Men's Basketball Hosts No. 13 Cincinnati Wednesday Night
January 11, 2005 | Men's Basketball
A brief conference rivalry will come to close Wednesday night when East Carolina hosts Cincinnati for the final time inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum starting at 7 o'clock. It will be the Pirates' final chance to score a victory over the nationally-ranked Bearcats, who are departing Conference USA for the Big East Conference at the end of the season. East Carolina is winless in six previous meetings with the Bearcats, including an 0-5 mark in Conference USA.
The two teams have gotten off to opposite starts in league play. ECU has lost its first two conference games of the year, while the Bearcats have posted a pair of convincing victories over DePaul and Saint Louis.
East Carolina is coming off a 12-point loss to Charlotte on the road Saturday. Sophomore Mike Cook was the only Pirate to net double figures with a game-high 22 points. Junior Corey Rouse grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds for ECU.
Cook is one of two players to average double figures for ECU with 16.4 ppg, ninth highest scoring average in Conference USA.
The Pirates recorded their best shooting night (.458) of the year against a Division I opponent since the season opener against Pepperdine, but couldn't overcome a 19-point second half deficit.
Cincinnati has won its first two conference games of the year by a combined 45 points and enters Wednesday's game with a 13-1 overall record. Its only blemish of the year is a loss to top-ranked Illinois in Las Vegas.
The game will feature the top two shot blockers in the league. UC senior Jason Maxiell leads the league with 48 rejection, while ECU senior Moussa Badiane has swatted 39 shots and continues to climb toward the C-USA career mark held by former Bearcat Kenyon Martin.
ECU and Cincinnati are two of the top rebounding teams in the league. UC leads the league with 41.2 rpg, while the Pirates are fourth with 39.6 per game. UC is ranked 13th in this week's coaches poll, which was its exact same AP ranking in its first visit to Greenville in 2002.
The Book on Cincinnati
ECU-Cincinnati Series History
Defense Has Been Good
Over its last three games, East Carolina has been very solid on the defensive end of the floor. The Pirates have held their last three opponents to a combined 33.9 percent shooting from the floor. East Carolina has limited seven of its 14 opponents this season to less than 40 percent shooting this season.
In The Midst Of Tough Stretch
East Carolina is in the midst of arguably its toughest part of the schedule this season. The Pirates will be playing their second of five consecutive games against 2004 NCAA Tournament and eight against postseason tournament teams.
Following Wednesday's game against Cincinnati, east Carolina will host UAB, a Sweet 16 team a year ago, on Saturday.
Facing Ranked Opponents
East Carolina will be facing its second ranked opponent of the season when the Bearcats arrive Wednesday. UC is ranked among the top 20 in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today Coaches polls. The Pirates only previous ranked foe of the year was NC State, who was ranked 17th at the time of the meeting. More on facing ranked opponents:
Looking For 500
Senior Moussa Badiane needs seven rebounds to become the 18th player in school history to amass 500 career boards. He enters Wednesday's game with 493 total rebounds, an average of 5.4 per game. He posted a career-high 171 rebounds as a junior last season and has tallied 98 total thus far in 2004-05.
Hammonds Coming Out
Tom Hammonds IV, the son of former Georgia Tech All-American Tom Hammonds III, is beginning to emerge from his father's shadow. He has played in all 14 games this season and made nine starts, averaging 7.4 ppg. Hammonds is second on the team in steals (16), third in three-pointer made (13) and is averaging over 21 minutes per game.
