ECU Host Basketball Media Day

GREENVILLE, N.C. --- The East Carolina men's basketball team welcomed the media to the Smith-Williams Center on Thursday afternoon to preview the 2016-17 season.

ECU will hold its first official practice of the season on Friday, Sept. 30 at 3:30 p.m. The Pirates will then have 40 days to conduct 30 practice sessions before opening the season Veterans Day, Nov. 11, against Grambling State inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

Check out some of the sights and sounds from Pirate Basketball Media Day:

Photo Gallery | Coach Lebo With Jeff Charles

Select coach and player quotes:

ECU HEAD COACH JEFF LEBO
Opening statement
We've got a lot of new faces on our team. If you take Deng Riak, who got a medical redshirt last year, there are 10 new guys that we'll have on our roster this year. We think we've added some things we feel we needed to add for this league.

On getting ready for the initial practices
It's exciting. I love it. That's the fun part of what we do. Now [that] we start earlier and have the ability to work guys out, takes the excitement away from having the very first start date because you've been with them a little bit. It's still exciting to be out there with them every day and start the process, to start the grind. We'll find out a lot about our players during the grind. It's easy for them when we're going Tuesday and Thursday for an hour.

On added size to the roster
We've got some experience inside. Andre Washington, who is 7-1 ¾, is going to be a factor for us inside. It's going to take some time for Andre to get back into playing; he hasn't played for a year. He's big, he's a target in there, and he's going to be a factor for us. We also added Jabari Craig, who at 6-10, 240-pounds, can run and jump. He's going to be a rebounder, shot blocker, force inside for us defensively. Then we've got Deng, who was hurt last year, at 6-10. [Each one is] long, can move a little bit. We've got experienced guys in Clarence [Williams], who is a senior, and Michel Nzege, two guys that played a lot of minutes for last year.

On areas that needed improvement
Two areas where we've struggled in our jump to the new league has been rebounding and defense. I think we've addressed that with recruiting with size to be able to rebound the ball. We're going to be big at the guard spot also.

On the freshmen class
I like all our freshmen. I think they all have a chance to be good. Jeremy Sheppard is a point guard whose skilled, played on winning teams and is going to get better. He can shoot, pass and think the game. I really like Raquan Wilkins, who's 6-5 with a 6-8 ½ wingspan. Elijah Hughes is as talented as a freshman as we've had here. The sky's the limit for him when he figures out how good he can be. We feel recruiting wise that we've had a really good year and addressed our needs in the backcourt.

On the returning players in the backcourt
We've got really good players, core players, returning in the backcourt. Caleb White, B.J. Tyson, Kentrell Barkley, you can build a team around those guys. They're fast, they score, and they're experienced. We'll rely heavily on those three guys in the backcourt and try to keep those guys healthy. They're going to play a lot of minutes.

On the point guard position
If you look at our three best players from last year, you're probably looking at B.J., Caleb and Kentrell. In order to get them on the court and be big, somebody's going down there. You can play them, be small and play somebody else there, but I think you'll see one of them go down there. We've got a guy sitting out that I think is going to be a terrific player in Isaac Fleming from Hawaii. He'll help us a bunch in practice, but I think we're going to have to slide somebody down there. Obviously, we'll be inexperienced there. It's a little uneasy when you're not experienced there, but we'll slide an experienced guy that's out of position over.

Senior Caleb White
On being a senior
Everything's so different. Every year I've been here, you look on the court at the four spot and you have guys 6-4, 6-2 trying to compete night in and night out. Now you look there and you have 6-9 and then behind that you have another 6-9 and that's just at the four position. That's where I believe the change is. There is a lot more depth and a lot more talent.

Being a senior I look forward to every game. I want to cherish every game.

Senior Michel Nzege
On the team's chemistry
The chemistry has been pretty good. We've talked about it all summer long and we really feel like we have the talent to do something special this year. We're just trying to come together, come ready to practice everyday, leave our egos in the locker room, be selfless and play for each other.

Junior B.J. Tyson
On having more big guys on the roster
It's going to help us out tremendously. I feel like we have a real good team this year. The only thing that scares me is the injuries. That's the only thing I'm really worried about because the past two years that I've been here we ended up with one big every year. I feel like we got the bigs we needed and I feel like we're going to be ready.

Sophomore Kentrell Barkley
On the things he's been doing to prepare to play multiple positions
I've been working on my shot from outside and my ball handling, plus getting stronger in the weight room. I think I'm going to play a little bit more at the four position, so I'm learning the spots, learning how to hedge and drop. I just wanted to help my team out wherever I'm needed.

Players Mentioned

Kentrell Barkley

Jabari Craig

Isaac Fleming

Elijah Hughes

Michel Nzege

Deng Riak

Jeremy Sheppard

B.J. Tyson

Andre Washington

Caleb White

Raquan Wilkins

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