NSU seeks third victory vs. Coppin as first step
NORFOLK — Third-seeded Norfolk State has already twice proven it’s a better team than No. 6 seed Coppin State.
And now, with the stakes at their highest, NSU has to do it again.
The Spartans (16-15) picked up a dominant 82-59 win at CSU on Jan. 6. They won a home rematch 80-60 on Feb. 17.
So NSU should have an easy time tonight when the teams meet for a third time in the quarterfinals of the MEAC tournament at Scope, right?
It’s that kind of thinking that worries seventh-year coach Robert Jones.
“Sometimes that’s a problem, too,” Jones said of the previous two victories.
“The first two games don’t matter. If anything, Coppin’s mad that we beat them so bad because we beat them pretty bad two games in a row.”
Norfolk State had a first-round bye in the MEAC, returning to Scope for the eighth consecutive year. The Spartans have never won it in their home city, though they have twice been runners-up. NSU last won the tournament in 2012, but that was in WinstonSalem, North Carolina.
Don’t mistake Jones’ trepidation regarding Coppin State for a lack of confidence. His team enters the allimportant tournament riding the momentum of a three-game winning
streak, including shorthanded road victories at Delaware State and Morgan State to close out the regular season.
As far as the old adage that it’s difficult to beat a team three times in a season, Spartans guard Steven Whitley has an anecdotal antidote.
“They say it’s hard, but it’s just another game,” said Whitley, a senior who starred at Norfolk’s Booker T. Washington High. “You take the ‘Coppin State’ off their jersey, (and) we’ve just got to play whoever’s in front of us.
“If we take care of what we do, it don’t matter how many times we play somebody. In the NBA, they’ll play somebody seven times.”
NSU, which went 12-4 in the league during the regular season to finish a game behind first-place North Carolina Central, didn’t end up with the most wins, but it did end up with the biggest.
The Spartans had a MEACleading plus-5.6 scoring margin, more than two points better than the next-best team.
NSU had three of the league’s top 20 scorers, including senior guard Jermaine Bishop, whose scoring average of 15.6 points per game was fourth. Junior swingman Koby Thomas led the Eagles (11-20) with 13.3 points per contest, good for 11th in the league.
The Spartans are a largely unknown commodity in the postseason; after a series of graduations and surprise transfers, they entered the season with 10 new faces. Only Whitley, junior guard Kyonze Chavis and sophomore guard Joe Bryant Jr. played in last year’s tournament, when NSU lost in the final to N.C. Central.
The inexperience is another
X-factor for Jones.
“One game out of first place with all these new guys is a credit to them,” he said. “But that’s the one thing I was worried about all year: How are they going to react in the Scope? Because none of them have that feeling.”
Bryant said even a modicum of tournament experience has rubbed off on those without it.
“We always tell them, it’s really just a game,” Bryant said. “It’s going to be a good crowd in the Scope, so just block out the crowd. Focus on what we’ve got to focus on.”