Tuesday
NSU at Virginia, 9 p.m., John Paul Jones Arena
TV: ESPNU (Mitch Holthus, Play-by-Play; Cory Alexander, Color)
Radio: WNSB Hot 91.1 FM (Ross Gordon, Play-by-Play; Matt Michalec, Color) | Live Audio
Live Stats | Game Notes | Tickets | Parking at JPJ Arena

NORFOLK, Va. - After earning the MEAC's automatic bid to the National Invitation Tournament (NIT) by winning the conference's regular season title, the Norfolk State men's basketball team will head to Virginia to take on the Cavaliers on Tuesday at 9 p.m. at John Paul Jones Arena.

NSU, the No. 8 seed in the 32-team NIT, enters the contest with a 21-11 overall record. No. 1 seed Virginia also sports a 21-11 overall record. This will mark NSU's first appearance in the NIT and its second-straight postseason appearance after defeating No. 2 seed Missouri in last season's NCAA tournament.

Media Coverage: The game can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1, with Ross Gordon and Matt Michalec on the call. The contest will also be broadcast on ESPNU, with Mitch Holthus and Cory Alexander providing the play-by-play and commentary, respectively. Live stats will be available here.

Last Time Out: Bethune-Cookman held NSU without a field goal for the last seven and a half minutes of the contest, including the entire overtime, as the No. 1 seed Spartans fell in the quarterfinal round of the MEAC tournament, 70-68, last Wednesday at Norfolk Scope Arena. The Wildcats erased a 13-point second-half deficit, and NSU was unable to get a decent look after inbounding the ball and going the length of the court with 7.2 seconds left.

Pendarvis Williams led NSU with 19 points, five assists and four rebounds, but Bethune-Cookman's Adrien Coleman was the player of the game after totaling 24 points and 13 rebounds. Kris Brown had a career high with 15 points for NSU, while Rashid Gaston (12 points, nine rebounds) and Rob Johnson (10 points, six boards) also reached double figures. NSU hit just 31.6 percent for the game.

Series History: NSU and Virginia have met one other time in their histories, a 50-49 victory for the Cavaliers on Dec. 20, 2010 at JPJ Arena.

Last Time vs. Virginia: In that game, NSU nearly pulled off one of its biggest upsets as a Division I program, but Assane Sene tipped in a missed free throw with 4.8 seconds left to lift the Cavaliers over the Spartans. NSU had taken a 49-48 lead on two free throws by Rob Hampton with 23.8 seconds left. Virginia missed a 3-pointer on the other end but got the offensive rebound and the foul call, setting up Sene's heroics.

About Virginia: The Cavaliers finished 11-7 in the ACC and 21-11 overall, just missing out on the NCAA tournament after falling to North Carolina State in the ACC tournament quarterfinals. Akil Mitchell has led the Cavaliers the last four games in scoring and rebounds and averages 13.3 points and 8.9 rebounds per game on the season. Joe Harris leads the team with 16.9 points, while no other player averages seven points or better. Although the Cavaliers score just 64 points a game, they also only give up 55.1 points.

NSU's Postseason History: Last season's NCAA appearance marked NSU's first postseason play since moving to Division I in 1997. Prior to that, the Spartans made 15 different appearances in the NCAA Division II tournament  and six NAIA postseason appearances between 1965 and 1995. NSU advanced to the quarterfinals in five different seasons: 1974, '86, '87, '94 and '95. The Spartans made a D-II Final Four appearance in '95.

Sweeping the MEAC Awards: Pendarvis Williams and Anthony Evans earned the top post-season awards in the MEAC this year, with Williams named the MEAC Player of the Year and Evans tabbed the MEAC Coach of the Year. It marks the fifth time NSU won the player of the year award and the second straight year after Kyle O'Quinn earned the distinction in 2012. Evans became the first Spartan coach to ever be named coach of the year.

In addition, Rob Johnson was tabbed to the all-conference third team, while Rashid Gaston garnered a spot on the all-rookie team. It is the first time NSU had three players named to either the all-conference or the all-rookie team in one year. See page 7 for the complete list of NSU's all-MEAC awards throughout the years.

Moving On Up: NSU moved up to 21st from 24th in the latest CollegeInsider.com mid-major top-25 poll released on March 11 (See Page 6 of game notes).

Looking for Win No. 100: Head coach Anthony Evans needs one more win to reach 100 for his NSU coaching career. He would join the ranks of Charles Christian (319), Ernie Fears (147), John Turpin (136) and Mike Bernard (141) as coaches who got to 100 career wins at NSU and the only one to do it solely during the Division I era.

Evans Named Finalist for 3 Awards: Anthony Evans was named a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award, presented to the top minority coach in Division I basketball. He was also named a finalist for the Hugh Durham Award, presented to the top mid-major coach in Division I, and the Jim Phelan Award, presented to the top Division I coach. All three awards are sponsored by CollegeInsider.com.

Catching Fire: Pendarvis Williams has scored in double figures in 18 of the last 19 games, and in the last 12 games alone he is averaging 16.6 points, 4.9 boards and 2.2 assists while shooting 52.5 percent (64-of-122) from the field and 52.7 percent (29-of-55) from 3-point range.

Stepping Up: Brandon Goode has averaged 10.1 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.2 blocks while shooting 35-of-62 (56.5 percent) in the last nine games. He's had at least two blocks in each of the last 12 games and ranks 57th in the nation in blocks. As a team, NSU is averaging 5.4 blocks per game over the last 12 games as well.

Rob Johnson has averaged 14.0 points on 11-of-24 field goals with 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 steals in his last two games after failing to score in double digits in seven of the previous eight games. Rashid Gaston has posted 11.3 points on 17-of-30 shooting and 8.0 rebounds in his last four games as well.

Solid 3-Point Defense: The Spartans have held 14 of their last 15 opponents to 33.3 percent shooting or worse from 3-point range. Collectively, opponents are hitting 61-of-246 (24.8 percent) during that time. On the season, NSU rankes ninth in the nation in 3-point field goal defense.

NSU also ranks in the top 100 in blocks (47) and field goal percentage defense (57) in the latest national rankings.

Making It Interesting: NSU has had a double-digit lead in the second half of 19 of the team's 21 wins this season, with the March 2 B-CU and the Feb. 4 Morgan State games the exceptions. The final margin in 15 of those 21 wins was 10 points or less. NSU is 15-5 in games decided by 10 points or less this season.

NSU's 18-point win over Delaware State on Feb. 9 marked the first time in 14 conference games dating back to last season that the Spartans won by more than 10 points. In fact, aside from NSU's wins over Delaware State and UMES (22) at home, NSU won its 14 other conference games by an average of just 5.9 points despite having an average high second half lead of 13.5 points.

NSU had a 13-point second-half lead against Bethune-Cookman in the MEAC tournament.

Halftime Lead: The loss to B-CU marked the first time the Spartans dropped a game after holding a lead at halftime. NSU carries a 16-1 record when either leading or tied at the half. NSU has 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.

Taking Care of the Ball: Just five times in the last 20 games has NSU committed more turnovers than its opponent.

Better in the 2nd: NSU is averaging 30.7 points per game in the first half but bumps that up to 35.8 points in the second half. Opponents are the same, averaging 29.0 in the first stanza but 36.3 in the second.

Hitting Your Free Throws: NSU had struggled from the free throw line in the latter half of the season before hitting 27-of-36 (75.0 percent) against Bethune-Cookman. It marked the most free throws in a game for NSU since finishing 29-of-45 from the charity stripe against UMES on Jan. 7, 2012.

The MEAC, NCAA Leaderboard: Several players stand in the top 5 in the MEAC statistics, including Brandon Goode and Pendarvis Williams. Goode ranks first in field goal percentage (58.7), while Williams sits second in 3-point field goal percentage (40.5), third in 3-point field goals per game (2.1) and fifth in free throw percentage (80.6) and scoring (14.2).

Jamel Fuentes ranks third in assists (5.0) and fourth in assist-turnover ratio (1.7) and steals (1.8). Rashid Gaston ranks second in field goal percentage (57.0) and fourth in offensive rebounds (2.9).

As a team, the Spartans rank second in 3-point field goal percentage (32.4) and third in field goal percentage (42.0), 3-point field goal percentage defense (29.1) and defensive rebounds (23.8).