With Towson men’s basketball tied with William & Mary for the best record in the Coastal Athletic Association at 7-1, coach Pat Skerry can’t help taking a deprecating approach to his team’s success before Thursday night’s game at Delaware.

“I’d like to be 8-0 and I wish we played better nonconference, and a lot of that is my fault,” he said of the Tigers (12-9 overall). “I really believe in this group, and that hasn’t changed. We’re making some steps, but we’re not there yet. We’ve got to be really locked into executing a game plan tomorrow night, and if we do that, that’s great.”

Still, Towson, the league’s preseason favorite, is enjoying its best eight-game start in CAA action since joining the conference in 2001. That includes a six-game winning streak that includes Monday’s 75-65 victory at Northeastern.

While the Tigers are tied for 11th of 14 teams in the league in scoring (68 points per game) and 13th in shooting efficiency (41%), they rank third in points allowed (66.3) and fourth in opponents’ field-goal rate (42.6%). And they rank fourth in the conference in offensive rebounds per game (13), which is tied for 41st nationally.

And Towson has asked players to make sacrifices. Redshirt senior shooting guard Nendah Tarke is averaging 11 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals while coming off the bench in each of the past six games. And junior shooting guard Christian May has become the team’s second-leading rebounder at 4.7 per game despite scoring just 6.6 points, which would mark a career low during his time as a starter.

Skerry cited Tarke and May as exemplifying the essence of a team.

“At times, they’ve taken a lesser role, but their attitudes and practice habits haven’t changed,” he said. “I’m appreciative of this group understanding what the goal is and that we’ve got work to do. Sometimes in a team sport, you don’t always get what you want, but you’ve got to put that aside for the good of the group.”

Here is a glimpse at how the NCAA Tournament hopes of other area teams are faring:

Morgan State men

At 3-2 in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, Morgan State’s men’s team (9-12) sits in a three-way tie for third with North Carolina Central (10-12) and South Carolina State (9-11). But the Bears have something the other two do not: a 78-74 win on Jan. 13 against Norfolk State, which has captured at least a share of three of the past four conference regular-season titles and back-to-back tournament championships in 2021 and 2022.

“We were down to seven guys when we played Norfolk, and I told the guys, ‘Don’t feel sorry for yourself. No one feels sorry for us. We’ve got to be tough, we’ve got to stick together, and we’ve got to play together,’” said coach Kevin Broadus, whose team triumphed despite missing 10 players because of injury and illness. “These guys are starting to believe in themselves and their teammates.”

Broadus acknowledged feeling a bit nervous about how the players approached Saturday’s game against a Coppin State opponent that had only one victory in the conference but was redeemed by Morgan State’s 80-64 romp.

“They played them like they were playing Norfolk, and they have to play every game like they’re playing a top team,” he said. “Like I told them, we’re not good enough to take it easy or look down on someone else. We’ve got to play our ‘A’ game every game, and the guys came to play.”

Mount St. Mary’s women

In December, Antoine White caught a West Virginia women’s game and observed how the Mountaineers pressed and used a zone defense against their opponent. The fourth-year coach decided to copy that style for his Mount St. Mary’s women’s team, and the change has contributed to White’s Mountaineers (8-10, 6-3) riding a five-game winning streak and sitting in a three-way tie for third in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference with Marist (11-8, 6-3) and Siena (8-8, 6-3).

“Previously, what we were doing with this group wasn’t working, and it was going to be a disaster of a season,” said White, whose squad ranks fifth in the league in caused turnovers per game (17.8). “So when I made the change, you just go. We had some bumps and bruises along the way, but we also saw a lot of improvement as well.”

A barometer of Mount St. Mary’s potential might come in the form of a four-game stretch ending the regular season when the team welcomes MAAC leader Fairfield (15-3, 9-0) to Knott Arena in Emmitsburg on Feb. 27, travels to Siena on March 1, hosts Quinnipiac (16-2, 8-1) on March 6, and takes a trip to Marist on March 8. Rather than be intimidated, White embraces the challenge.

“That’s good because it’s going to build toughness physically and mentally to get us ready for the playoffs,” White said. “So we’re going to be battle-tested, and I wouldn’t want it any other way for my group.”

Navy women

The Navy women find themselves in a good-news, bad-news situation.

With a 6-2 record in the Patriot League, the Midshipmen (14-5) are tied with Army West Point (14-4, 6-2) for third in the conference. But they lost 6-foot-4 senior Kate Sampson and 6-3 junior Gia Pissott to season-ending injuries and recently learned that 6-1 sophomore Lizzie Holder will miss an indefinite period of time after getting hurt during Sunday’s 59-49 loss at the Black Knights.

“Of course, we wish we didn’t have the injuries, but as far as record and things like that, yes, I feel like we’re in a pretty good place,” coach Tim Taylor said. “Now we’re going to have to make some adjustments.”

After Wednesday night’s home game against Patriot League leader Lehigh (16-4, 7-1), Navy will travel to the Mountain Hawks on Feb. 12, welcome Army and Colgate (15-6, 5-3) to Alumni Hall in Annapolis on Feb. 15 and Feb. 19, respectively, and visit Holy Cross (14-6, 7-2) on Feb. 22.

Navy and Boston University are the only teams that have defeated the Crusaders, who captured conference regular-season titles in 2022 and 2024 and tournament championships in 2023 and 2024. Taylor said the 67-56 victory over Holy Cross continues to pay dividends.

“We’ve always said that if you’re going to win a championship, you have to beat the champs,” he said. “So you get confidence from any type of win like that where you can beat a team of that magnitude.”

Have a news tip? Contact Edward Lee at eklee@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/EdwardLeeSun.