NORFOLK, VA – Robert Jones said that Wednesday’s MEAC quarterfinal game against Coppin State would be the ultimate trap game for his Norfolk State squad nearly a week ago. Early on his words appeared prophetic as his team found itself down seven early in the first half against a two-win opponent.
When the dust cleared, Norfolk State came away with a 75-51 win over Coppin State to advance to the semifinals of the 2024 MEAC Tournament. So what did Jones tell his team to get them to snap out of their early rust?
“Play some damn defense,” Jones told the media after the game. “That’s pretty much what I said to them. It was no secret, no long speech or anything like that. It was like – we just need to play some defense.”
The NSU defense certainly stepped up, as Coppin State shot just 38.3 percent from the field for the game. It also took advantage of 19 Coppin State turnovers and converted them into 28 points on its end.
The Spartan offense came alive as well, hitting 53 percent of its field goal attempts in the second half and shooting 47.1 percent for the game. It did that despite a subpar performance from guard Jamarii Thomas. The MEAC Player of The Year scored just nine points and went 1-for-7 from the field with more turnovers (four) than assists.
Wednesday night was keyed by Christian Ings, who scored a season-high 17 points, hitting four of his six 3-point attempts.
“He’s not necessarily one of our 3-point shooters, but he can make a three,” Jones said. “But today he made four of them. And we needed all of them. Especially in that first half.”
Ings, who goes by “Philly” said he was happy to be able to contribute to the effort in the win. Especially in contrast to his situation just a year ago.
“It’s a great feeling. Last year around this time I was watching the tournament on the side in a knee brace,” Ings said. “Just to be out here playing really just makes me feel real good to be able to do what I love again at the highest point in our conference. MEAC Tournament, everybody knows it’s win or go home time. Everybody’s bringing their best. I’m just glad we got that first one out the way and moved on to the next one.
Norfolk State will get a day off on Thursday as it will play the winner of Thursday’s Howard University-Morgan State quarterfinal on Friday night.