Saturday
NSU at Hampton, 6 p.m., HU Convocation Center
Live Stats | Free Live Audio | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - NSU will play its last road game of the year and finish up a stretch of seven of nine games away from home in Part II of the Battle of the Bay. NSU will head across the water to take on Hampton on Saturday at 6 p.m. at the HU Convocation Center.

Radio Advisory
Due to issues with its signal tower, NSU's campus radio station Hot 91.1 FM is currently off the air and thus unable to broadcast Spartan basketball. NSU's game at Hampton will be streamed live and for free through the Spartan Showcase link.

Next week's games at home against UMES on Monday and North Carolina Central on Thursday will be broadcast on Star 1310 AM-WGH. Fans can listen to those games as well via www.star1310.com or www.espnradio941.com and through the ESPN Radio 94.1 mobile app. The broadcast schedule for the MEAC tournament from March 10-15 will be finalized at a later date.

Series History
NSU owns an 81-42 edge in the all-time series with Hampton after the Pirates broke a four-game NSU win streak with an overtime win at Joseph Echols Hall on Feb. 15. NSU has more wins against Hampton than any other school. The next closest is St. Paul's, a program Norfolk State has defeated 70 times. Each of the last five meetings has been decided by eight points or less.

About Hampton
The Pirates have won eight in a row to move into second place in the league at 11-3, 16-11 overall. Hampton is very similar to NSU in that the Pirates score 73.0 a game while also giving up 70.4. Du'Vaughn Maxwell leads the way with 15.2 points, 7.4 rebounds and 3.2 blocks. Deron Powers, at 11.0, and Brian Darden, at 9.7, also add scoring punch to the HU offense. A driving force in their success has been their ability to limit teams to less than 40 percent shooting on the season with nearly 16 turnovers. Hampton and its opponents have taken exactly 793 free throw attempts this year, with the Pirates converting one more than the other teams (523-522).

Last Time Out
For the second game in a row, NSU's late double-digit lead evaporated, but the Spartans held on for a 66-60 win over Howard on Monday night at Burr Gymnasium in Washington, D.C. The Spartans trailed by eight at the half but used a 17-2 run in the second half to pull ahead. NSU was up by 11 with five and a half minutes to go before Howard's 11-2 run brought the Bison to as close as they would get with a two-point deficit. Senior Riley Maye led NSU with 14 points and was one of four players in double figures. Anell Alexis and Pendarvis Williams added 13 and 12 points, respectively, while Kievyn Lila-St. Rose totaled 10.

MEAC Standings
The last week of the regular season will continue be a dogfight at the top of the MEAC standings, with four teams vying for the top 3 spots and thus a bye in the MEAC tournament. The Spartans currently stand in third place in the standings at 10-3 behind fourth-place Morgan State (9-4). League leader North Carolina Central owns a 12-1 record, while Hampton is a half game ahead of NSU at 11-3. Savannah State currently sits in fifth at 8-5.

NSU and Morgan State split their season series, while a win over Hampton on Saturday would do the same for the Spartans. The Pirates fell to Morgan State both times this year. Should NSU lose to Hampton, the Spartans would not control their own destiny in securing a top 3 seed in the MEAC. The Spartans have finished fourth or better in the league in six of the previous seven years.

Player Tidbits
Pendarvis Williams
 • 18.8 points and 5.7 rebounds in 37.5 minutes last six games
 • Double-figuring scoring in seven straight
 • 2.0 steals last nine games
 • Fourth in the MEAC in minutes played at 34.3 and fifth in steals at 1.5
 • Needs 30 more points to reach No. 18 on the all-time scoring list at NSU (See table page 5)
 • 46th nationally among active players with 207 career 3-pointers
 • Shooting 48.5 percent from the floor this year, including 61.6 percent (98-of-159) from inside the arc
 • One of two all-time NSU players with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 100 steals and 50 blocks along with Ralph Tally
 • 81.1 percent from the free throw line this season; chasing Division I record of 83.3 percent set by Ryan Grier in 2003-04
 • Second all-time at NSU in career 3-pointers (208)

Kievyn Lila-St. Rose
 • 7.3 points, 4.0 rebounds last three games
 • 4.0 rebounds last five games

Riley Maye
 • 9.7 points on 11-of-14 field goals last three games

Malcolm Hawkins
 • Missed four games due to injury from Feb. 1-15
 • 57-of-67 from the free throw line over his last 14 games
 • 81.2 percent from the free throw line this season; chasing Division I record of 83.3 percent set by Ryan Grier in 2003-04
 • Shooting 40.0 percent from 3-point range, which ranks fifth in Division I season records and 12th overall
 • Third in the MEAC in 3-point shooting percentage (40.0)
 • Has scored in double figures in all but one full game he has played (at Howard; only played the second half at Delaware State)

Brandon Goode
 • 12.5 points on 32-of-48 field goals with 8.5 rebounds in 29.3 minutes last six games
 • Has scored in double figures in 17 of last 23 games
 • Shooting 64-of-98 (65.3 percent) in the last 13 games
 • 10th in the NCAA in career field goal percentage at 59.9
 • Four field goals short of qualifying for the NCAA stats in field goal percentage; 62.1 percent clip would rank fifth in the country
 • Ranks fourth in Division I single-season records with 62 blocks and fifth in all-time single-season records
 • Second all-time at NSU with 142 career blocks behind precedssor Kyle O'Quinn
 • Second in the MEAC in field goal percentage at 62.1, tied for third in offensive rebounds (2.7) and fifth in rebounding (7.1) and blocks (2.3)
 • 50th in the nation in blocks (2.31)
 • 62.1 percent shooting currently ranks sixth all-time at NSU in season records and third in Division I era

Jamel Fuentes
 • Needs three more assists to reach fifth place all-time at NSU
 • Sits third in Division I records with 143 assists this year
 • First in the MEAC in assist-turnover ratio (2.9) and second in assists (5.3)
 • 18th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (2.96) and 33rd in assists (5.5)

Marese Phelps
 • 5.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals in 30.8 minutes last four games
 • 1.9 steals last 15 games
 • Sixth in the MEAC in steals at 1.5

Anell Alexis
 • 11.5 points, 5-of-10 field goals, 11-of-14 free throw shooting in two games vs. Howard

Spartans in the MEAC
NSU is 10-3 this year in the MEAC and 39-6 (86.7 winning percentage) since the start of the 2011-12 season. NSU also owns a 21-2 record in MEAC road games since the start of that 2011-12 campaign.

Winning Record
NSU is guaranteed to have a winning record this year for the third year in a row. Prior to the start of that streak in 2011-12, NSU had a winning record just twice in 14 seasons since moving to Division I in 1997-98.

Get on the Glass
NSU has been even or had the edge in the rebounding column in five straight and nine of the last 12 games. In the last two games, NSU has outrebounded its opponents by a combined 26 boards.

Limit Your Mistakes
NSU is currently averaging just 13.0 turnovers per game. Should that hold up, it would mark a school record for fewest turnovers per game since the stat was first kept in 1978-79. The program record is 13.1 per game in 1987-88. In fact, only three times has NSU even had less than 14 turnovers a game: 1987-88, 1995-96 (13.4) and 1989-90 (13.9).

Share the Ball
NSU is also averaging 14.1 assists per game this year, the most in the Division I era and the most since averaging 14.2 in 1995-96.

Coughing Up the Ball
Over the last five games, NSU is averaging 6.9 steals and opponents are turning the ball over 14.1 times a game. Howard committed 24 turnovers on Feb. 10, the most giveaways by an NSU opponent since Morgan State had 29 on Jan. 21, 2013.

Back in the Fold
Malcolm Hawkins missed four games due to a neck injury before returning on Saturday at Coppin State. Coming off the bench, Hawkins scored 15 points and added four assists in 27 minutes while also hitting 4-of-4 from the free throw line in the last minute to seal the victory.

Ever-Changing Lineup
NSU started its 12th different lineup of the season in the contest at Coppin State on Feb. 22, with Marese Phelps making his second start of the year. The lineup that has been together the most is the combination of Brandon Goode, Anell Alexis, Malcolm Hawkins, Pendarvis Williams and Jamel Fuentes, which started seven games during the two-month absence of RaShid Gaston.

MEAC Rankings
NSU ranks first in the MEAC in scoring offense (73.9), field goal percentage (46.8) and offensive rebound percentage (37.7). The Spartans also stood second in 3-point field goal percentage (33.7), opponent rebounding (33.0), rebounding margin (+2.9), assists (14.1) and assist-turnover ratio (1.1) and third in scoring margin (+1.7) and defensive rebound percentage (66.3).

Senior Leadership
NSU has scored 1,994 points this year, with 1,579 of those points (79.2 percent) coming from NSU's senior class.

Ahead at the Half
The Spartans are 31-6 since the start of the 2012-13 season when leading or tied at the half and 51-7 dating back to the 2011-12 season. NSU won its first game this year when trailing at the half when they erased an eight-point deficit at Howard on Feb. 24.

Dominating the Inside
Norfolk State has outscored opponents 906-699 in points in the paint, an average of 7.7 points per game. Against Coppin State on Jan. 20, 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 147 more 3-pointers than NSU this year (5.4 per game).

Good Shootin'
As a team, the Spartans are shooting 46.8 percent from the floor and 33.7 percent from 3-point range this year, the best marks in a season since 1998-99 (48.1 percent) and 2006-07 (34.7 percent), respectively. They are also hitting 51.9 percent from inside the arc.

Scoring Offense
NSU's is scoring 73.9 points per game this year, the highest scoring season since averaging 76.0 per game in 1999-2000, and 7.6 points more per game than last year (66.3).

Conference Streak
With 10 MEAC wins so far this year, NSU will finish above .500 in conference play. Since moving to Division I in 1997, the Spartans have yet to finish worse than .500 in the MEAC. In fact, since the 1953-54 season, NSU has finished with a losing conference record just once (9-10 in 1990-91 in the CIAA) in 58 seasons (not counting the independent 1997-98 and 1961-62 seasons).