Thursday
NSU vs. North Carolina Central, 8 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Radio: Star 1310 AM | Listen
Live Video/Audio | Live Stats | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Va. - It is Senior Night for a whole host of Spartans as the Norfolk State men's basketball team wraps up the 2013-14 regular season with a contest at home on Thursday against North Carolina Central. Tip-off from Joseph Echols Hall is set to begin at 8 p.m.

NSU will honor its six active seniors before the game - Marese Phelps, Anell Alexis, Pendarvis Williams, Brandon Goode, Malcolm Hawkins and Riley Maye, the winningest class (76 victories) in NSU's Division I era.

MEAC Standings
Currently sitting in third place in the league, NSU needs a victory over N.C. Central or a Morgan State loss to Howard to wrap up third place and thus a first-round bye in the MEAC tournament. A loss to the Eagles coupled with an MSU win would drop NSU to the No. 4 seed and a first-round date on Monday at 6:30 p.m. As the No. 3 seed, the Spartans would not play until Thursday at 6 p.m.

North Carolina Central currently leads the league with a 14-1 record and has already wrapped up the regular season title. At 12-3, Hampton has secured the No. 2 seed as well. The Spartans rank third at 11-4, with Morgan State in fourth at 10-5. Savannah State sits in fifth at 9-6, with Florida A&M next a 8-7. Only the top 3 teams in the league receive a bye in the MEAC tournament.

The Spartans have finished fourth or better in the league in six of the previous seven years.

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. The game against North Carolina Central will be broadcast on Star 1310 AM-WGH. Fans can listen to the contest 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 a 27-8 lead in the all-time series with the Eagles, including 2-1 in the Spartans' Division I era. The two teams have not met since 2010-11, when NSU earned a 74-71 win at home before NC Central got the victory on its home court, 82-72. Although a member of the MEAC the last two years, NC Central was the one opponent the Spartans did not play each of the last two years.

The series began in 1963-64, and the teams met regularly beginning in the early 1980's during both programs' CIAA days.

About NC Central
The Eagles currently own the top spot in the conference and can finish 15-1 in the league for the second straight season with a win. NCCU has won 16 in a row since suffering their only MEAC defeat at Florida A&M on Jan. 11. The program is led by Jeremy Ingram, who ranks second in the league at 20.3 points per game. Jordan Parks ranks second with 10.1 points and 5.8 rebounds, all off the bench, while Alfonzo Houston (9.7 points), Jay Copeland (8.4 points, 6.0 rebounds), Karamo Jawara (7.2 points, 4.9 rebonds) and Emanuel Chapman (6.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 6.9 assists) round out the nucleus of the starting lineup team.

NCCU scores 73.5 points a game while holding opponents to less than 60. The Eagles also shoot better than 45 percent overall and 72 percent from the foul line. The Eagle defense forces a little more than 16 turnovers a game and averages more than eight steals per game.

Last Time Out
NSU got back on track and scored its most points in 10 games with a 77-65 victory over UMES on Monday night. The Spartans received a 21-point effort from Pendarvis Williams on 8-of-12 shooting, while the other two parts of the big 3, Malcolm Hawkins and Brandon Goode, also came up big. Hawkins had 16 points and nine rebounds, while Goode tallied 15 and 10, respectively. UMES got as close as six as the game wound down. Troy Snyder led the Hawks with 20 points and 13 rebounds.

Player Tidbits
Pendarvis Williams
 • 1.9 steals last 11 games
 • 5.4 rebounds last five games
 • Sixth in the MEAC in minutes played (34.2), steals (1.5) and free throw percentag (82.5), eighth in scoring (15.7) and ninth in defensive rebounds (4.0) and field goal percentage (49.1)
 • Needs one more point to reach No. 18 on the all-time scoring list at NSU
 • Shooting 49.1 percent from the floor this year, including 62.4 percent (106-of-170) 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
 • 82.5 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 (210)
 • Seventh 20-point game of season, and 19th of career, with 21-point effort against UMES on March 3

Kievyn Lila-St. Rose
 • 3.7 rebounds last seven games
 • 9-of-17 field goals last four games
 • 6.5 points, 4.3 rebounds in four games from Feb. 15-March 1

Riley Maye
 • 9.7 points on 11-of-14 field goals in three games from Feb. 15-24

Malcolm Hawkins
 • Career-high nine rebounds against UMES
 • Missed four games due to injury from Feb. 1-15
 • Shooting 39.6 percent from 3-point range, which ranks sixth in Division I season records
 • Third in the MEAC in 3-point shooting percentage (39.6) and seventh in scoring (15.8)
 • 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
 • 12.8 points on 43-of-69 field goals with 8.6 rebounds in 30.3 minutes last eight games
 • Has scored in double figures in 19 of last 25 games
 • Shooting 75-of-119 (63.0 percent) in the last 15 games
 • 12th in the NCAA in career field goal percentage at 59.6
 • Three field goals short of qualifying for the NCAA stats in field goal percentage; 61.2 percent clip would rank seventh in the country
 • Ranks third in both Division I and all-time single-season records with 66 blocks
 • Second all-time at NSU with 146 career blocks behind precedssor Kyle O'Quinn
 • Second in the MEAC in field goal percentage at 61.2, fifth in offensive rebounds (2.8), rebounding (7.3) and blocks (2.3) and seventh in defensive rebounds (4.5)
 • 48th in the nation in blocks (2.29)
 • 61.2 percent shooting currently ranks seventh all-time at NSU in season records and third in Division I era
 • Sixth double-double of season with 15 points and 10 boards against UMES

Jamel Fuentes
 • Fifth all-time at NSU in assists with 406
 • Sits second in Division I records with 155 assists this year; Needs 11 more to pass Aleek Pauline
 • First in the MEAC in assist-turnover ratio (2.8) and second in assists (5.3)
 • 29th in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (2.75) and 47th in assists (5.2)

Marese Phelps
 • 2.6 assists last 11 games
 • Eighth in the MEAC in steals at 1.4
 • 5.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.8 steals in 30.8 minutes in four games from Feb. 10-24

Anell Alexis
 • 9.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 13-of-16 free throws last three games

Spartans in the MEAC
NSU is 11-4 this year in the MEAC and 40-7 (85.1 winning percentage) since the start of the 2011-12 season. NSU is 19-4 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.

With 17 wins so far in his debut season, Robert Jones has more overall wins than any of the four previous NSU head coaches had in their first seasons. His 11 MEAC wins is also tied with Mel Coleman, Wil Jones and Anthony Evans, although Coleman and Wil Jones did so in 18 games while Evans and Robert Jones coached in 16 MEAC games.

Get on the Glass
NSU has been even or had the edge in the rebounding column in seven straight and 11 of the last 14 games. In the last four games, NSU has outrebounded its opponents by a combined 37 boards.

Limit Your Mistakes
NSU is currently averaging just 13.4 turnovers per game. Should that hold up, it would mark just the fourth time NSU had fewer than 14 turnovers a game since the stat was first kept in 1978-79. The program record is 13.1 per game in 1987-88. NSU also had less than 14 turnovers per game in 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 seven games, NSU opponents are turning the ball over 14.3 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. He later scored 16 points with a career-high nine boards against UMES on March 3.

Ever-Changing Lineup
NSU started its 14th different lineup of the season in the contest against UMES on March 3 with the fivesome of Brandon Goode, RaShid Gaston, Pendarvis Williams, Malcolm Hawkins and Jamel Fuentes making their first start together. The lineup that has been together the most is the combination of Goode, Hawkins, Williams, Fuentes and Anell Alexis, which started seven games during the two-month absence of Gaston.

MEAC Rankings
NSU ranks first in the MEAC in field goal percentage (46.7) and offensive rebound percentage (37.4). The Spartans also stand second in scoring offense (73.2), 3-point field goal percentage (33.8), opponent rebounding (32.9), rebounding margin (+3.1) and assists (14.1) and third in scoring margin (+1.7), assist-turnover ratio (1.1) and defensive rebound percentage (66.7).

Senior Leadership
NSU has scored 2,124 points this year, with 1,690 of those points (79.6 percent) coming from NSU's senior class.

Ahead at the Half
The Spartans are 32-6 since the start of the 2012-13 season when leading or tied at the half and 52-7 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 956-751 in points in the paint, an average of 7.1 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 162 more 3-pointers than NSU this year (5.6 per game).

Good Shootin'
As a team, the Spartans are shooting 46.7 percent from the floor and 33.8 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 51.8 percent from inside the arc.

Going to the Line
As a team, the Spartans are connecting on 69.3 percent from the foul line this year. They are also battling history, as 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). NSU's current 69.3 percent clip stands as the best mark in a season since that 2003-04 campaign.

Scoring Offense
NSU's is scoring 73.2 points per game this year, the highest scoring season since averaging 76.0 per game in 1999-2000, and 6.9 points more per game than last year (66.3).

O'Quinn's NBA Season
Kyle O'Quinn is back for his second season with the Orlando Magic after being drafted in the second round in 2012. NSU's first NBA player in 25 years, O'Quinn averaged 4.1 points and 3.7 rebounds per game during his rookie campaign in 2012-13. So far this year he's posted 4.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.0 assists and 1.0 blocks. He had 14 points and 15 rebounds at Miami on March 1.