Norfolk State Men's Basketball
Monday, Dec. 15; 7 p.m.
NSU vs. U.Va.-Wise, Joseph Echols Hall
Radio: Star 1310 AM, Live Audio | Hot 91.1 FM, Live Audio
Live Video | Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - After a tough overtime loss on the road at Mount St. Mary's on Saturday, the Norfolk State men's basketball team returns home to face Division II opponent U.Va.-Wise on Monday night. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Joseph Echols Hall.

Media Coverage
The game will be broadcast live on Star 1310 AM as well as Hot 91.1 FM with Ross Gordon on the call. Live audio is available through the Star 1310 website as well as through the Hot 91.1 website. Both feeds are available on smartphones through the Star 1310 website or through www.TuneIn.com or the TuneIn Radio App (search for "WNSB") for Hot 91.1. Fans can also follow along with the live stats and the live video feed. The live video feed also carries the radio broadcast.

Series History
This will mark the first-ever meeting between U.Va.-Wise and Norfolk State.

About U.Va.-Wise
The Cavaliers own a 1-6 record on the year, with their only victory coming in the season opener against Elizabeth City State, 108-106 in two overtimes. Every loss has been by at least 15 points. Shooting woes have plagued U.Va.-Wise, as the team hits just 33.7 percent overall and 31.1 percent from the 3-point line. The Cavaliers also have been outrebounded by an average of 10.7 boards per game. On the year, Philip Owens II averages 10.7 points and 3.7 assists, with Charles George at 10.1 points and 4.6 assists for an offense that tallies 63.3 points per game. Matt Day adds 8.1 points and 6.0 rebounds, while Brian Sydnor posts 8.0 points and 9.6 rebounds. The Cavaliers have given up almost 88 points per contest so far this season.

Last Time Out
NSU had its chances late in regulation and overtime, but Mount St. Mary's prevailed in overtime by a 67-64 score on Saturday at Knott Arena. The Spartans were behind for most of the game before tying it up with less than three minutes in the second half. NSU missed a last-second shot with just seconds remaining in regulation, but the Spartans scored the first five points of the OT session. Byron Ashe then hit back-to-back 3-pointers for the Mountaineers, while NSU missed its last five shots, including two 3-point attempts in the waning seconds. D'Shon Taylor led all players with 23 points while adding six rebounds, and Jeff Short also reached double figures with 15. RaShid Gaston added nine points and 12 boards.

Player Tidbits
RaShid Gaston
 • Averaging 17.3 points on 43-67 FG with 11.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists last 6 games
 • 6 straight games with 10+ rebounds
 • 10th career double-double, and fifth straight, with 19 points and 13 rebounds vs. Coppin State
 • Ranks 2nd in the MEAC in offensive rebounds (3.4) and rebounds (9.0), 3rd in field goal % (59.1) and scoring (14.8), 4th in defensive rebounds (5.6) and tied for 7th in blocks (1.0)
 • Stands 11th in the nation in double-doubles (5); Also ranks in field goal % (32, 59.1), rebounding (41, 9.0), offensive rebounds (42, 3.44), defensive rebounds (84, 5.56) and scoring (222, 14.8)
 • Ranks 13th in NSU records with a .543 career shooting percentage
 • Named MEAC Player of the Week on Dec. 8 with 24.0 points on 20-27 FG with 11.0 rebounds and 2.0 assists in two games

Jeff Short
 • 19.0 points, 40-76 FG, 12-30 3-Pt, 22-28 FT, 3.8 rebounds and 1.8 assists last 6 games
 • 4th 20-point game of season with 20 vs. Coppin State
 • Shot 9-of-10 from the floor vs. Morgan State, the third-best individual percentage for a game in NSU D-I history
 • Ranks 1st in the MEAC in scoring (17.1), 4th in free throw % (85.4), 6th in minutes (32.6) and 3-point field goal % (39.7) and 7th in 3-point field goals (2.1)
 • Stands 83rd in the nation in free-throw percentage (85.4); Also ranks in scoring (96, 17.1), field goal percentage (176, 45.9), minutes (198, 32:28) and 3-point field goals per game (204, 2.09)

Jamel Fuentes
 • 5.8 assists last 6 games
 • Ranks 2nd in the MEAC in assists (5.2) and assist-turnover ratio (2.1)
 • Stands 55th in the nation in assists (5.2) and 130 in assist-turnover ratio (2.08)
 • Ranks 11th in NCAA Division I in career assists (466), 14th in assist-turnover ratio (1.92), 46th in assist average (4.24) and 48th in games played (110)
 • Ranks third all-time at NSU in assists with 466 and first among D-I players; Needs 37 more to move into second place
 • Stands tied for 16th at NSU in career steals (126)

Malik Thomas
 • Tied career high with five assists vs. Coppin State
 • Named MEAC Player of the Week for Nov. 17-23 with 19.5 points on 15-27 FG with 11.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists in two games

D'Shon Taylor
 • 23.5 points, 17-29 FG, 8-13 3-Pt, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists last 2 games
 • Ranks 2nd in the MEAC in 3-point field goal % (43.2)
 • Career high 24 points vs. Coppin State, including 19 in 2nd half; 2nd double-double of season with 10 boards

LaTre'e Russell
 • Tied career high with seven points with career-high three blocks at Mount St. Mary's

Jordan Butler
 • Ranks tied for 7th in the MEAC in blocks (0.9)

On Fire
The Spartans are currently shooting a combined 50.2 percent (160-of-319) over the last six contests, including 36-of-89 (40.4 percent) from 3-point range.

Get to 20
Jeff Short (24) and RaShid Gaston (20) both reached the 20-point plateau against Morgan State, and D'Shon Taylor (24) and Short (20) did so versus Coppin State. They marked the first time NSU teammates scored 20 points in a contest since a victory over Stillman on Nov. 26, 2013, when Pendarvis Williams (32) and Brandon Goode (22) both scored over 20. It is also the first time NSU had two 20-point performances in back-to-back games since Feb. 20 and 25, 2012 against Longwood and Bethune-Cookman.

NSU has had a 20-point scorer in six straight games and in eight contests overall this year, with a total of 10 20-point games by NSU players. The Spartans have not had six straight 20-point performances since they closed out the 2008-09 season with 11 straight.

Winning the Rebounding Battle
The Spartans have had the rebounding edge in the last eight contests, nine of the 11 games this year, and in 20 of the last 23 games dating back to last season. NSU is a collective +66 in rebounding margin over the last eight games alone, including a +15 effort against Morgan State and a +16 effort against Coppin State. On the season, the Spartans have a +5.5 rebounding margin.

RaShid Gaston has had six straight double-digit rebounding games, the most since Kyle O'Quinn had seven straight from Nov. 16-Dec. 3, 2011. NSU, meanwhile, had 49 rebounds against Coppin State, the most since grabbing 50 against North Carolina A&T on March 3, 2011.

Balanced Scoring?
NSU has four players averaging double figures, including leading scorer Jeff Short (17.1) along with RaShid Gaston (14.8), D'Shon Taylor (13.1) and Malik Thomas (12.0). After those four, though, the next highest scorer is Malik Gray at 3.0 points. Six players have tallied between 1.7 and 3.0 points per contest. A year after losing nearly 80 percent of its scoring from its senior class, NSU is now getting 79.1 percent of its scoring (597-of-755 points) from just four players.

MEAC Rankings
The Spartans rank No. 1 in the MEAC in both opponent rebounding (30.6) and defensive rebound percentage (73.0). They also stand second in scoring offense (68.6), scoring margin (+2.5), field goal percentage (44.6), 3-point field goal percentage (35.8), rebound margin (+5.5), assists (13.5) and assist-turnover ratio (1.0).

Doubling Up
The Spartans have had nine double-double performances in the last nine games. RaShid Gaston posted five straight, including a career-high 28 points with 10 rebounds at Hofstra (Dec. 2), 20 points and 12 rebounds against Morgan State (Dec. 6) and 19 points and 13 boards against Coppin State (Dec. 8) in the last three of those games. It marked the first time an NSU player had five straight double-doubles since Kyle O'Quinn had seven straight from Nov. 16-Dec. 3, 2011. Since the 2002-03 season, only O'Quinn and Gaston have had at least five straight double-doubles.

D'Shon Taylor added 24 points and 10 rebounds against Coppin State as well, marking the first time NSU teammates had double-doubles in the same game since Rob Johnson and Kyle O'Quinn did so against Hampton on Jan. 21, 2012. That was also the last time NSU had two teammates reach double figures in rebounds in the same game.

Good from 3
Norfolk State has made a 3-pointer in 158 straight games, dating back to a contest at South Carolina State on Jan. 25, 2010, the last time the Spartans failed to connect from long range.

Specialty Stats
NSU has outscored the other team by an average of 7.5 more points in the paint (29.6-22.1). The Spartans have outscored their last four opponents 166-104 in that category. On the year, NSU has outscored nine of its 11 opponents in points in the paint, including the last eight. The Spartans have attempted 94 more shots inside the 3-point line than opponents on the season.

On the other side, opponents have made more 3-pointers in eight of NSU's 11 games thanks to 61 more attempts on the season.

The Spartans are also averaging 7.3 fastbreak points over the last six games.

After setting the Division I record in 2013-14 for fewest turnovers per game at 13.4, NSU is currently averaging 14.0 giveaways per contest this season. The school record for fewest turnovers per game was set in 1987-88 at 13.1. Only four times since 1978-79, when the stat was first kept, has NSU had less than 14 turnovers per game.

Free Throwing
The Spartans finished with their best free throw percentage in 10 years last year at 69.3, the best mark since the 2003-04 campaign (72.0 percent). So far in 2014-15, NSU is connecting on 68.7 percent of its attempts from the charity stripe.

Better After the Break
NSU has scored more points in the second half than the first half in seven of the last eight games.

Opponents have shot a collective 128-of-273 (46.9 percent) in the first half but 112-of-291 (38.5 percent) in the second half and overtime this season.

Opponents have scored 3.8 more points in the first half than the second half this year, after scoring on average 6.7 more points in the second half last year and 7.5 more points in the second half in 2012-13.

Nationally Ranked
The Spartans rank 70th in the nation in rebounding margin (+5.5) as well as in the top 165 in 3-point field goal percentage (121, 35.8), field goal percentage (127, 44.6), assists (136, 13.5), defensive rebounds (143, 24.82), offensive rebounds (160, 11.27), free throw percentage (161, 68.7) and blocks (162, 3.6).