over NSU last Sunday at the Steinberg Wellness Center. The Spartans had the ball with 16.0 seconds left to go for the winning shot, but Malcolm Hawkins was unable to get a clean look at the basket, and Jason Brickman found Martin streaking down the court for the fastbreak bunny at the buzzer. Hawkins finished with 21 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Brandon Goode added 17 points and 11 boards.

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 21-2 since the start of the 2012-13 season when leading or tied at the half and 41-3 dating back to the 2011-12 season.

Home, Sweet Home: NSU is currently riding a 14-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.

Nationally Ranked: The Spartans rank 11th in the nation in field goal percentage at 51.8. They also stand in the top 25 in assists per game (16th, 17.4) and scoring offense (22nd, 86.4).

Pendarvis Williams stands 14th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio at 4.29. Brandon Goode, meanwhile, ranks in the top 30 in both field goal percentage (26th, 62.7) and blocks per game (27th, 3.00).

Mistake-Free Ball: Only three times in their Division I history have the Spartans had a 2-1 or better assist-turnover ratio in a game, with two of those coming this season. Most recently, the Spartans had an 18-9 assist-turnover ratio at LIU Brooklyn.

NSU also posted a 19-4 assist-turnover ratio against UNC Asheville, the fewest turnovers and the best assist-turnover ratio in the D-I era. It marked the fewest turnovers since the Spartans had just one at Johnson C. Smith on Feb. 18, 1997. On Feb. 6, 1999, the Spartans had their first 2-1 or better assist-turnover game when they posted 19 and eight against Howard.

According to statsheet.com, only three teams, Rutgers, Connecticut and Louisville, have had less than four turnovers in a game this year (all with three). Along with NSU, numerous schools this year have had only four turnovers in a game.

In his last four games, Pendarvis Williams has posted 16 assists to just one turnover.

Stepping Up: After a slow start to the year, Marist transfer Anell Alexis has started to catch fire. In his last four games, all starts, he has posted 12.8 points on 18-of-30 shooting (60.0 percent) and 4.5 rebounds per game.

Goode Honored: Brandon Goode was named the MEAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. In his last four games, the senior has averaged 18.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks while shooting 34-of-50 (68.0 percent).

NSU Signs 2: The Spartans picked up a pair of commitments in the early signing period in power forward Jordan Butler from Putnam Science Academy in Putnam, Conn., and small forward Deven Dorsett from Miller Grove High School in Lithonia, Ga. Butler averaged 16.6 points, 14.3 rebounds and 3.8 blocks during his senior year in 2012-13 at Glastonbury High. Dorsett's Miller Grove team has won five straight state titles.

Dominating the Inside: Norfolk State has outscored opponents 360-245 in points in the paint, an average of 14.4 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.

In fact, it marked the second time this year NSU had 62 points in the paint in a game, The Spartans also accomplished the feat against Newberry. Those two performances are tied for the most points NSU has scored since the 2002-03 season. The Spartans also had 62 points in the paint at Morgan State on Feb. 27, 2010.

Dominating the Glass: So far this year, the Spartans have outrebounded six of their first eight opponents and were even with Newberry on the glass, 35-35. UNC Asheville was the only team to outrebound NSU this year, 41-22.

Beginning the Climb: With two blocks against LIU Brooklyn, Brandon Goode moved into sole possession of third place and ahead of current assistant coach Larry Vickers on the all-time list with 104 career blocks. Goode needs four more to move into a tie for second-place all-time at NSU with Karandick Ogunride. Of course, the best Goode can finish is second, as the all-time leader is O'Quinn, who had 283 in his four-year career.

Goode had a career-high six blocks against Stillman, the most since Kyle O'Quinn had six on Feb. 15, 2012 against Delaware State.

Sitting at No. 27 right now in the all-time scoring list at NSU with 1,258, Pendarvis Williams needs 37 more points to move into a tie for 26th with Morrell James.

Jamel Fuentes, meanwhile, has 292 assists in his career. He needs 10 to move into a tie for 11th place all-time at NSU and 25 to reach the top 10.

Hot Shooting: Thanks to his 12-of-15 performance against Stillman, Pendarvis Williams is shooting 53.8 percent (56-of-104) from the floor this year. Brandon Goode, Anell Alexis and Riley Maye, meanwhile, have combined to hit 90-of-145 (62.1 percent). As a team, the Spartans are shooting 51.8 percent this year, including 213-of-376 (56.6 percent) from 2-point range.

The Spartans have shot at least 44 percent from the field in all eight games this year, the first time shooting that well in eight straight since doing so in nine straight 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.

MEAC Rankings: Pendarvis Williams and Jamel Fuentes rank 1-2 in the MEAC in assist-turnover ratio (4.3 and 2.4, respectively). Other current top 5 performances in the league include Fuentes (2nd - 5.1 assists), Williams (5th - 4.6 defensive rebounds, 3.8 assists), Malcolm Hawkins (3rd - 18.8 points), Brandon Goode (2nd - 63.2 field goal percentage; 3rd - 3.0 blocks; 5th - 4.6 defensive rebounds, 7.0 rebounds) and Anell Alexis (5th - 59.5 field goal percentage).

As a team, NSU ranks first in scoring offense (86.4), field goal percentage (51.8), assists (17.4), assist-turnover ratio (1.4) and offensive rebounds (14.0). The Spartans also stand second in scoring margin (+5.5), 3-point field goal percentage (37.1), rebounding (38.4), opponent rebounding (32.6), rebounding margin (+5.8), defensive rebounds (24.4) and offensive rebound percentage (41.5) and third in blocks (5.1).

Best D-I Start: NSU's 5-2 record to start this year marked the best start to a season in the D-I era. The Spartans started the 2011-12 season 4-2 before dropping their next game. That 5-2 mark stood as NSU's best start since beginning the 1995-96 campaign 9-1.