The Norfolk State Spartans men's basketball team represents

Norfolk State University Norfolk State University (NSU) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. It is a member of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund and Virginia High-Tech Partnersh ...

, located in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...

, in

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest division of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athlet ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

competition. They currently compete in the

Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC ) is a List of NCAA conferences, collegiate athletic conference whose full members are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and the Mid-A ...

. The Spartans are currently coached by Robert Jones and play their home games at the Joseph G. Echols Memorial Hall. The Spartans men's basketball team is best known for defeating the #2 seeded

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

in the

2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 68 teams playing in a single-elimination tournament that determined the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball national champion for the 2011-12 ...

86–84, the first tournament appearance for Norfolk State. It was only the fifth time that a 15th seed has defeated a 2nd seed.
ESPN Norfolk State has qualified for the NCAA tournament at the Division I level four times, in 2012 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, 2012,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, and

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Post-season

NCAA Division I tournament results

The Spartans have appeared in four NCAA Division I tournaments. Their combined record is 2–4.

NCAA Division II tournament results

The Spartans have appeared in the NCAA Division II tournament 15 times. Their combined record is 18–19.

NIT results

The Spartans have appeared in the

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

(NIT) twice. Their record is 1–2.

CIT results

The Spartans have appeared in the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT) five times. Their combined record is 2–4. They were the CIT champions in 2024.

Retired numbers

Three Spartan players have had their numbers retired by

. Kyle O’Quinn is the latest, with his number 10 retired by the school on February 16, 2019.

Spartans in the NBA

Bob Dandridge Robert L. Dandridge Jr. (born November 15, 1947) is an American former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Greyhound", Dandridge was a four-time NBA All-Star and two-time NBA champion, who scored 15,530 points in his career. He was ele ...

* Ray Epps *

Kyle O'Quinn Kyle Brandon O'Quinn (born March 26, 1990) is an American former professional basketball player. He played for the Norfolk State Spartans, and led them to a victory over the #2 seed Missouri Tigers in the second round of the 2012 NCAA Men's Divi ...

* David Pope

Spartans in international leagues

Kris Bankston Kristeon Lamar Bankston (born June 11, 1999) is an American professional basketball player who plays forward and center for Tofaş of Basketbol Süper Ligi (BSL). He attended the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, and played basketball for th ...

(born 1999), basketball player in the

Israeli Basketball Premier League Ligat HaAl (, lit., ''Supreme League or Premier League''), or the Israeli Basketball Premier League, is a professional basketball league in Israel and the highest level of basketball in the country. The league's name is abbreviated as either BSL ...

References

External links

* {{Virginia-basketball-team-stub