Thursday
North Carolina A&T at NSU, 8 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Radio: WNSB Hot 91.1 (Ross Gordon, Play-by-Play; Maguell Davis & Marian Brooks, Color) | Listen Live
Live Stats | Live Video | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - Perfection is on the line Thursday night at Joseph Echols Hall, as the first-place Norfolk State basketball team will look to finish just the fourth-ever undefeated season in the history of the MEAC against North Carolina A&T at 8 p.m.

It's also Senior Night, and NSU will celebrate the accomplishments of its four seniors prior to the game: Rob Johnson, Kris Brown, A.J Rogers and Quasim Pugh.

Media Coverage: The game can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1, with Ross Gordon, Maguell Davis and Marian Brooks 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 15-0 ahead of North Carolina Central (14-1) and Hampton (11-4). NSU has already locked up the No. 1 seed in the MEAC tournament after clinching at least a share of its first-ever MEAC regular season title on Monday. The Spartans need a win over A&T or a N.C. Central loss to Hampton on Thursday to win the regular season title outright.

The Spartans also enter the contest riding a 14-game win streak with a 20-10 overall record. NSU is one of four schools in the country - Memphis, Louisiana Tech and Gonzaga being the others - that has yet to lose a conference game this season. North Carolina A&T owns a 15-15 overall record and an 8-7 conference mark and sits in a tie for sixth place in the league with Delaware State.

Last Time Out: Florida A&M got to within one early in the second half, but NSU used a 9-0 run later in the half to go up by 13 and was never threatened again by the Rattlers in a 69-58 win on Monday at Echols Hall. The Spartans had been up by as much as 18 in the first half before FAMU cut the deficit to four at halftime.

Rashid Gaston led the way with 20 points on 8-of-12 shooting with 10 rebounds for his second straight double-double. Pendarvis Williams added 14 points with eight rebounds, while Brandon Goode totaled 10 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. NSU shot nearly 50 percent (28-of-57) and held FAMU to just 22-of-70 (31.4 percent). Jamie Adams had 13 points for FAMU.

Series History: One of the closest rivalries in the MEAC for NSU, the Spartans lead A&T in the all-time series, 21-19. NSU has won two in a row and three of the last four over the Aggies.

About North Carolina A&T: After dropping three straight, the Aggies have won two in a row over South Carolina State and Savannah State. Lamont Middleton and Adrian Powell have been the big contributors, averaging 12.5 and 12.3 points per game, respectively. Jean Louisme ranks third with 9.5 points, while Austin Witter tallies team-highs of 7.2 boards and 3.1 blocks with 6.3 points. The Aggies only score 62 points a game while giving up almost the same amount.

Conference Title: Last year NSU won its first-ever MEAC tournament title, and this year the Spartans have already clinched at least a share of their first-ever MEAC regular season title. Prior to this year, the highest the Spartans had ever finished in the MEAC was second in 2012. NSU had not won a regular season conference title since finishing in a tie for first with Virginia Union in the CIAA Northern Division in 1989.

Winning: The Spartans are attempting to become the first MEAC school to go undefeated in conference play since Coppin State did it in back-to-back years in 1992-93 and 1993-94 (16-0 both times). North Carolina A&T (16-0, 1987-88) is the only other school to accomplish the feat. NSU has already set a team record for most MEAC wins in a season and the most conference wins since going 16-3 in the CIAA in 1994-95. The Spartans have won 29 of their past 32 conference games dating back to the last game of the 2010-11 season.

NSU's 15-0 record in the MEAC stands as the best start in conference play during the Division I era and the second-best ever behind the 19-0 CIAA team from 1986-87. NSU also had perfect conference records in the EIAC in 1955-56 and 1957-58 (both 10-0) and in 1960-61 (12-0).

The team's current 14-game win streak is the longest in the D-I era and the best since winning 14 straight during the 1994-95 season. Prior to that, the best was a 19-game streak in 1989-90. The current 14-game streak also ranks tied for third in the nation with Davidson for the longest current win streak (through games of March 5). Only Louisiana Tech (18) and Middle Tennessee State (16) have longer streaks.

NSU has already guaranteed itself a winning record for this year, marking just the fourth time overall since moving to Division I in 1997 NSU has had a winning record and the first time doing it in back-to-back years. NSU also secured back-to-back 20 win seasons for the first time since the 1994-95 and 1995-96 seasons.

Home Sweet Home: NSU owns a 10-0 record at home this season and has won 11 straight dating back to last season. It stands as the longest home win streak since NSU won 12 in a row between the 1993-94 and the 1994-95 seasons.

The Spartans have not gone undefeated at home in the regular season since going 12-0 during the 1988-89 season. NSU also went undefeated in the regular season in 1986-87 and 1983-84. All three times, however, the Spartans lost in the post-season at Echols Hall. You have to go all the way back to 1970-71 (12-0) to find the last time NSU went undefeated at home for an entire season.

Catching Fire: Pendarvis Williams has scored in double figures in 16 of the last 17 games, and in the last 10 games alone he is averaging 16.4 points, 5.0 boards and 1.9 assists while shooting 53.5 percent (53-of-99) from the field and 54.3 percent (25-of-46) from 3-point range. He's also averaging 14.9 points in conference games.

Looking for Win No. 100: Head coach Anthony Evans needs two more wins 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.

Gaston Honored Again: Rashid Gaston earned MEAC Rookie of the Week honors on Monday for the second straight week and the fourth time this year. Gaston previously earned rookie of the week honors on Feb. 25 after tallying 19 points, 12 rebounds and one assist in two games.

He was also named the MEAC Rookie of the Week on both Dec. 17 and Dec. 31. During that time, the freshman averaged 12.0 points per game over a four-contest span from Dec. 11-Dec. 29 after failing to get into double figures in the previous six games.

Halftime Lead: The Spartans carry a 15-0 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.

Stepping Up: Brandon Goode has averaged 11.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocks while shooting 31-of-50 (62.0 percent) in the last seven games and has scored in double figures in eight of the last 12. Malcolm Hawkins has scored in double figures in 11 of the last 15 as well and averaged 18.0 points over a three-game stretch from Feb. 9-18.

Solid 3-Point Defense: The Spartans have held 12 of their last 13 opponents to 33.3 percent shooting or worse from 3-point range. Collectively, opponents are hitting 54-of-210 (25.7 percent) during that time. On the season, NSU rankes 23rd in the nation in 3-point field goal defense.

NSU also ranks in the top 100 in blocks (57), steals (82) and field goal percentage defense (78) in the latest national rankings released Monday afternoon.

Making It Interesting: NSU has had a double-digit lead in the second half of 18 of the team's 20 wins this season, with the B-CU and the Feb. 4 Morgan State games the exception. The final margin in 14 of those 20 wins was 10 points or less.

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. NSU is 14-4 in games decided by 10 points or less this season.

In fact, aside from NSU's wins over Delaware State (18 points) and UMES (22) at home, NSU has won its 13 other conference games by an average of just 5.8 points despite having an average high second half lead of 13.4 points.

Taking Care of the Ball: Just five times in the last 18 games has NSU committed more turnovers than its opponent.

Dominating the Paint: NSU has scored at least 30 points in the paint in 10 of the last 11 games.

Better in the 2nd: NSU is averaging 30.9 points per game in the first half but bumps that up to 36.1 points in the second half. Opponents are the same, averaging 29.4 in the first stanza but 36.5 in the second.

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 (60.6), while Williams sits third in free throw percentage (82.1), 3-point field goal percentage (40.3) and 3-point field goals per game (2.1) and fifth in scoring (14.0).

Jamel Fuentes ranks third in assists (5.2), assist-turnover ratio (1.8) and steals (1.9). Fuentes also sits 49th in the nation in assists per game through Sunday. Rashid Gaston ranks third in field goal percentage (57.4) and fourth in offensive rebounds (2.9).

As a team, the Spartans rank second in 3-point field goal percentage (32.2) and scoring margin (+1.1) and third in scoring offense (67.0), field goal percentage (42.3), rebounding (36.4), defensive rebounds (23.6), and assist-turnover ratio (0.8).