Norfolk State makes its second straight NCAA Division I tournament appearance and third in its history this week as the MEAC champion Spartans, the No. 16 seed in the East Region, face defending national champion and regional No. 1 seed Baylor this Thursday in Forth Worth, Texas, at Dickies Arena.

The winner of Thursday's contest advances to face the winner of Thursday's No. 8 North Carolina vs. No. 9 Marquette game on Saturday.

Series History
•    The Spartans are 0-2 all-time against Baylor, with losses during the 2009-10 (86-58, 11-13-09) and 2014-15 (92-51, 12-30-14) seasons in Waco, Texas. 
•    NSU is 1-5 all-time against current Big 12 teams, including 0-1 against both Oklahoma and Iowa State and 1-0 against TCU, a win the Spartans notched during their 2011-12 MEAC championship season.
•    Notably, NSU's legendary NCAA win over Missouri in 2012 came when the Tigers were still Big 12 members. Mizzou has since left the league for the SEC.

Scouting Baylor
•    The reigning national champion Bears enter the tournament at 26-6 on the year. Baylor claimed a share of the Big 12 regular-season championship with a 14-4 league record before dropping its Big 12 tournament opener to Oklahoma last week.
•    Four Baylor players average double figures this year with three over 13.0 points per game. Guard James Akinjo averages 13.4 points and a Big 12-leading 5.7 assists per game, earning All-Big 12 first-team honors. Adam Flagler was a second-team All-Big 12 member. He also averages 13.4 points per game.
•    Baylor returned just one starter, forward Flo Thamba, from last year's NCAA championship team but haven't missed a beat under Scott Drew, who is in his 19th season leading the Bears.

Postseason History 
NSU is making its third-ever NCAA Tournament appearance. Its first famously came, of course, in 2012 when the No. 15 seed Spartans knocked off No. 2 seed Missouri in the first round, 86-84, a win considered the biggest in NCAA history in terms of point spread. Kyle O'Quinn (26 points, 14 rebounds), Pendarvis Williams and Chris McEachin (20 points each) led the way that afternoon in Omaha, Nebraska, in what was, at the time, just the fifth ever 15-over-2 upset in tournament history. 

Last year, Jalen Hawkins scored a career-high 24 points to lead NSU to a 54-53 win over Appalachian State in the First Four. The Spartans went on to lose 98-55 to eventual national runner-up Gonzaga in the first round.

The Spartans are also making their ninth postseason appearance in their Division I era (1997-Present) and all have come since 2012. NSU went to the NIT in 2013 after winning the conference's regular season title at 16-0 and in 2019 after winning the regular season title again (14-2). NSU also faced Eastern Michigan (2014), Eastern Kentucky (2015), Columbia (2016) and Liberty (2017) in the CollegeInsider.com tournaments. Since 2012, NSU has failed to make the postseason just one time it was held, in 2018. 

The Spartans also pulled a big upset in 2019, defeating Alabama 80-79 in overtime in a 16-over-1 NIT upset.