Friday, November 30, 2016 7:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.
Norfolk State is an HBCU school that plays in the MEAC conference and has an interesting history in hoops. For many years, they made regular trips to the Division II tournament (15 appearances between 1965 and 1995), where they made 3 trips to the Elite Eight and one Final Four. A little over four years ago, Norfolk State made waves as a 15 seed in the Division I NCAA Tournament by knocking off #2 seed Missouri, 86-84. The 2011-12 Spartans were led by 6’10” forward/center Kyle O’Quinn, who has made a good living in the NBA as a backup forward/center for the Magic and Knicks.
Since NSU’s big splash in their only Division I NCAA Tournament appearance, they have been slowly drifting toward the bottom reaches of the RPI. The team won their conference in 2013, which earned them a trip to the NIT, and they’ve had three one-and-done appearances in the CIT from 2014 through 2016. They finished 2015-16 at 17-17, with an RPI of 218 and their best win coming at UTEP.
This season the Spartans are picked for 5th place in the 13-team MEAC. They’ve started the season 2-5, with the two wins coming at home against non-Division I teams at home. Three losses came on the road against Mississippi State, Vanderbilt, and Butler, and two losses were in Las Vegas for the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational against Bucknell and Sacred Heart.
The Spartans are still looking for their regular starting lineup. They currently have three regular starters and two spots where they’ve been plugging in spot starters. Six-foot-six junior forward Jordan Butler was expected to be the star for the Spartans. He was named to the all-conference preseason third team, but missed the first three games of the season and has been struggling to find himself, averaging 8.5 points and 4.5 boards per game. He’s had one game where he led all scorers with 21 points and then was held to two points on three field goal attempts in the next game.
NSU’s leading scorer is 6’4” senior guard Jonathan Wade, who has emerged like an epiphany for Coach averaging 20.1 points and 6.1 rebounds. Wade is a fantastic outside shooter (46.2% from behind the arc), and gets to the line a lot (52 trips in 7 games) where he connects on 75% of his freebies. On the downside, Wade is a shaky ball handler, coughing up 20 turnovers against 11 assists. Zaynah Robinson, a 5’11” junior point guard, is NSU’s third starter and averages 10.7 points while leading the team in assists (21), steals (12), and free throw percentage (90.9%).
The other two starters are likely to be 7-foot junior center Dan Robinson and 6’4” junior guard Kyle Williams. Dan Robinson plays only 15 minutes per game and doesn’t score much (2.3 ppg), but he averages 2.7 rebounds and leads the team in blocks with 10. Williams entered the starting lineup for the first time in NSU’s 2-point loss to Sacred Heart on Nov. 25, and had a great game with 14 points and four rebounds. Williams hits 44.4% on three pointers and shoots primarily from behind the arc, where more than three quarters of his field goal attempts are launched.
Coming off the bench and/or making occasional starts are 6’8” forward Alex Long, 6’2” guard Carrington Ward, 6’11” center Bryan Gellineau, and 6’3” guard Alex Brown—all of whom play less than 20 minutes and average between 2.3 and 6.3 points. Early season starter Micah Goss, a 6’2” guard who averages 6.4 points, hasn’t played at all since the Nov. 21 game against Butler.
In short, the Spartans have three players worthy of starting (Wade, Zaynah Robinson, and Butler), a three point specialist (Kyle Williams) and two part time rim protectors (Dan Robinson and Alex Long). They shoot the three very well (39.3%) and they are getting better at reducing second-chance points. But they have lost every game where they’ve been out-shot and/or out-rebounded.
Links
Ramblermania message board discussion
Loyola game notes: http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/loy … 129aaa.pdf
Norfolk State game notes: http://www.nsuspartans.com/news/2016/11 … espn3.aspx
TV/Streaming video: ESPN3 (http://www.espn.com/watchespn/index/_/i … olachicago)
Vegas odds: Pending
