ECU Begins Road Swing At UAB Wednesday Night
February 16, 2005 | Men's Basketball
Greenville, N.C. --- East Carolina begins a two-game road swing through the southeastern United States on Wednesday with a Conference USA match up against UAB in Birmingham at 7:30 p.m. CST. The Blazers defeated the Pirates by 12 in Greenville earlier this season, 76-64, and have won all four previous meetings against East Carolina.
Both teams will look to end a pair of losing streaks. ECU has lost three straight after posting back-to-back wins over Saint Louis and Charlotte, while UAB has dropped each of its last two games; losing at home to Louisville and on the road at TCU.
In the first meeting between the two teams this season, UAB got 40 points from its bench, including a team-high 16 points from Marvett McDonald, and made 10-of-18 three-point field goals en route to the victory. ECU junior Corey Rouse led all scorers with 17 points and 10 rebounds for one of his eight double-doubles on the season. ECU senior Moussa Badiane also added 15 points as the Pirates outscored UAB in the paint, 28-20.
The Blazers will be one man down Wednesday night after losing forward Ronnell Taylor to a broken foot against Louisville. Taylor, who had been averaging 12.3 points and 3.7 rebounds per game off the bench, is expected to be out four weeks.
ECU suffered a heart breaking loss to Marquette in overtime Saturday night, 71-69. The Pirates led by three near the end of regulation until Steve Novak made a three-point basket from NBA range that tied the game with 3.6 seconds left in regulation. Travis Diener then made the game-winning shot with 2.6 remaining in overtime to give Marquette its first victory over the Pirates in three attempts inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. Mike Cook led the Pirates with 21 points, while Rouse and Badiane each recorded a doubledouble as rouse scored 18 points and grabbed 10 boards with Badiane netting 14 points and also grabbing 10 boards.
Following Wednesday night's game at UAB, the Pirates will travel to Tampa for their final C-USA game against USF Saturday night.
