Men's Hoops Welcomes Limestone To Minges Tuesday Night

Nov. 20, 2006

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Matchup: East Carolina vs. Limestone
Date: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Time: 7 p.m.
Site: Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (Greenville, N.C.)
Records: East Carolina 2-1, Limestone 2-0
Rankings: None
TV: None
Radio: Pirate-ISP Sports Network Sports Network. Jeff Charles (play-by-play) and Si Seymour (analyst) provide the call. A live broadcast is available on a subscription basis on the East Carolina's official website, ECUPirates.com.
Websites: East Carolina (ECUPirates.com) Limestone (limestone.edu)

ECU Hosts Limestone In Pre-Thanksgiving Game Tuesday Night
Fresh off its first road win in nearly a year, East Carolina returns home Tuesday night to face Limestone inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (7 p.m./No TV).

The Pirates have six players averaging eight or more points with three averaging double figures, led by junior college transfer Darrell Jenkins at 15.3 ppg. Jenkins scored 22 points in his ECU debut and then dropped in 19 points against UNC Greensboro on Saturday.

Senior Courtney Captain is averaging over 13 ppg as a starter, while junior Jeremy Ingram is averaging 11.7 ppg off the bench.

Jenkins isn't the only newcomer to have gotten off to a fast start, freshmen Gabe Blair and John Fields have made early contributions. Blair is nearly averaging a double-double with 9.7 ppg and 9.7 rpg, while Fields ranks second in the league in field goal percentage (.706) and third in blocks per game (2.67).

Limestone is off to a 2-0 start this season with wins over Bellarmine and Newberry. Senior Shawn Poppie leads the team in scoring with 23.0 ppg. Senior Terrell Smith is also netting double figures with 19.5 ppg as is Marq Bell with 12.5.

This will be the second consecutive year that ECU has hosted Limestone. The Pirates claimed an 87-54 win last season.

East Carolina Inclinations

East Carolina snapped a 13-game road losing streak Saturday against UNC Greensboro. The Pirates were 11-11 on the road last season, going 1-4 away from home in non-conference games and 0-7 in C-USA.

East Carolina played its fourth overtime game in the Ricky Stokes era on Tuesday night. The Pirates are 1-3 in those games and have lost three straight in overtime.

Four players are averaging four or more rebounds this season. The only player to average more than four rebounds a game last season was Corey Rouse (10.8 rpg). 4Eight players are averaging 13 or more minutes per game with Gabe Blair and Darrell Jenkins are the only players to average over 30.

With an 86-67 win season-opening win over Morgan State, the Pirates won their seventh consecutive season opener and improved to 34-6 in its last 40 home openers.

The Pirates shot over 50 percent from the field in both the first and second half against Morgan State to finish the game shooting 51.6 percent from the field. The Pirates shot over 50 percent from the field in both halves of a game just three times in 2005-06.

East Carolina's 86-67 (+19) win over Morgan State in the season-opener was its fourth consecutive double-digit season-opening victory.

Five players scored double figures for the Pirates in the season-opening win over Morgan State. ECU only had five players score double figures once during the 2005-06 season (vs. Saint Paul's).

The Pirates are 5-0 under head coach Ricky Stokes when scoring 80 or more points.

East Carolina's dress list includes four scholarship players taller than 6-foot-6. Taylor Gagnon (6-6), Gabe Blair (6-8), John Fields (6-9) and Justin Ramsey (6-10) are the only Pirates to top the mark.

The Pirates were 6-7 in non-conference games last season, going 5-3 at home and 1-4 on the road. ECU's non-conference home victories included wins over N.C. A&T, Wofford and UNC Wilmington.

The Pirates made 173 3-point field goals last season, its most since making 209 3s in 2001-02. Of its 173 total 3s, 144 of those are back for the 2006-07 season.

East Carolina has had one representative on the Conference USA All-Freshman Team in four of the past five years, including each of the last three.

Including Taylor Gagnon, who earned a spot on the team as a walk-on prior tot he start of the 2004-05 season, there are three walk-ons on this season's roster. Greyson Sargent and Josh Sweeley also earned walk-on spots.

Nine of the 14 players on the roster list North Carolina as their home state.

HoopScoop ranked East Carolina's recruiting class of 2007 (Cory Farmer, Darrell Jenkins, John Fields, Gabe Blair, Chad Wynn and Brandon Evans) among the top 40 classes in the nation.

Looking At Limestone
Limestone is off to a 2-0 start this season, after winning a pair of games this weekend against Bellarmine and Limestone. The Saints return four starters from last year's 15-14 team. More on Limestone.

The Saints have three players averaging double figures led by senior Shawn Poppie (23.5 ppg).

Limestone has only two players listed at 6-foot-6 or bigger: Marq Bell (6-6) and Colin Pond (6-7).

The Saints have five seniors and three juniors listed on their roster, seven of whom player junior college basketball before enrolling at Limestone.

Limestone has more players that played in the game against East Carolina last year than ECU does (6-4).

The Series And Other Connections

East Carolina defeated Limestone in the only previous meeting between the two schools last year, 87-54 (12/28/05).

The Saints have two players from North Carolina on their roster: Marq Bell (Raleigh) and Colin Pond (Cary).

Larry Epperly coached against ECU as an assistant coach at the University of Richmond when both UR and ECU were members of the ECAC-South.

Vs. DII
East Carolina has won 19 consecutive regular season games against Division II opponents dating back to the 1989-90 season. Including this season, East Carolina has played two Division II foes in five of the past six years and at least one Division II opponent in 14 of the last 17 seasons.

Last Meeting With Limestone
Junior Jeremy Ingram scored 25 points, including 20 in the first half, in his ECU home debut to lead the Pirates to an 87-54 victory over Limestone ... The Pirates shot 60.3 percent (35-58) from the field and 42.1 percent (8-19) from the 3-point line ... Sam Hinnant scored seven points in the game as nine players scored at least four points for ECU ... ECU forced 23 Limestone turnovers and scored 21 points off those turnovers ... Shawn Poppie was the only Limestone player to score double figures finishing with 14 points ... The Pirates torched the nets in the first half, shooting 66.7 percent from the floor (18-27).

NC Central On Deck For ECU
Following Tuesday's game against Limestone, ECU will hit the hardwood again on Sunday against North Carolina Central at 3:30 p.m. The game was originally slated for a 7 o'clock start on Saturday, November 25. The game was moved due to the rescheduling of the Pirates' football game at NC State on Saturday, November 25, which has been slated for a 7 p.m. kickoff. The Pirates defeated the Eagles 67-60 in an exhibition game last season.

Last Time Out Against UNCG
East Carolina snapped a 13-game road losing streak this past Saturday with a 72-64 win at UNC Greensboro, giving the Pirates their first road victory since defeating Wofford in Spartanburg, S.C. nearly one year ago. The victory also snapped a two-game skid against the Spartans. More form the Pirates' victory over UNCG:

Juniors Darrell Jenkins and Jeremy Ingram led all scorers with 19 points apiece. Ingram's 13 first half points were the most points scored by a player in a half this season.

Freshman John Fields' five blocked shots were the most by a Pirate since the 2004-05 season as were its seven total blocks.

East Carolina made 8-of-10 free throws in the final two minutes.

Pirate guards combined to grab 26 of 46 rebounds led by Jenkins' eight rebounds and Courtney Captain's seven. It was the second consecutive game in which Captain grabbed seven boards.

Guards Helping On The Boards
With only two players which are listed at 6-foot-8 seeing significant playing time early this season, ECU guards, none listed at over 6-4, have done a good job of helping out on the boards. Guards Courtney Captain, Cory Farmer, Sam Hinnant, Jeremy Ingram and Darrell Jenkins have a combined total of 62 rebounds through three games (20.7 rpg). More on ECU's rebounding guards:

Pirate guards have helped the East Carolina out-rebound its opponent in each of the first three games.

Jenkins was the Pirates' high rebounder with eight boards against UNC Greensboro.

Captain tied his career-high with seven rebounds against Richmond and UNC Greensboro. Captain ranks second on the team and 20th in C-USA with 6.0 rebounds per game.

In the past two games, Farmer averaged five rebounds, while Hinnant averaged 4.5.

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