Gameday Preview: Tulane at East Carolina

Game 24: Tulane at East Carolina
Date	Saturday, Feb. 4
Time	2 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum)
Television	American Sports Network \| Find Your Station
Web Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Listen Live \\\ ESPN3
Game Notes	East Carolina \\\ Tulane
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUPirateHoops

East Carolina returns home for the first time in 10 days Saturday to host American Athletic Conference rival Tulane inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum beginning at 2 p.m. The game will be televised on the American Sports Network and can be seen throughout eastern North Carolina on MyWITN 7.2. It can also be heard across the region on WNCT 107.9 FM on the Pirate-IMG Sports Network.

The Pirates (10-13, 2-8) are looking to even up their conference home record at 3-3 after suffering an 0-2 road trip to Memphis and SMU. ECU is 9-4 at home this season, while Tulane (4-17, 1-8) owns a 2-6 road mark with wins at Southern Miss and USF.

Tulane enters the contest on a five-game losing streak, but has won three in a row in Greenville. The Green Wave leads the all-time series, 13-8, after the two teams split the season series a year ago.

ECU ended a three-game slide against Tulane with a 79-73 win in New Orleans last season after the Green wave posted a 100-92 triple overtime victory inside Williams Arena.

NEWS & NOTES

Each member of the ECU coaching staff will be wearing the Autism Speaks puzzle piece pin during Saturday's game to raise awareness of autism as part of the Coaches Powering Forward For Autism program, which was created in 2014. ECU Director of Basketball Operations Kyle Robinson's oldest son, Samuel, is among the 1 in 68 children on the autism spectrum.
Saturday's game will be Pirates' assistant coach Michael Perry's fifth game as acting head coach during ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo's leave of absence following hip surgery on Jan. 16. There is no timetable for Lebo's return. Perry is in his 10th season as an assistant coach at East Carolina. He joined the Pirate coaching staff following 4+ years as head coach at Georgia State, where he compiled a 62-75 record. ECU is 1-3 under Perry.
The Pirates' leading scorer, junior B.J. Tyson will miss his sixth straight game after sustaining a leg injury against Houston on January 11. Tyson was averaging a team-best 11.9 points per game and led ECU in total assists (53) and steals (53) at the time of his injury.
ECU is coming off an 86-46 loss at SMU Wednesday night. Sophomore Kentrell Barkley was the lone Pirate to reach double figures scoring with 12 points. ECU trailed 49-20 at halftime after shooting 28.6 percent from the field, while SMU converted 55.2 percent of its shots in the first 20 minutes.
The Pirates have held three of their last five opponents to less than 35 percent shooting from the field and five of 10 overall in conference play. ECU ranks eighth among all 351 Division I teams with an opponent field goal percentage of 38.2 percent, while ranking 25th in scoring defense (63.6) and 19th in three-point field goal percent defense (.307).
Graduate transfer Andre Washington is averaging 3.4 blocks per game in conference play, swatting 34 opponent field goal attempts in 10 league games. He blocked 30 shots in 13 non-conference games. He ranks second overall in The American with 2.8 blocks per game, which is 11th among all Division I players. His 64 total blocks is first among all American Athletic Conference players and seventh nationally.
Barkley, who was named to the American Athletic Conference Weekly Honor Roll for the second time this season Monday, has led ECU in scoring in nine of the last 11 games and has been its leading rebounder in nine of the last 11 as well. He ranks second on the team in points and rebounds per game and third in assists per game.
ECU senior Caleb White needs a trio of 3-pointers to move into second-place on the school's career list for 3-point field goals made with 230.
Sheppard is the top assist distributor among all American Athletic Conference freshmen, averaging 3.3 assists per game. He also ranks first among all league rookies with a 1.5 assist/turnover ratio.

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Players Mentioned

Kentrell Barkley

B.J. Tyson

Andre Washington

Caleb White

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