Saturday
NSU at Miami, 4 p.m., BankUnited Center
TV: ESPN3 | WatchESPN
Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - The last non-conference game of the year for the Norfolk State men's basketball team finds the Spartans taking a break from their snow-covered homes to head down to Miami to take on the Hurricanes on Saturday. Tip-off at the BankUnited Center is at 4 p.m. It will mark the third of four straight games on the road for the Spartans.

Media Coverage: The contest against Miami will mark the second straight game, and the third time this season, that NSU will appear on an ESPN platform. Saturday's game will be broadcast on ESPN3. Fans can also view the contest online with WatchESPN. Live stats will be available here.

Series History: Miami and Norfolk State have met only one other time, a 76-58 Hurricane win on Jan. 2, 2005 at the Convocation Center in Coral Gables. Robert Hite and Guillermo Diaz combined for 40 points for Miami, while Karandick Ogunride and Chakowby Hicks totaled 16 and 15 points, respectively, for NSU.

About Miami: The Hurricanes own a 10-10 record on the season after dropping their past three games in ACC play against Duke and Syracuse at home and at Maryland on Wednesday. Miami, which advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 last season, is led by the play of Rion Brown. The senior averages 14.0 points and is second with 6.2 rebounds per game. No other player scores in double figures, with Garrius Adams (9.7 points) and Donnavan Kirk (9.6 points, 6.3 rebounds) the next highest scorers for a team that averages 61.5 points per contest but also only gives up 60. Like NSU, Miami also defeated Savannah State earlier this year on the road, 68-51 on Dec. 19.

Last Time Out: Down by eight with six minutes left, NSU outscored Savannah State 17-2 to close out the game and defeat the Tigers, 56-49, last Monday in an ESPNU game at Tiger Arena. The Spartans went into the half up by two after SSU had gone nearly nine minutes without scoring a point in the first half. The Tigers closed out that first stanza on a 10-1 run and also went on a 13-2 run in the second half right before the Spartans finished the game by scoring 17 of the last 19. Malcolm Hawkins led all players with 16 points, while Pendarvis Williams added 13. RaShid Gaston added seven points and a game-high 13 boards for NSU, which shot 20-of-47 (42.6 percent) and outrebounded SSU, 40-29. Seven players took up all but three of the 200 total minutes in the game for NSU.

Frequent Flyer Miles: The Spartans have traveled approximately 9,818 miles (one way) through the air this year on its five trips to Houston, Boston, Seattle, Honolulu and Miami, as well as 1,686 miles on the ground (also one way) in road trips to Duke and Rutgers (NIT Season Tip-Off) as well as to Virginia, LIU Brooklyn, UMES/Delaware State and South Carolina State/Savannah State. After this weekend in Miami, NSU only has two trips out of the Hampton Roads area left (including the MEAC tournament): next Saturday at Morgan State and Feb. 22 and 24 at Coppin State and Howard.

Senior Leadership: NSU has scored 1,594 points this year, with 1,281 of those points (80.4 percent) coming from NSU's eight-player senior class.

Spartans in the MEAC: NSU is 6-2 this year in the MEAC and 35-5 (87.5 winning percentage) since the start of the 2011-12 season.

MEAC Standings: The Spartans sit in second in the MEAC standings at 6-2 behind league leader North Carolina Central (5-1). Hampton and Savannah State (5-2) and Morgan State (4-2) sit right behind the Spartans in the standings.

Back in the Fold: RaShid Gaston competed in his first game in nearly two months when he played 20 minutes at Delaware State on Jan. 13. He has scored 10.0 points per game over his last four contests and nearly tied his career high with 13 boards at Savannah State.

Ahead at the Half: The Spartans are 28-5 since the start of the 2012-13 season when leading or tied at the half and 48-6 dating back to the 2011-12 season.

Dominating the Inside: Norfolk State has outscored opponents 752-575 in points in the paint, an average of 8.4 points per game. Against Coppin State, the Spartans had a 46-16 edge, while NSU has also outscored East Carolina (50-16) and Stillman (62-26) by large margins. On the flip side, opponents have taken 127 more 3-pointers than NSU this year.

Hot Shooting: Pendarvis Williams is currently shooting 49.1 percent (113-of-230) from the floor this year, including 63.1 percent (77-of-122) from inside the arc. Brandon Goode, Anell Alexis and RaShid Gaston, meanwhile, have combined to hit 202-of-354 (57.1 percent) from the floor this year. Malcolm Hawkins, meanwhile, is connecting on 42.4 percent from 3-point range.

As a team, the Spartans are shooting 48.2 percent from the floor and 34.7 percent from 3-point range this year, the best marks in a season since 1994-95 (49.5 percent) and 1998-99 (35.7 percent), respectively. They are also hitting 53.2 percent from inside the arc.

Don't Foul 'Em: Malcolm Hawkins and Pendarvis Williams have been solid from the charity stripe lately. Williams has connected on 48-of-56 in the last 14 games, while Hawkins has hit 52-of-61 from the free throw line over his last 13 games. Hawkins had made 24 straight free throws before a miss at DSU.

As a team, the Spartans are connecting on 70.0 percent from the foul line this year. Only once in the previous 30 years has NSU hit better than 70 percent from the free throw line in a season (72.0 percent, 2003-04). The all-time program record is 72.3 percent set in 1968-69.

Hawkins (81.1 percent) and Williams (81.2) are chasing the program's individual Division I record of 83.3 set by Ryan Grier in 2003-04. The all-time NSU record is 85.6 percent set by David Donerlson in 1991-92.

Rare Company: Pendarvis Williams is one of five all-time NSU players with at least 1,400 points, 400 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals along with Ralph Tally, Barry Mitchell, Tony Murphy and Michael Deloach. Williams needs 29 more rebounds to reach 500 for his career, and should he reach that mark he will join Tally and Mitchell as the only players to reach 1,400 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals.

Scoring Offense: NSU's is scoring 75.9 points per game this year, the highest scoring season since averaging 76.0 per game in 1999-2000, and almost 10 points more per game than last year (66.3).

Trending: Starting guard Jamel Fuentes has added 7.7 points, 5.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds in the last seven games. He has also had at least four assists in the last 13 games. After scoring just six points all year, Kievyn Lila-St. Rose added a career-high 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting at UMES when NSU was down to just nine active players. Lila-St. Rose is averaging 5.7 points on 13-of-27 shooting with 2.3 boards in the last six games, including starts in the last three.

RaShid Gaston has also gotten back into form, posting 10.0 points in the last four games. Malcolm Hawkins has shot 11-of-22 from the 3-point line in the last four games.

Brandon Goode has scored in double figures in 13 of the last 17 and is shooting 32-of-50 from the field over the last seven games, including a 19-point, 10-rebound effort at S.C. State.

Beginning the Climb: Sitting at No. 20 in the all-time scoring list at NSU with 1,435, Pendarvis Williams needs 101 points to reach the next person in line, Ray Epps.

Jamel Fuentes now has 368 career assists, which ranks seventh all-time at NSU. He needs eight more to reach sixth place, a spot held by Fuentes' predecessor, Aleek Pauline.

Chasing Some Season Records: Brandon Goode has 52 blocks on the season, which ranks fourth in single-season records for Division I and eighth overall (including NSU's D-II days). Jamel Fuentes currently sits third in D-I records with 117 assists.