The Florida A&M and Norfolk State men's basketball teams met in a Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference contest Monday in Norfolk, Virginia.

Ahead of the game, the teams paused and observed a moment of silence to remember basketball star Kobe Bryant, who died Sunday in a helicopter crash.

Norfolk State displayed a black and white image of Bryant on the scoreboard with the years 1978-2020 during the moment of silence.

Monday's game was broadcast on ESPNU. The analyst for the game was Sydney Johnson.

Johnson got choked up talking about Bryant during the first half of Monday's game.

"I'm a huge Lakers fan," Johnson said. "I was driving home, excuse me if I get emotional even now, I was driving home from watching my own daughter play with her travel basketball team and a good friend of mine texted me. I didn't want to believe it. Then when I saw the news, it's just unbearable.

"My heart goes out to the nine lives that were lost," Johnson continued. "May they rest in peace. ... Obviously, a dark time for our game. Everybody feels it — even a moment of silence for this game. We're all in a sense of shock and loss."

FAMU head men's basketball coach Robert McCullum was interviewed about Bryant during the broadcast.

"It's hard to believe," McCullum said. "He represented so much of what you want your players to learn, to espouse. Just the way he was well rounded. We talk to our players about the importance that their entire identity not being basketball. He exhibited that."

The ESPNU broadcast also aired an interview with Norfolk State head coach Robert Jones where he talked about Bryant's death.

"When I found out about his daughter who passed away, that kind of hit home even more than the actual Kobe (news)," Jones said. "Because my son is 12 years old and he'll be 13 this year. Just imagine losing him at such a young age, it just would be devastating."

Bryant's 13-year-old daughter Gianna was one of the nine victims in the plane crash.

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Norfolk State defeated Florida A&M 95-67.

The FAMU vs. Norfolk State game was one of 17 Division I men's basketball games played Monday.

Erik Hall is the lead digital producer for sports with the USA Today Network. You can find him on Twitter @HallErik.