PRINCESS ANNE, Maryland — The University of Maryland Eastern Shore men's basketball team will be playing their first conference game of the season on Monday (January 17) as they host the Norfolk State University Spartans. The game will tip off at approximately 4 p.m. following the conclusion of the women's game between The Shore and Howard that will tip off at 2 p.m.
Monday will also be the first time the Hawks (5-6, 0-0 MEAC) have played since December 20. The team fell to Charlotte that night and were supposed to play George Washington two days later, but COVID-19 health and safety protocols caused that game to be postponed. Two more games that were scheduled to be played in December against Columbia and Longwood were also not played due to protocols.
Once the calendar changed, the squad was supposed to play conference games on January 8, 10 and 15 against Norfolk State, Howard and Delaware State respectively. Those games were also postponed. All of the changes have contributed to the team being away from competition for 28 days.
"Our program is definitely excited to get back to playing after a month-long pause. Our focus during this gap in action has been on improving our culture and tightening up our skills while striving to maintain our conditioning," head coach Jason Crafton said. "Since we already experienced a year-long wait to play again, we agreed to not allow this stoppage to get us discouraged."
The game on Monday will be a matchup between the two best defensive teams in the MEAC. NSU and Maryland Eastern Shore are ranked first and second in the conference in scoring defense, field goal percentage defense and rebounding defense.
Norfolk State (11-4, 2-0) has been the class of the MEAC the past two seasons. They currently have the best overall and conference record this season. They finished the 2020-21 season tied for first in the conference and went on to win the conference tournament. They defeated Appalachian State in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament after that.
The Spartans are led by senior Joe Bryant, Jr. He leads the team in points, assists and steals. In the team's first two MEAC games, Bryant scored a combined 53 points against Delaware State and Howard.
"This will be a battle of the league's top two defenses and we are looking forward to playing it on our home court," Crafton said. "We must limit our turnovers and contain their key players to have a chance at taking down the defending champs."
The game will be broadcast on FloHoops with Keith Raad and former Hawks coach Frankie Allen on the call. Live stats will also be available for the game. Links for both the stream and the stats will be on the Hawks website easternshorehawks.com on the men's basketball schedule page.
