Saturday
NSU at UMES, 4 p.m., W.P. Hytche Athletic Center
Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - Setting the Scene: Looking to break a four-game losing streak, the Norfolk State men's basketball team will dive back into conference play this weekend, beginning with a 4 p.m. contest on Saturday against UMES at the W.P. Hytche Athletic Center in Princess Anne, Md.

NSU will face Delaware State on the road on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Memorial Hall to close out the weekend trip.

Media Coverage: The game against the Hawks can be heard live on WNSB Hot 91.1 FM with Ross Gordon on the call. Live stats will be available as well here.

Series History: The Spartans have a big advantage in the all-time series with UMES that first began in 1953-54, as NSU leads 39-16. The Spartans have won four straight and 20 of the last 22 games against the Hawks.

About UMES: The Hawks had a busy week, dropping a pair of games on Monday and Wednesday on the road at Savannah State and South Carolina State. UMES fell to 2-12 overall and 0-2 in MEAC play. Hakeem Baxter had 23 on Wednesday and ranks second on the team with 14.9 points per game. KyRee Jones leads all players with 16.8 points. UMES averages 63.3 points per contest and has shot just 37.0 percent from the floor this season, including 27.3 percent from 3-point range.

Last Time Out: Mount St. Mary's shot lights out at Joseph Echols Hall on Jan. 3, and a 31-point effort from Julian Norfleet helped the Mountaineers to a 104-84 win over the Spartans. Mount St. Mary's hit 35-of-51 for the game (68.6 percent), including a blistering 18-of-25 (72.0 percent) from 3-point range. Rashad Whack added 23 points and hit five of the team's 3-pointers. Brandon Goode led NSU with 19 points on 9-of-11 shooting, while Anell Alexis and Malcolm Hawkins each hit for 16. NSU hit 32-of-54 (59.3 percent) overall on the night.

Conference Win Streak: A setback against Delaware State on Feb. 15, 2012 was the last time the Spartans lost a regular season conference game. NSU has won 21 in a row, which includes last year's 16-0 record. The Spartans currently rank first in the nation for the longest active conference regular season win streak after both Memphis and Gonzaga lost this week.

Rare Company: Pendarvis Williams is one of six all-time NSU players with at least 1,000 points, 400 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals along with Ralph Tally, Barry Mitchell, Chakowby Hicks, Tony Murphy and Michael Deloach. Williams needs 58 more rebounds to reach 500 for his career, and 45 more points to get to 1,400. Should he accomplish both, he will join Tally and Mitchell as the only players to reach 1,400 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals.

The Hawk: Senior Malcolm Hawkins has scored in double figures in every game this year. He had his fifth 20-point game of the year against Seattle with 22 points. His 17.4 per-game average currently ranks as the seventh-best in the Division I era (1997-Present) behind three players - Michael Deloach, Damian Woolfolk and Tony Murphy - who each became 1,700 career point scorers at NSU.

Senior Leadership: NSU has scored 1,200 points this year, with 1010 of those points (84.2 percent) coming from NSU's eight-player senior class.

Don't Foul 'Em: Malcolm Hawkins and Pendarvis Williams have been on fire from the charity stripe lately. Hawkins has hit 35-of-38 from the free throw line over the last eight games, while Williams has connected on 25-of-28 in the last nine games. Hawkins has made his last 18 free throw attempts.

Dominating the Inside: Norfolk State has outscored opponents 587-431 in points in the paint, an average of 10.2 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. Opponents have taken 105 more 3-pointers this year than NSU this year.

Stepping Up: Several players outside of Pendarvis Williams and Malcolm Hawkins have contributed at various points this year as injuries have taken their toll on the roster. Brandon Goode scored in double figures in eight straight from Nov. 19-Dec. 19. During that time, he averaged 14.3 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game while shooting 50-of-79 (63.3 percent). He's tallied 15.5 points in his last two games and has scored in double figures in 10 of his last 11 games.

In five games from Nov. 19-Dec. 5, all starts, Marist transfer Anell Alexis 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. Against Boston University and Seattle, he posted 13.5 points on 11-of-18 shooting with 5.5 rebounds, and then had 16 points against Mount St. Mary's

Backup point guard Marese Phelps, meanwhile, is averaging 6.8 points over the last four games. Starting guard Jamel Fuentes added 13 points as well against Mount St. Mary's.

Riley Maye stepped up off the bench, averaging 11.7 points on 13-of-19 shooting over a three-game stretch from Dec. 5-15. All four of his career double-digit scoring games have come this year.

Hot Shooting: Thanks to a 35-of-53 effort over a five-game stretch from Nov. 26-Dec. 15, Pendarvis Williams is currently shooting 51.7 percent (89-of-172) from the floor this year, including 63.9 percent (62-of-97) from inside the arc.

Brandon Goode and Riley Maye, meanwhile, have combined to hit 115-of-186 (61.8 percent) from the floor this year. As a team, the Spartans are shooting 49.6 percent.

The Spartans shot at least 42 percent from the field in all but one game this year, including the first 12 games of the season, 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.

Hot Hands: Jamel Fuentes has a 43-12 assist-turnover ratio over the last six games.

Nationally Ranked: The Spartans rank 11th in the nation in field goal percentage at 49.6. They also stand in the top 60 in scoring offense (35th, 80.0) and assists per game (57th, 15.1).

Brandon Goode ranks 16th in the nation in field goal percentage at 61.0 and 32nd in blocks per game at 2.67. Jamel Fuentes is 31st in assists at 5.6 and 32nd in assist-turnover ratio at 2.90.

Pendarvis Williams also ranks 44th among active players with 1,355 career points and 45th in career 3-pointers with 183. Goode sits 49th in career blocks with 120.

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 going 9-1 to start the 1995-96 campaign, the program's next-to-last season in Division II.

Taking Care of the Ball: NSU has had fewer turnovers than its opponent in eight of the last 12 games.

Better as We Go: NSU averages 4.9 more points in the second half compared to the first half, while opponents are scoring on average 7.5 more in the second stanza.

Beginning the Climb: Sitting at No. 24 right now in the all-time scoring list at NSU with 1,355, Pendarvis Williams needs 17 more points to jump three spots and begin his push to 1,400.

Jamel Fuentes now has 335 career assists, which ranks ninth all-time at NSU. He needs four more to reach eighth place.

MEAC Rankings: Several NSU players rank in the top 5 in the league, including Malcolm Hawkins (4th - 17.4 points; 5th - 40.6 3-point field goal percentage), Brandon Goode (2nd - 6.9 rebounds, 61.3 field goal percentage; 4th - 2.7 blocks, 4.3 defensive rebounds), Jamel Fuentes (2nd - 5.6 assists, 2.9 assist-turnover ratio), Anell Alexis (5th - 55.4 field goal percentage) and Pendarvis Williams (3rd - 2.4 assist-turnover ratio).

As a team, NSU ranks first in scoring offense (80.0), field goal percentage (49.6), 3-point field goal percentage (35.7), opponent rebounding (32.7), offensive rebound percentage (36.5) and assist-turnover ratio (1.2). The Spartans also stand second in scoring margin (+1.5), rebounding margin (+2.1) and assists (15.1), and third in free throw percentage (71.8) and defensive rebound percentage (66.1).