Monday
UMES at NSU, 8 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Radio: WNSB Hot 91.1 (Ross Gordon, Play-by-Play; Maguell Davis, Color) | Listen Live
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - Coming off a big win over Delaware State, the Norfolk State men's basketball team will wrap up the two-game homestand and attempt to maintain first place in the MEAC against UMES Monday at 8 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 as well. The video feed will carry the WNSB radio call with it.

MEAC Standings: NSU currently sits atop the conference at 10-0 ahead of North Carolina Central (9-0) and Savannah State (7-2). Every other school has at least three MEAC losses, giving NSU a big leg up in securing a top 3 finish in the regular season and thus a bye in the MEAC tournament.

The Spartans also enter the contest riding a nine-game win streak with a 15-10 overall record. NSU is one of eight schools in the country that has yet to lose a conference game this season. UMES, meanwhile, sits 12th in the conference with a 1-7 record, 1-18 overall.

Last Time Out: Up by six at the half, NSU pulled away from Delaware State in the second half of a 74-56 win over the Hornets Saturday night at home. Brandon Goode and Malcolm Hawkins each had 12 points in the second half and scored 18 of the team's 22 points during a 22-8 run over a nine-minute stretch to help NSU break a five-game losing streak to DSU.

Hawkins and Goode finished with 20 and 17 points, respectively, to lift NSU to its first MEAC win by more than 10 points in 14 games. The Spartans shot 30-of-63 for the game (47.6 percent) while limiting DSU to a 19-of-53 clip (35.8 percent). Marques Oliver led the way with 16 points and 14 rebounds for the Hornets.

Series History: After downing the Hawks by a 63-58 margin on Jan. 12 up in Princess Anne, Md., NSU now leads the all-time series with UMES 38-16. The Spartans have won three in a row over the Hawks.

About UMES: A five-point win over Delaware State still stands as the only win of the season for UMES. The Hawks have lost their last five. Kevin Mays leads the way with 14.3 points and 7.1 rebounds per game despite missing the first part of the season. Kyree Jones ranks second at 13.6 despite missing the last four games, while Troy Snyder chips in with 11.0 points and 6.7 boards. UMES scores just 55 points a game while giving up almost 71 per contest and shoots 35 percent from the floor and 26 percent from 3-point range.

March to 1,000: Now with 992 career points, Pendarvis Williams needs just eight more to become NSU's 30th all-time 1,000-point scorer and the fifth since Corey Lyons finished with 1,000 career points after the 2008-09 season.

Winning: NSU's 10-0 start in the MEAC stands as the best start in conference play during the Division I era and the best since going 14-0 in the CIAA to start the 1989-90 season. The team's current nine-game win streak is also the longest in the D-I era and the best since winning 14 straight during the 1994-95 season.

Catching Fire: A nine-point effort against Delaware State broke an 11-game streak for Pendarvis Williams in which he scored in double figures. Nevertheless, in the last five games he is averaging 18.0 points, 5.6 boards and 2.0 assists while shooting 50.9 percent (28-of-55) from the field and 46.2 percent (12-of-26) from 3-point range.

Solid 3-Point Defense: The Spartans have held their last eight opponents to 33.3 percent shooting or worse from 3-point range. Collectively, opponents are hitting 32-of-127 (25.2 percent).

Making It Interesting: NSU has had a double-digit lead in the second half of 14 of the team's 15 wins this season, with the Feb. 4 Morgan State game the exception, although the final margin in 11 of those wins was 10 points or less. The Spartans have won all 10 of their MEAC contests by an average of 7.5 points per game despite having an average high lead of 14.3 points in the second half of those games.

NSU's 18-point win over Delaware State marked the first time in 14 conference games dating back to last season in which the Spartans did not win by 10 points or less. NSU is 11-4 in games decided by 10 points or less this season.

Taking Care of the Ball: Just twice in the last 13 games has NSU committed more turnovers than its opponent. 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. NSU's 14 steals marked the most since having 15 against Randolph on Nov. 16, 2011.

NSU had nine turnovers at Morgan State on Feb. 4, the fewest since posting eight against St. Francis Brooklyn on Nov. 29. The last time the Spartans had less than eight turnovers in a game occurred on Dec. 22, 2008 against UC Irvine, when NSU had seven. Since the 2003-04 season, NSU has had fewer than 10 turnovers in just six games, with two of those coming this year. The Spartans have committed just 20 turnovers over the last two games as well.

Conference Streak: At 10-0 in the MEAC, NSU is assured of finishing with a winning conference record. Since moving to Division I in 1997, the Spartans have yet to finish worse than .500 in the MEAC (except for the transition 1997-98 season, when NSU didn't play a conference schedule). In fact, since the 1953-54 season, NSU has finished with a losing conference record just once (9-10 in 1990-91) in 56 seasons (not counting the independent 1997-98 and 1961-62 seasons).

Stepping Up: Coming up big lately have been Rob Johnson, Malcolm Hawkins and Brandon Goode. Hawkins has tallied 13.7 points on 46-of-108 field goals (42.6 percent) with 3.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals over the last 10 games. Goode is averaging 12.0 points on 31-of-46 shooting (67.4 percent) with 6.6 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in his last seven games. Johnson averaged 12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.0 blocks in eight games from Jan. 2 - Feb. 2.

Leading the Way: NSU is averaging 3,371 in attendance for its home games, tops among all MEAC teams and more than 1,000 more ahead of Hampton (2,250) and North Carolina A&T (2,052), the only other schools above 2,000. NSU had a sellout crowd of 6,191 against Hampton.

Better in the 2nd: NSU is averaging 30.2 points per game in the first half but bumps that up to 36.6 points in the second half. Opponents are the same, averaging 29.9 in the first stanza but 37.3 in the second.

The MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: Several players stand in the top 5 in the MEAC statistics, including Pendarvis Williams and Jamel Fuentes. Fuentes ranks tied for second in assists (5.4) and fourth in assist-turnover ratio (1.9). Williams sits second in free throw percentage at 87.0, tied for fourth in 3-point field goals per game (2.0) and fourth in 3-point field goal percentage (36.3). Fuentes also sits 41st in the nation in assists per game.

Rashid Gaston ranks third in offensive rebounds (2.9) and fourth in field goal percentage (56.9). As a team, the Spartans rank second in 3-point field goal percentage (32.0) and third in scoring offense (66.8), field goal percentage (41.8), rebounding (36.0), defensive rebounding (23.4) and assist turnover ratio (0.9).

Halftime Lead: The Spartans have had a halftime lead 10 times so far this year, all wins for NSU. The Spartans have overcome halftime deficits of seven points (UMES and Hampton), five points (Rhode Island), three points (Savannah State) and one point (St. Francis Brooklyn) this year in their other victories.

O'Quinn's NBA Season: Selected with the 49th overall pick in the Draft by the Orlando Magic, Kyle O'Quinn made his NBA debut on Nov. 2 against the Denver Nuggets, grabbing one rebound in a little more than three minutes of action. He scored his first career points two days later against the Phoenix Suns with a pair of free throws.

He's tallied 7.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in his last five games. On the season he's averaging 2.9 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game while shooting 35-of-64 (54.7 percent) from the field and 17-of-20 (85.0 percent) from the free throw line.