NORFOLK, Va. – Two in-season HBCU showcase events, several matchups with traditional basketball powers and some local flavor highlight the Norfolk State men's basketball schedule, which was released on Tuesday.

"We are excited about this challenging schedule. It was a tough task to get games this year due to the success of last year's team, but we think we put together an extremely competitive slate," NSU head coach Robert Jones said. "We are honored to be participating in CP3's HBCU showcase as well being invited to Atlanta for that classic as well. It shows the national respect the program has acquired."

The Spartans' 2021-22 schedule gets underway with three of the first four games, and four of the first seven in November, in the confines of Joseph Echols Hall. The Spartans host Bridgewater on Nov. 9 and Penn State Wilkes Barre on Nov. 11 to begin the season. NSU's first game away from Norfolk is in Atlanta at the neutral site Gateway HBCU Invitational on Nov. 13 against Tennessee State University of the Ohio Valley Conference. The game will be played at Gateway Center Arena, home of Atlanta's NBA G League and WNBA franchises.

NSU returns to Echols Hall for an historic matchup with the College of William & Mary on Nov. 16. The teams have played just twice before in the regular season and never in Norfolk. Their last meeting outside of preseason scrimmages was in the 2008-09 season.

"William & Mary coming to Echols for the first time ever is exciting four our program," Jones said. "We want a packed house and an electric atmosphere for that game."

The Spartans then face a tough two-city road test in Ohio, facing Bowling Green on Nov. 19 and Xavier on Nov. 21. Both squads posted winning records last year.

The November slate concludes with the inaugural Boost Mobile HBCU Challenge Hosted by Chris Paul in Phoenix, Arizona. The Spartans face Hampton on Nov. 28 – the first of two meetings this year between the Hampton Roads rivals – and Grambling on Nov. 29 at the Footprint Center, home of the NBA's Phoenix Suns. The HU matchup will air on ESPN2 and the meeting with Grambling will be on ESPNU.

NSU's December schedule consists entirely of road games. The six games that month begin with return trips to UNC Wilmington (Dec. 1) and Hampton (Dec. 4), both of which the Spartans hosted in 2020-21. Other games in the month take NSU to Wichita State (Dec. 11), 2021 Sweet 16 participant Loyola of Chicago (Dec. 19), New Mexico (Dec. 21) and Campbell (Dec. 29).

The MEAC schedule kicks off on Jan. 8 at Maryland Eastern Shore. The league consists of eight teams this year with a true double round-robin regular-season schedule comprised of 14 games. After playing four of their first 11 league games on the road, NSU's final three regular-season games are at home: vs. South Carolina State (Feb. 26), North Carolina Central (Feb. 28) and Howard (March 3).

The MEAC Tournament returns to the Scope Arena in Norfolk, March 9-12, 2022.

The Spartans are coming off a 17-8 record and MEAC championship season in 2020-21. The Spartans won an NCAA tournament first-round game for the second time in their history by beating Appalachian State this past March.

Ticket information will be announced in the coming weeks.