CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- ESPNU has selected the Radford at Hampton men's basketball contest scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 7 as its third Big South Wildcard broadcast of the 2018-19 season, it was announced today by the Big South Conference office.  The game will tip at 7pm as scheduled inside the HU Convocation Center.

The game will be the first meeting of the season between the two teams, and the first in 16 days between the two schools who are tied in the all-time series at 3-3.  Hampton heads to Radford on Feb. 23.

Radford (13-6, 5-0 Big South) begins this week in first-place in the conference standings and is off to its best league start since opening the 1999-00 slate at 6-0.  The Highlanders feature the Big South leaders in overall rebounding (Ed Polite Jr. – 9.3) and assists (Carlik Jones – 5.9).  In conference games, Radford is first in scoring margin (+8.2), field goal percentage (49.6) and 3-point percentage (40.4), while Jones is handing out a league-best 7.4 assists.
 
Hampton (7-10, 2-2 Big South) is in its first year in the conference and has the league's second-leading scorer in Jermaine Marrow at 23.9 points per game -- 10th in the nation.  His 40.6 overall three-point percentage paces the conference, and he is second to Jones with 5.5 assists per game.  Kalin Fisher is tops in the Big South with 2.3 steals per game -- including 3.8 against Big South foes.  In conference action, the Pirates begin the week with a league-high 80.2 points per game and are second to the Highlanders in both field goal percentage (45.8) and 3-point shooting (39.1).
 
This is the sixth year of the Big South's ESPNU Wildcard series, which features four Thursday broadcasts -- Jan. 10 (Winthrop at Campbell), Jan. 24 (Gardner-Webb at Winthrop), Feb. 7 and Feb. 21 -- that are selected 21 days in advance.  A total of 20 games have been played in the series that began in 2013-14, and while the home teams are 15-5, the 20 games have been decided by an average of 8.25 points, with 12 of those being decided by two possessions or less.

In addition to the four ESPNU Wildcard broadcasts, two additional regular-season Big South games will be televised nationally -- the Thursday, Jan. 17 Gardner-Webb at Radford game on ESPNU at 9:00pm, and the Thursday, Feb. 28 Winthrop at Hampton contest on ESPNews at 7:00pm.

For more information on Hampton University men's basketball, please contact the Office of Sports Information at 757-727-5757 or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.