Spartans show fight like their coach does
You weren’t expecting Norfolk State to cave, were you? Throw in the towel? Norfolk State?
The team coached by Robert Jones, who survived the projects of Queens, New York, and clawed his way into Division I coaching?
Please.
“When you’re down 10 points, and everyone’s falling apart, that’s not adversity,” Jones told The Pilot’s David Hall for a story in 2013. “Adversity is when you look in the refrigerator, and there’s nothing in the refrigerator.”
Jones and the Spartans saw an altogether
different kind of adversity late Thursday night when Norfolk State — after blowing a 19-point first-half lead — suddenly trailed by six points when Appalachian State’s Justin Forrest made a layup with 5:48 left in a First Four game in Bloomington, Indiana.
Norfolk State looked ready to fully collapse and kiss the NCAA tournament goodbye.
But the Spartans, like their coach, are fighters. And survivors.
That was evident in NSU’s 54-53 victory, and it’s no surprise to anyone who looks deeper at Jones’ team.
The NSU roster is dotted with players whom Jones has given second and third — sometimes fourth — chances. Players who have struggled to stay afloat in basketball before finding a home on Norfolk State’s campus and on Jones’ team.
Four players in NSU’s starting five Thursday night — Devante Carter, Kyonze Chavis, Kashaun Hicks and J.J. Matthews — started their collegiate careers elsewhere. Carter, Chavis and Matthews began at junior colleges, and Carter’s climb from Woodside High in Newport News to Division I included three colleges and a short stay in jail while balancing fatherhood.
Jalen Hawkins, the Spartans’ spark with a career-high 24 points off the bench Thursday, tried Odessa College and Robert Morris before landing at NSU. The Bronx, New York, native surpassed his career high before halftime against Appalachian State.
So when Appalachian State started to wrestle the game away Thursday, Norfolk State (17-7) yanked it back.
“We got a bunch of fighters, man,” Jones said in the postgame press conference. “From the players to the managers, I mean, everyone has different paths in their lives.
And everybody is a bunch of fighters. And we’re trying to stay as long as possible.”
That fight embodies Jones, whose chip-onthe-shoulder attitude has made the Spartans a perennial contender in the MEAC. Still, the Spartans until this year came up short in the MEAC tournament despite it being played in their own backyard at Scope.
Jones — who has a .750 winning percentage in the MEAC and is 142-118 in eight seasons with NSU — quieted any critics by winning the MEAC tournament last week. That game was played at Scope with no fans, and NSU blew out Morgan State to earn Jones’ first NCAA tournament berth as a head coach.
On Thursday night, the Spartans shrugged off any perceived slight about playing in the First Four and raced to a 36-20 halftime lead despite an off night by several starters, including leading scorer Carter, who finished with four points.
Hawkins “did a great job, did a great job, especially picking up with Devante Carter, (who) didn’t have his best game,” Jones said. “Kyonze
Chavis didn’t have his best game. Joe Bryant didn’t have his best game. But that’s why we’re a team and other guys stepped up.”
Stepping up? It will take more than that for NSU to add to Jones’ career win total. The 16th-seeded Spartans’ reward for a
First Four victory is a game at 9:20 p.m. today against unbeaten and top overall seed Gonzaga.
Monumental upset doesn’t quite describe what a Norfolk State win would be. NSU has pulled shockers before — as a
No. 15 seed in 2012 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament against No. 2 seed Missouri. Jones was an assistant back then, and he was the head coach when the Spartans knocked off Alabama in a first-round 2018 NIT game on the road.
“We’ve been in situations before as a program, with Missouri and Alabama in the NIT and things like that,” Jones said. “And no one gave us a shot, and we were able to come out on top. It’s a whole different animal in Gonzaga, and we understand that, trust me. We understand that. At the same time, as a program we have the two largest victories by point spread in both the NIT and NCAA. So why not do it again?”
Beat Gonzaga? Unlikely. But Norfolk State will fight.