NORFOLK, Va. – The Norfolk State men's basketball team begins defense of its 2021 MEAC tournament title on Wednesday night when the 2022 conference tourney gets underway at Norfolk Scope. The Spartans (21-6), fresh off a MEAC regular-season title, open tournament play at 6 p.m. against No. 8 seed Delaware State in the quarterfinal round.

The game will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and on WNSB 91.1 FM.

The winner of Wednesday's game will have a day off before playing in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday night against the winner of Thursday's No. 4 seed Morgan State vs. No. 5 South Carolina State game. The tournament final is set for 1 p.m. Saturday and will air live on ESPN2.

NSU's Tournament History

The Spartans will be searching for their third MEAC tournament title all-time this week. NSU won it in 2012 and last season as well, winning NCAA tournament games in both appearances. The Spartans are the only MEAC team to win two NCAA Division I tournament games in their history.

NSU is 25-19 all-time in the MEAC tournament and 11-7 all-time in tourney games at the Norfolk Scope. The Spartans have advanced to the championship in two straight tournaments, winning it all in 2021 and falling in the finale in 2019 (the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID-19).

The Spartans have won at least one MEAC tournament game in the last seven years in which the tournament has been contested.

All-MEAC Honors

Joe Bryant Jr. was named MEAC Player of the Year and coach Robert Jones was voted Coach of the Year as the conference released its post-season honors last week. Bryant becomes the fifth Spartan to ever earn the honor, following Damian Woolfolk (who won it twice, 1999 and 2000), Chakowby Hicks (2005), Kyle O'Quinn (2012) and Pendarvis Williams (2013).

Jones won coach of the Year for the second time in his career – both in the last four seasons – after leading NSU to its second straight first-place regular-season finish.

Additionally, Kris Bankston was named to the All-MEAC second team and All-Defensive Team, and Jalen Hawkins was named to the All-MEAC third team.

Tip-Ins

• The Spartans enter the tournament on a three-game win streak that secured the regular-season title. The Spartans also tied for the MEAC North title last regular-season and finished first in the regular season in the 2018-19 season.
• With NSU's win over North Carolina Central on Feb. 28, NSU secured its fifth 20-win season as a Division I program and third under coach Robert Jones (2014-15 and 2018-19 were the others).
• NSU also finished undefeated at home in 2021-22, logging an 11-0 record. The Spartans were one of 15 men's teams in Division I to log a perfect home record this season.
• NSU also kept alive several other streaks in 2021-22 already. The Spartans have still never had a losing conference record in their 24 years in the MEAC, and have finished in the top four in the league standings each year since 2010-11.
• NSU continues to put the clamps down defensively. NSU enters the tournament ranked second in all of Division I in field-goal percentage defense (37.4), 11^th in 3-point percentage defense (29.1) and 36^th in scoring defense (63.9). NSU leads the MEAC in all three categories. The 37.4 field-goal percentage mark is on pace to break the school's single-season D-I record (previous – 39.0 in 2004-05).
• Joe Bryant Jr. is on pace to break the school record for single-season free-throw percentage for the second time in his career. He enters the tournament shooting 91.8 percent from the line, fifth in the nation and just ahead of his own school-record mark of 91.2 from 2019-20.
• Bryant also leads the MEAC in scoring (16.8) and is fourth in minutes played (31.9) and assists (3.3) per game. Earlier in the season, he was named to the Lou Henson Award watch list for the national mid-major player of the year by CollegeInsider.com.
• Kris Bankston has made 64 slam dunks in 27 games this year, contributing to his 72.7 field-goal percentage. He would easily rank first in the nation in field goal percentage, but falls below the minimum of 5.0 made field goals per game to qualify (Bankston – 4.6).
• Jalen Hawkins has increased his scoring output in conference play. Hawkins, who averages 12.9 points per game this year as a whole, is scoring at a 15.4 ppg clip in MEAC games, fifth-best in the conference.
• NSU holds a 43-24 all-time record with Delaware State and has won 12 straight in the series dating to a 67-64 DSU win during the 2015-16 school year.
• The two meetings between NSU and the Hornets this year were polar opposites. NSU dominated from start to finish in an 80-51 win in Norfolk on Jan. 12. On Feb. 14 in Dover, NSU trailed by as many as eight early in the second half before rallying to win, 69-66.
• The Hornets finished 0-14 in league play but are not without talent: guard Myles Carter was a first-team All-MEAC pick, guard Dominik Fragala was a third-team selection and center Christopher Sodom was named MEAC Defensive Player of the Year.