Washington, DC—The Howard University men's basketball team faces one of its strongest challenges of the season when it takes on Norfolk State and Hampton this coming weekend. The Spartans and the Bison tip off at 4 pm on Saturday as part of the DC Prince Hall Masonic Classic.
The Bison (10-12, 4-3 in the MEAC) can ill afford to drop any further down in the league race if they are to win the title. Howard is coming off an 85-67 road loss to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore on Monday for its third straight loss. Although the Bison lead the league in scoring at 74 points per game, they have failed to reach the 70-point mark during the skid.
"All year, this team has been able to bounce back," said Howard head coach
Kevin Nickelberry. "We have bounced back from losses and injuries while integrating new faces into new roles and positions. At the beginning of the season, we knew that we could be a very good team if we could avoid the injury bug. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. If you would have told me that we would lose three major rotation guys before the start of the season, I would not have believed you. It has exposed our weaknesses and lack of depth."
Nickelberry is alluding to the loss of junior guard James "JT" Miller, junior forward Solomon "Solo" Mangham and red-shirt senior center
Oliver Ellison to injuries. The three combine for almost 30 points and 20 rebounds among them. Both Miller and Mangham were off to the best starts of their careers.
James "J-Byrd" Daniel, III has been a consistent scorer as he averages a nation-best 27.2 points per game. Junior center
Marcel Boyd and junior guard/forward
Damon Collins are both scoring in double figures and having career years, but the Bison have had getting consistent production from others of late. Teams of late have devised gimmick defenses featuring traps and double teams to neutralize Daniel and Boyd and it has proven to be effective.
"Norfolk State (10-13, 6-2 in the MEAC is going to be a huge challenge for us," said Nickelberry. "They are going to pressure the ball and take out of the hands of Daniel and crowd Boyd like the rest of the league teams have done. We will work on being more effective in these situations as well as getting back to our solid foundation of defense and rebounding the basketball. I am confident that these young men will respond to the challenge."
The Spartans are currently in second place in the standings, having dropped their last game on January 30 at first place Hampton. It snapped a four-game win streak for Norfolk State, which leads the nation and the MEAC in free throw shooting and are first in three-point shooting. They rely on the scoring of Jeff Short and Charles Oliver and the rebounding of Jordan Butler.
The two teams split last season in close affairs, Norfolk State winning 72-69 in Norfolk, VA and Howard avenging it, 62-59 on a Daniel three pointer at the buzzer in overtime.
NEXT UP: The Bison host first place Hampton on Monday at 8 pm in Burr.
