Battle of the Bay Renewed This Saturday at NSU Echols Hall

Saturday - Battle of the Bay

Women's Game: NSU vs Hampton, 3:45 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Men Game: NSU vs. Hampton, 6 p.m., Joseph Echols Hall
Radio: Hot 91.1 FM | Ross Gordon, Play-by-Play
Live Stats | Live Video/Audio | Game Notes

NORFOLK, Virginia --  It's rivalry week, and one of the MEAC's best rivalries takes place on Saturday at 6 p.m. when the Norfolk State men's basketball team hosts Hampton at Joseph Echols Hall with second place in the conference on the line.

Following the contest against the Pirates, NSU will be back on the road for the last three away games of the year, the closing part of a stretch in which the Spartans play seven of nine away from home.

Series History
NSU has taken the last four meetings with Hampton, two in each of the past two years and all decided by eight points or less. The Spartans now lead the all-time series, 81-41. 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.

About Hampton
The Pirates won a pair of home games last weekend against Howard and UMES to move into third place in the league at 8-3, 13-11 overall. Du'Vaughn Maxwell has been the catalyst for the Pirates, averaging 15.2 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.4 blocks per game. Deron Powers, at 10.6 points, and Brian Darden, at 9.3, also provide scoring punch. Hampton averages a healthy 7.7 steals and 6.6 blocks per game, while also doing plenty on the offensive side by scoring 71 points a game. Opponents do shoot better than 35 percent, though, from the 3-point line.

Last Time Out
Led by 25 points from Pendarvis Williams, NSU topped Howard 75-49 on Monday at Echols Hall. The Spartans limited Howard to just 32.6 percent shooting on the night, with freshman James Daniel scoring 25 of the team's 49 points. Jamel Fuentes added 11 points and seven assists for the Spartans, while Marese Phelps and Anell Alexis each scored 10. NSU outscored Howard 25-8 in points off turnovers after the Bison coughed up the ball 24 times. HU also failed to convert a field goal for the last 11 minutes of the first half.

Player Tidbits
Pendarvis Williams
 • 20.7 points on 23-of-46 field goals with 5.0 rebounds last three games
 • 2.3 steals last six games
 • Fifth in the MEAC in steals at 1.5
 • 55-of-64 from the free throw line in the last 17 games
 • Needs 39 more points to reach No. 19 on the all-time scoring list at NSU
 • Needs four more 3-pointers to move into second all-time at NSU
 • Shooting 49.3 percent from the floor this year, including 62.3 percent (91-of-146) from inside the arc
 • One of five all-time NSU players with 1,400 points, 400 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals along with Ralph Tally, Barry Mitchell, Tony Murphy and Michael Deloach
 • Needs 14 more rebounds to reach 500 for his career; would join Tally and Mitchell as only players with 1,400 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 steals
 • 81.8 percent from the free throw line this season; chasing Division I record of 83.3 percent set by Ryan Grier in 2003-04
 • Sixth 20-point game of season, and 18th of career, with 25-point effort against Howard

Brandon Goode
 • 12.0 points on 16-of-26 field goals with 7.0 rebounds last three games
 • Has scored in double figures in 15 of last 20 games
 • Shooting 48-of-76 (63.2 percent) in the last 10 games
 • Ranks fourth in Division I single-season records with 54 blocks and sixth in all-time single-season records
 • Second in the MEAC in field goal percentage at 60.8 and fifth in rebounding (6.8), blocks (2.3) and offensive rebounds (2.5)
 • 60.8 percent shooting currently ranks eighth all-time at NSU in season records and third in Division I era

Jamel Fuentes
 • 10.5 points on 7-of-16 field goals with a 15-2 assist-turnover ratio last two games
 • 2.5 steals last four games
 • 4+ assists last 16 games
 • Needs nine more assists to reach fifth place all-time at NSU
 • Sits third in Division I records with 137 assists this year
 • First in the MEAC in assist-turnover ratio (3.0) and second in assists (5.7)

Marese Phelps
 • 16-3 assist-turnover ratio last five games
 • 2.0 steals last 12 games
 • Fifth in the MEAC in steals at 1.5

Anell Alexis
 • Broke out of slump with 10 points on 3-of-5 field goals with two assists and two steals against Howard

Big Win
The 26-point victory over the Bison on Monday was NSU's biggest win since Feb. 9, 2009, when the Spartans downed Florida A&M by a 96-69 score.

Howard scored 18 points and hit just 20.0 (5-of-25) percent from the field in the first half, the lowest totals by an NSU opponent in a half since Delaware State scored 18 in the first half on Feb. 27, 2013 and Randolph shot 19.2 percent (5-of-26) in the first half on Nov. 16, 2011.

Coughing Up the Ball
Howard committed 24 turnovers on Monday, the most giveaways by an NSU opponent since Morgan State had 29 on Jan. 21, 2013.

Over the last four games, NSU is averaging 8.5 steals and opponents are turning the ball over 16.0 times a game.

MEAC Standings
The Spartans currently stand in second place in the MEAC standings at 8-2 behind league leader North Carolina Central (9-1). Hampton (8-3) and Morgan State (7-3) sit right behind the Spartans in the standings.

Conference Streak
With eight MEAC wins so far this year, NSU is guaranteed to finish no worse than .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 58 seasons (not counting the independent 1997-98 and 1961-62 seasons).

Senior Leadership
NSU has scored 1,782 points this year, with 1,421 of those points (79.7 percent) coming from NSU's senior class.

Spartans in the MEAC
NSU is 8-2 this year in the MEAC and 37-5 (88.1 winning percentage) since the start of the 2011-12 season.

Scoring Offense
NSU's is scoring 74.2 points per game this year, the highest scoring season since averaging 76.0 per game in 1999-2000, and eight points more per game than last year (66.3).

MEAC Rankings
NSU ranks first in the MEAC in scoring offense (74.2), field goal percentage (47.2) and offensive rebound percentage (37.4). The Spartans also stand second in 3-point field goal percentage (34.2), opponent rebounding (33.2), rebounding margin (+2.2), assists (14.3) and assist-turnover ratio (1.1) and third in scoring margin (+1.7) and defensive rebound percentage (65.6).

By Mike Bello, Asst. SID
COURTESY NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS