Monday
NSU at UMES, 5 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Radio: Star 1310 AM | Listen
Live Video/Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - Back at home for the final two regular season games of the year, the Norfolk State men's basketball team will first take on UMES on Monday afternoon at Joseph Echols Hall beginning at 5 p.m. Because of inclement weather forecast for the region, the game time has been moved up from its original 8 p.m. time.

The Spartans are currently tied for third in the MEAC standings with Morgan State.

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. This week's games 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 has a sizeable lead in the all-time series with UMES that first began in the 1953-54 season. The Spartans have currently won five in a row and 21 of the last 23 dating back more than 10 years. Overall, NSU leads the series, 40-16.

About UMES
The Hawks currently own a 5-22 overall record, including 3-11 in conference play, after Saturday's win at Coppin State. Troy Snyder has led the team in points and rebounds in each of the last four games and tallies 11.8 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. KyRee Jones leads all players with 13.6 points, while Hakeem Baxter adds 13.3. with no other player posting more than seven per game. UMES gives up exactly 75 points a game, thanks to the opposition hitting 47 percent from the field. UMES has taken care of the ball, turning it over less than 13 times a game.

Last Time Out
Deron Powers scored 23 points to lead Hampton to a 61-53 win over NSU on Saturday night in the Battle of the Bay at the HU Convocation Center. The Spartans hurt themselves with a season-high 25 turnovers, taking just 44 field attempts and finishing 19-of-44 overall. Brandon Goode and Malcolm Hawkins each scored 12 points to lead NSU, while Hampton held the advantage in points off turnovers, 26-7, and fastbreak points, 14-0. Anell Alexis finished with 11 points, and he and Goode combined to shoot exactly half of NSU's field goal attempts.

MEAC Standings
North Carolina Central currently leads the league with a 13-1 record and can wrap up the regular season title with a win on Monday against Savannah State. Hampton ranks second at 12-3, with NSU and Morgan State tied for third at 10-4. Savannah State sits in fifth at 9-5. Only the top 3 teams in the league receive a bye in the MEAC tournament.

The Spartans have been eliminated from the No. 1 and 2 seeds and will finish anywhere between the third through fifth spots in the standings. The Spartans have finished fourth or better in the league in six of the previous seven years. NSU would need to defeat North Carolina Central on Thursday to win a tiebreaker with Morgan State, while the Spartans already own the tiebreaker with Savannah State.

Player Tidbits
Pendarvis Williams
 • 1.9 steals last 10 games
 • 6.3 rebounds last four games
 • Third in the MEAC in minutes played at 34.3, sixth in steals at 1.5 and eighth in scoring (15.5)
 • Needs 22 more points to reach No. 18 on the all-time scoring list at NSU
 • 48th nationally among active players with 208 career 3-pointers
 • Shooting 48.4 percent from the floor this year, including 61.3 percent (100-of-163) 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
 • 81.9 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
 • 6.5 points, 4.3 rebounds last four games
 • 8-of-16 field goals last three games
 • 4.2 rebounds last six games

Malcolm Hawkins
 • Missed four games due to injury from Feb. 1-15
 • 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
 • 12.4 points on 38-of-60 field goals with 8.4 rebounds in 30.3 minutes last seven games
 • Has scored in double figures in 18 of last 24 games
 • Shooting 70-of-110 (63.6 percent) in the last 14 games
 • 10th in the NCAA in career field goal percentage at 59.9
 • Three field goals short of qualifying for the NCAA stats in field goal percentage; 61.4 percent clip would rank sixth in the country
 • Ranks fourth in both Division I and all-time single-season records with 64 blocks
 • Second all-time at NSU with 144 career blocks behind precedssor Kyle O'Quinn
 • Second in the MEAC in field goal percentage at 61.4 and fifth in offensive rebounds (2.7), rebounding (7.2) and blocks (2.3)
 • 51st in the nation in blocks (2.30)
 • 61.4 percent shooting currently ranks seventh all-time at NSU in season records and third in Division I era

Jamel Fuentes
 • Tied for fifth all-time at NSU in assists
 • Sits third in Division I records with 146 assists this year
 • First in the MEAC in assist-turnover ratio (2.8) and second in assists (5.2)

Marese Phelps
 • 5.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals in 30.8 minutes in four games from Feb. 10-24
 • 2.7 assists last 10 games
 • Eighth in the MEAC in steals at 1.4

Anell Alexis
 • 12.0 points, 7-of-15 field goals, 9-of-12 free throws last two games

Spartans in the MEAC
NSU is 10-4 this year in the MEAC and 39-7 (84.8 winning percentage) since the start of the 2011-12 season. NSU is 18-4 in MEAC home 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 six straight and 10 of the last 13 games. In the last three games, NSU has outrebounded its opponents by a combined 31 boards.

Share the Ball
NSU is also averaging 14.0 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 six games, NSU opponents are turning the ball over 14.7 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.

Ever-Changing Lineup
NSU started its 13th different lineup of the season in the contest at Hampton on March 1 with the fivesome of Riley Maye, Brandon Goode, Kievyn Lila-St. Rose, Pendarvis Williams and Malcolm Hawkins. The lineup that has been together the most is the combination of Goode, Hawkins, Williams, Anell Alexis and Jamel Fuentes, which started seven games during the two-month absence of RaShid Gaston.

MEAC Rankings
NSU ranks first in the MEAC in field goal percentage (46.7) and offensive rebound percentage (37.5). The Spartans also stand second in scoring offense (73.1), opponent rebounding (32.9), rebounding margin (+3.0) and assists (14.0) and third in scoring margin (+1.3), 3-point field goal percentage (33.6), assist-turnover ratio (1.0) and defensive rebound percentage (66.4).

Senior Leadership
NSU has scored 2,047 points this year, with 1,624 of those points (79.3 percent) coming from NSU's senior class.

Dominating the Inside
Norfolk State has outscored opponents 930-727 in points in the paint, an average of 7.2 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 46.7 percent from the floor and 33.6 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 52.0 percent from inside the arc.

Scoring Offense
NSU's is scoring 73.1 points per game this year, the highest scoring season since averaging 76.0 per game in 1999-2000, and 6.8 points more per game than last year (66.3).