Men's Basketball Set To Host UNC Greensboro Tuesday

Dec. 5, 2005

Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

Tip: 7 p.m.
Radio: Pirate Sports Radio Netowrk
TV: None

ECU Hopes To Return to Win Column At Home Against UNCG
After splitting a pair of games on its first road trek of the season, East Carolina returns home for the first of two games this week as it host UNC Greensboro inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Tuesday night. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

The Pirates will also host the Catamounts of Western Carolina on Saturday night.

Both games can be heard over the internet at www.ecupirates.com or via the Pirate Sports Radio Network with Jeff Charles and Si Seymour calling the action.

ECU will attempt to quickly put behind a disappointing 79-53 loss at Old Dominion this past Saturday, where it was out-rebounded for the first time this season. Senior Corey Rouse led the Pirates with 14 points and nine rebounds, while junior Courtney Captain added 12 points.

UNC Greensboro upped its record to 4-3 with a 72-58 win over College of Charleston in its Southern Conference opener Saturday. Sophomore Kyle Hines grabbed a school-record 21 rebounds and scored 18 points. Junior Ricky Hickman added 15 points and junior Bart Tooms had 11. The Spartans are coached by ECU alum and former assistant coach Mike Dement.

Tuesday night's meeting will be the first meeting between the two since the 2001-02 season. ECU holds a 3-1 advantage in the series and owns a mark of 2-0 at home.

A Quick Look At The Pirates
East Carolina is off to a 3-2 start this season with a 2-1 record at home. The Pirates have a trio of players averaging double figures led by senior Corey Rouse with 18.2 points per game. Freshman Sam Hinnant (11.4 ppg) and junior Courtney Captain (10.0 ppg) are also averaging double digits. ECU is shooting better than 45 percent from the floor and holds a slight edge in the rebounding margin category.

Recapping Old Dominion

East Carolina starters Tyronne Beale, Corey Rouse, Courtney Captain, Japhet McNeil and Sam Hinnant accounted for 40 of ECU's 53 points and 16 of its 29 rebounds.

Junior Japhet McNeil moved into sole possession of fourth place on the school's career steals list with 113 swipes.

Senior Corey Rouse didn't record a double-double for the first time this season as he was limited to nine rebounds.

Freshmen walk-ons Nick Mattone and Jeff Robinson scored their first career points.

Junior Courtney Captain scored a career-best 12 points.

Freshman Sam Hinnant made a three-point field goal for a fifth consecutive game.

Off To Another Winning Start
East Carolina has recorded three wins through its first five games for a fourth consecutive seasons and for the fifth time in the last six seasons. The Pirates will attempt to duplicate their 4-2 start of a year ago Tuesday night against UNCG. The last time East Carolina didn't have a winning mark after six games was the 2001-02 season when it opened the season with a 2-6 record.

Hospitality
East Carolina has been rather successful against its instate non-conference opponents since the dawn of the new millennium. East Carolina has won 10 of 11 games inside Williams Arena at Minges against "Old North State" rivals during the decade. The Pirates recently had their 10-game home court winning streak against those opponents snapped by Gardner-Webb on November 22. Since the coliseum was renovated prior to the 1994-95 season, East Carolina has a record of 15-3 against North Carolina rivals outside the CAA and Conference USA.

Two Games Before Exams
East Carolina will play its final two games prior to final exams this week, hosting UNCG Tuesday and Western Carolina on Saturday. The Pirates will then have eight days between games before they return to action on Sunday, December 18 against Winthrop. The Pirates will not have another home game until December 28 against Limestone.

ECU Winning Board Battles
Despite being an undersized basketball team, East Carolina has out-rebounded four of its first five opponents this season. The Pirates collected nine more boards than Wofford did this past Wednesday, its largest margin of the young season. Last season, the Pirates finished with a rebounding margin of +3.6, which ranked fifth in Conference USA and was second among the 12 teams in the league this season. The Pirates starting frontline this season has consisted of a pair of 6-8 forwards: Corey Rouse and Tyronne Beale. Rouse leads Conference USA in rebounding at 11.8 boards per game.

Seeing Double Figures
East Carolina senior forward Corey Rouse has recorded four double-doubles in the first games of the year, including four straight to start the season. Rouse recorded four straight double-doubles once last season en route to 11 total. Rouse currently has 15 career double-doubles. His next double-double would give him the second most of any player at ECU over the past 20 years. Erroyl Bing posted 24 double-doubles during his career.

Attention 3-Point Shooters
After ranking last in Conference USA in three-point field goal percentage and three-pointers made per game last season, ECU has climbed out of the cellar in both categories. The Pirates rank sixth and seventh among the 12 teams in Conference USA. ECU is averaging 5.40 made 3s per game compared to 4.28 last season. ECU is also shooting a higher percentage compared to a season ago. The Pirates are connecting on 32.9 percent of its long distance calls (27-of-82), compared to 29.1 percent last season. Courtney Captain and Sam Hinnant are tied for fourth with two made 3s per game. Tom Hammonds also ranks among the league leaders in three-point field goal percentage, hitting 38.5 percent of his shots.

The Book On UNCG

UNC Greensboro returns eight lettermen and three starters from last season's 18-12 squad that finished second in the North Division of the Southern Conference.

Head Coach Mike Dement is in his second tenure at UNCG at fifth season overall. Prior to this year, he coached the Spartans from 1991-95 before becoming the head coach at SMU, where he served until 2004.

Sophomore Kyle Hines leads UNC Greensboro in scoring (17.5 ppg) and rebounding (10.3 rpg). Hines tallied a school-record 21 rebounds against College of Charleston this past Saturday.

Junior guard Ricky Hickman is the team's top perimeter player. He is averaging 16.8 points and has a made a team-leading nine three-point field goals.

The Spartans have a scoring margin of minus five this season. UNCG is averaging 60.9 points ,while its opponents are averaging 65.9 points.

The Series History

East Carolina leads the all-time series with UNC Greensboro, 3-1.

East Carolina is 2-0 in Greenville against UNCG and 1-1 in Greensboro.

ECU won the first three games in the series.

The last time East Carolina scored 100 points against a Division I opponent was Dec. 28, 2000 against the Spartans. ECU defeated UNCG in Greenville, 104-92.

Mike Dement is 0-1 against his alma mater. ECU defeated Dement's Cornell team during the 1989-90 season.

Ricky Stokes has never faced UNCG as a head coach.

Two of the Pirates' three wins in the series have come by double figures.

ECU-UNCG Connections

UNCG coach Mike Dement is a 1976 East Carolina graduate and served as an assistant coach at ECU during the 1985-86 season.

UNCG assistant coach Brooks Lee served as director of basketball operations at ECU last season

UNCG guard Devin Boddie played one season at ECU, 2002-03, prior to transferring to UNCG.

ECU guard Josh King and UNCG forward Dustin Everette were teammates at Trinity High School.

ECU guard Japhet McNeil and UNCG forward Brian Beckford each attended Christ the King High School in Queens, N.Y.

There are a total of 15 players on the two rosters from North Carolina (UNCG 8, ECU 7).

Dunk You Very Much
Senior Corey Rouse has gotten his final season off on the right foot and sometimes the left and other times both. Rouse leads C-USA in rebounds per game (11.8) and ranks third in the conference in scoring (18.2). The 6-8 Rouse is shooting 63.0 percent from the field, bolstered by 12 dunks. Six of those nine occurred during his 35-point performance against North Carolina A&T. He also ranks among the league leaders in field goal percentage (5th), blocked shots (9th) and steals (8th).

Assists Leader
Junior point guard Japhet McNeil currently ranks second in Conference USA with a 7.60 assists per game average. He handed out double digit assists during the first two games of the season and has record 9+ assists in three of the five games. His assist/turnover ratio also ranks as eighth best in the league. He currently occupies fifth place on the school's all-time lists for assists and fourth on the steals chart. McNeil has accumulated 257 helpers during his career and needs 13 to surpass Jeff Kelly into fourth place. He distributed double-digit assists in each of the first two games, including a career-high 11 against Gardner-Webb. He is on pace to become just the fourth player in school history to reach 300 career helpers. Saturday against Old Dominion, McNeil recorded three steals to brings his career total to 113, surpassing former Pirate Tim Basham for fourth place. He is one of just five players in school history to record 100 steals. McNeil ranks third in the league in steals with 3.00 per game.

New Weapons
Junior college transfers Tyronne Beale and Courtney Captain, along with freshman Sam Hinnant have quickly adjusted to Division I basketball. Hinnant (13.5) and Captain (10.0) are averaging double figures scoring, while Beale (9.2) is averaging better than nine points per game. Captain and Hinnant lead the Pirates in three-point field goals made (10) and are each shooting better than 32 percent from behind the arc, averaging two made threes per game. Beale has scored double figures twice in the first five games, including 21 against Gardner-Webb. Captain scored 12 points Saturday against Old Dominion and ranks among the Conference USA leaders in theree-point field goals made and free throw percentage.

No Center, No Problem
The loss of senior center Moussa Badiane at the end of last season left a huge void in the middle for the Pirates. The 6-11 Frenchman graduated as Conference USA's all-time leader in blocked shots. His departure has caused the Pirates to turn up their defensive pressure on the perimeter, knowing that Badiane is no longer behind them. The Pirates have forced an average of 16.6 turnovers each of the first five games and blocked an average of 2.0 shots per contest. Even with the loss of Badiane's 7.9 rebounds per game, ECU has won the battle of the boards in four games.

Up Next: Western Carolina
East Carolina will conclude its pre-exams schedule Saturday night as its host Western Carolina inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The Catamounts improved to 5-5 with an 80-64 win over UNC Asheville Saturday night. The Catamounts will put their three-game winning streak on the line Wednesday night at Maryland before visiting Greenville on Saturday. The Catamounts visit will be their first trip across state since 1994.

Related News

Related Videos

Footer