Both Norfolk State and Hampton are taking a trip in search of sunshine, warmer weather and good basketball this weekend.

The schools’ men’s teams are participating in the Paradise Jam from Friday to Monday in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Spartans and Pirates are in an eight-team team field that also includes Fordham, Abilene Christian, San Jose State, Kent State, Missouri State and Florida Gulf Coast.

Kent State is the favorite to win the event, according to BetMGM.

The Golden Flashes went 28-7 last season, won the MAC and made an appearance in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 13 seed. Kent State is 2-1 this year and as of Thursday evening was ranked No. 120, the highest of any Paradise Jam team, in KenPom’s adjusted efficiency margin rankings.

“Some of these names, if you’re a casual basketball fan, might not jump out at you,” Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones said. “People don’t know how good San Jose State was, how good Kent State is, how good Fordham was last year, how good Abilene Christian is. … For the true basketball fan, you understand this is a huge magnitude of a mid-major type tournament.”

Norfolk State and Hampton will play their first games on Friday. NSU will face Fordham at 1 p.m. and Hampton will face Kent State at 5:45 p.m. Both games will be streamed on ESPN+. Both teams are guaranteed to play three games in the tournament.

“You do have to prepare a little differently,” Jones said. “The preparation time at the Paradise Jam is gonna be a little different. It’s not gonna be the same two hours that we get (at home), it’s gonna be a quick turnaround. But everything else stays the same. The film stays the same, the scout stays the same and things like that.”

The eight teams are split into two mini brackets. Jones said this helps narrow down which opponents Norfolk State has to focus on when scouting. Norfolk State is in the bracket with Fordham, Abilene Christian and San Jose State, while Hampton is in the bracket with Kent State, Missouri State and Florida Gulf Coast.

“We just concentrate on those (three in our bracket),” Jones said. “Then when we’re out there, we could kind of see who we might match up with and then just do some work while we’re out there. Everything’s on video, everything is accessible, so we can easily do a scout with those guys.”

Norfolk State and Hampton likely won’t play against each other in the tournament, but there are a few hypothetical scenarios in which it could happen. If it did, it would make it the second straight year there were two renditions of the Battle of the Bay in the same season. Last season, the teams played against each other in Newark, New Jersey, and Las Vegas.

“We’ve been playing them all across the country, so why not play them all across the world now?” Jones joked.

With a small sample size of just three games this season, it could be hard to pinpoint a few things that either Norfolk State or Hampton needs to improve on going into the Paradise Jam.

Jones, a tough critic of his team, believes the Spartans could use some work defensively and on offensive execution.

“I think we could execute a little better and just step up and make some shots,” Jones said. “I think that we’re a pretty good shooting team when we’re in a good rhythm, but (Monday night against Hampton), maybe the pressure (got to us). We just didn’t shoot it well from three, so we gotta do a better job with that when we get to the Paradise Jam.”

The focus for both Norfolk State and Hampton will be on basketball this weekend, but Jones said there will be some time to enjoy the Virgin Islands — albeit not as much as when the team traveled to Puerto Rico this summer.

“I’ll dip my toes in the sand a little bit,” Jones said. “We’re on the beach, our resort, so I’ll definitely go outside for a little bit. But at the same time, this is unlike Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico was more of a fun experience — these games count. So we got to do some work.”

Hampton head coach Buck Joyner was unavailable to speak to the media before the Pirates traveled to the Virgin Islands.

Michael Sauls, [email protected], (757) 803-5774