NEW YORK, N.Y. – The Hampton University men's basketball team will be in historic Madison Square Garden on Sunday, as the Pirates compete in the annual Big Apple Classic against MEAC rival Howard at 6 p.m.

The Pirates (3-4, 0-1 MEAC), in their third season under head coach Edward Joyner Jr., dropped their first conference game of the season on Thursday, falling 65-49 to Savannah State at the HU Convocation Center. Senior guard Darrion Pellum (Hampton, Va.) led Hampton with 15 points on 5-for-15 shooting, while sophomore center David Bruce (Linden, N.J.) added a career-high 13 rebounds.

The Bison (2-4, 0-0 MEAC) have lost three of their last four following a 77-66 loss at American on Tuesday. Freshman guard Simuel Frazier led Howard with 11 points, the only Bison to score in double figures on the night, while sophomore center Alphonso Leary added nine points and a team-high six rebounds.

Howard went 6-24 overall last season, including a 4-12 mark in MEAC play to finish last in the conference. The Bison, under second-year head coach Kevin Nickelberry, return three starters and five letterwinners from last year's squad.

Redshirt-junior guard Calvin Thompson leads the Bison in scoring, pouring in 12.5 points a night, while Frazier is second on the team with 11.0 points a contest. Junior forward Mike Phillips is the team's leading rebounder, pulling down 8.0 boards per game.

The Bison are averaging 63.2 points per game on offense, while giving up 64.7 points a night.

The Pirates are 27-5 all-time against Howard, and Hampton has won the last three meetings – and 15 of the last 17 overall. Hampton swept the season series last year, taking the Big Apple Classic 67-55 before winning 83-72 in Washington, D.C. Howard last defeated Hampton in the 2009 Big Apple Classic, taking a 56-54 win. Hampton is 6-2 against Howard on neutral courts.

Hampton is 191-109 all-time as a Div. I program (since 1995) against teams currently in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC), including an 11-5 mark in the conference last season. North Carolina Central, in its first year in the MEAC, is the only team currently in the MEAC the Pirates have not faced since moving to Div. I.

Since joining the MEAC in 1995, the Pirates have won two regular-season conference titles (2000-01, 2001-02) and four MEAC tournament crowns (2001, 2002, 2006, 2011).

The Pirates are 11-5 on neutral courts under Joyner – including a 1-1 mark this season, with a loss against Sacred Heart and a win over SIU-Edwardsville in the Triple Crown Cancun Challenge. Hampton went 8-1 on neutral courts last season, with the only loss a season-ending 87-45 defeat to top-seeded Duke in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The Pirates won two neutral-court games in the Preseason NIT, two more in the Hilltop Classic hosted by the University of San Francisco and three games in taking the MEAC Tournament crown.

For more information on Hampton University basketball, please call the Office of Sports Information at (757) 727-5811, or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.