After flying from Eastern Virginia to Denver, then busing back and forth from there to Wyoming to officially open Arizona’s multi-team event on Sunday, the Norfolk State Spartans returned home to clobber somebody by 57 points in a one-off game on Tuesday.
Then, after a couple of days to work out and enjoy Thanksgiving, the Spartans had to do it all over again, flying to Arizona before a game Saturday at McKale Center.
It’ll be the first of 10 straight road games, and yet coach Robert Jones is embracing them.
They are games. Good games. Well-paying games.
The kind he can’t always get, not after winning at least 22 games each of the past four years and making three of the past six NCAA Tournaments.
A “company came to us and said they were putting together an MTE with Wyoming and Arizona, and that they will agree to play us,” Jones told the Star earlier this week. “We had to jump at it because we were really at a loss for games.”
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It’s a common story that mid- to low-major programs need to play multiple away “buy” games against high-major teams each season to keep their athletic departments afloat, and it’s also common that they can’t get higher-rated teams to go to their homecourts because those teams fear losing and the repercussions in recruiting and NET ratings that doing so would bring.
But for Norfolk State, it’s different. Nobody even wants to invite the Spartans into their arenas, for fear that they could even lose there, and suffer even more embarrassment.
“I’ll be the first one to say that we didn’t really want to travel to Wyoming or Arizona, but we’ve got to do it for the schedule because of the success that we’ve had,” Jones said. “We just can’t get regional games anymore. Like, regional people will not play us. They will not play us.”
Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones places the team’s sticker onto a March Madness ticket after defeating South Carolina State in the championship of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference tournament, March 15, 2025, in Norfolk, Va.
“We played VCU a couple years ago. We beat them, and they will never play us again,” Jones said. “We played George Mason. We beat them. They won’t play us again. It’s a whole list of East Coast teams that we’ve beaten, and you can see why they won’t play us.
“Even UVa (Virginia) is in the ACC — they should, in theory, beat us — but their coach (Ryan Odum) was at VCU when we beat them, so they don’t jump at the chance of playing us either.
“Scheduling is hard for us. That’s why you’ll see us doing crisscross across the country when we would rather play some of these East Coast schools.”
Sometimes, it gets nerve-wracking, too. While Jones said he is fortunate Norfolk State is financially better off than some peers, asking him to come up with a total of only $300,000 in guarantee receipts from all those road games, even that gets scary.
Jones said the Spartans just went over their $300,000 as their schedule finally neared completion over the summer. (Arizona typically pays nonconference men’s basketball teams between $80,000-$100,000 each, but the school has still not fulfilled a public-records request for game contracts that the Star made in April).
“It was almost impossible to get $300,000 this year,” Jones said. “It was really, really tough. In our league, or other leagues like ours, teams that play guarantee games can get a schedule done in a month or two. We didn’t get our schedule done till August.”
Three months later, after it was finally completed, reality hit the Spartans. Two trips to the Mountain time zone, to play Wyoming and Arizona as part of the “Wildcat Classic.” Two trips to Texas, one to face Baylor and one to play in UTEP’s Sun Bowl Invitational. One to the University of Louisiana, too.
Plus a trip to Atlanta for the Chris Paul HBCU Challenge and one across the state to James Madison as part of a two-year deal that saw the Dukes travel to Norfolk State last season … and lose.
Chances are, James Madison won’t be making that trip again
“That came, I think, by accident because it was a new coach there,” Jones said of that two-game contract. “I don’t know if that was the new coaching staff being a little overzealous but let’s just say we jumped at the chance to play a home-and-home.”
Because they will also play their first two Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference games on the road, the Spartans left the gym Tuesday night after their 136-79 win over Virginia Lynchburg knowing they won’t play another home game until Jan. 12.
It helps that Jones has a roster full of veteran players who have transferred, hungry for better opportunities, wherever they are.
“I’m sure people transfer to Arizona for either a better NIL package or the opportunity to be a part of a winning program like that,” Jones said. “It’s the same thing with us, just a different scale. We sell people on our winning tradition. If you want to be a winner, we say, ‘yeah, come here.'”
Norfolk State guard Terrance Jones drives to the basket past Florida center Micah Handlogten during the second half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, March 21, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C.
Sure enough, Arizona assistant coach Brandon Chapppell says he noticed that the Spartans are “programming a culture where they won’t come in here intimidated” while serving as the Wildcats’ lead scout for Saturday’s game.
Still, nearly seven weeks of nomadic life can take a toll. Jones can only hope maybe it will pay off in March.
Because that’s when another part of the schedule happens that Jones can’t control: The NCAA Tournament.
The Spartans were handed a No. 16 seed last season and a first-round date with eventual national champion Florida, despite playing five NCAA Tournament teams during the season. “Hence why I’m not sure we’re a 16-seed,” Jones told ESPN’s “UnSportsmanLike” show last March.
While the Spartans are expected to win the MEAC again, there’s no guarantee even if they do capture the league’s automatic bid, that they’ll get a better seed this time around, even with all that travel and competition.
Well, unless one thing happens Saturday.
“If we are able to beat Arizona, we better get a 12-seed or something like that,” Jones said, chuckling. “The problem is that some of the programs in our league (are) bringing down the stuff that we do.
“But I really can’t control anybody else doing good or doing better. We just hope that we continue doing what we do.”
Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones directs during the first half in the first round of the NCAA Tournament against Florida, March 21, 2025, in Raleigh, N.C.
Up next
What: No. 2 Arizona (6-0) vs. Norfolk State (4-4)
When: 2 p.m. Saturday
Where: McKale Center
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: 1290-AM
Double header at McKale
Arizona women’s basketball will take the court at McKale Center after the men at 6 p.m.
Head coach Becky Burke’s Wildcats (5-0) will face Cal State Bakersfied (2-4).
“I’m all about a good little doubleheader,” Burke said. “Our men are in a league of their own. We’ll come in and breathe the same air as them. I’ll take it.
“They’re just a tremendous program and team right now, so we’re very humbled to share a gym with them and share a game day with them. It’ll be great. Two games in one day. I don’t think our fans could want anything more.”
The game will be aired on ESPN+ and on 1400-AM.
Contact sports reporter Bruce Pascoe at bpascoe@tucson.com. On X(Twitter): @brucepascoe
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