HAMPTON, Virginia — Two weeks ago, Hampton University was tied for first in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference and looked every bit a contender — a deep team with plenty of options, steeled by a challenging nonleague schedule.Fourteen days later, the Pirates reside in the middle of the pack after a series of near-misses and squandered opportunities. They will try to regain their footing against their chief rival, a Norfolk State team that sits near the top of the league, at about 6 p.m. Saturday at the Spartans’ Echols Hall.
“I think we’re down on our confidence,” Pirates coach Ed Joyner Jr. said. “When you blow one or two (games), if your confidence ain’t right, it can turn into three, into four. We’ve got to go win a ballgame. Each game we’ve had good starts. We had good stretches. We just didn’t close them out properly.”
The Pirates (8-12, 4-4 MEAC) have lost four in a row, the program’s longest conference losing streak since January 1999, when they lost five in a row in former coach Steve Merfeld’s second season.
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