Pirates Rumble With Cougars Saturday
January 29, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Jan. 28, 2011
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| THE MATCHUP |
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| Category | East Carolina | Houston | |
| W-L | 11-9, 3-3 | 11-8, 3-3 | |
| Avg. Points | 70.3 | 70.0 | |
| Avg. Points Allowed | 66.6 | 67.6 | |
| Rebound Margin | -0.2 | -1.3 | |
| Field Goal Percentage | .451 | .455 | |
| FG Percent Defense | .423 | .410 | |
| 3-Point Percentage | .377 | .400 | |
| Free Throw Percentage | .687 | .651 | |
| Turnover Margin | -1.6 | -0.9 | |
| TEAM STAT LEADERS |
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| Points | J. Sherrod- 14.9 | A. Brown - 14.9 | |
| Rebounds | D. Morrow - 5.3 | M. McNeil - 8.8 | |
| Assists | B. Young - 4.4 | Z. Nixon - 4.9 | |
| Blocks | D. Morales - 1.1 | M. McNeil - 1.4 | |
| Steals | C. Gaines - 1.6 | Z. Nixon - 1.9 | |
A week ago Jeff Lebo was telling his team not to be too elated following its road win over UCF, now he's telling his group of Pirates not to get down after a home loss to Southern Miss Wednesday.
"In the law of basketball you lose games," Lebo said. "You can't allow it to take your will to work. You have to keep the games in perspective. We can't come out and not continue to work hard because the basketball gods keep giving you Ls for that."
The Pirates will look to return to the win column Saturday as they host Houston inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum with a special start time of 6 p.m. Kids ages 17 and under will be admitted free with the purchase an adult ticket. The game will be televised throughout Eastern North Carolina on WITN and regionally on CSS.
Southern Miss outlasted East Carolina, 84-77, earlier this week, ending the Pirates' run at three consecutive league wins for the first time since 2007-08. Houston has lost two in-a-row, the most recent of which was an overtime loss at cross-town rival Rice, 79-71, Wednesday night.
ECU and Houston enter the Conference USA match-up in a four-way for fifth-place in the league at 3-3 along with SMU and Tulsa. An ECU victory would give the Pirates a winning record through seven C-USA games for the first time in its 10-year membership.
The Pirates are 7-3 at home this season, but two of those losses have come in league play, losing to UAB and Southern Miss. ECU is just 2-3 at home against Houston and haven't beaten the Cougars since 2008.
"[Houston] has a terrific perimeter scorer in [Adam] Brown and like most of the people in our league they have a senior-laden backcourt," Lebo explained. "Maurice McNeil is an inside guy that can score in the paint and shoot the ball from the perimeter. They present a lot of different problems for us. They are tough, hard-nosed defensively."
The Cougars and Pirates ranks second and third in C-USA in 3-point field goal percentage. However, ECU has taken over 100 more 3-point attempts and made 34 more than Houston. The Pirates are averaging nearly eight 3-pointers per game compared to 6.4 by the Cougars.
"We've got to get good shots and get them within in the flow of the offense," Lebo said.
Despite its sub par shooting performance behind the arc Wednesday, the Pirates are still shooting 39 percent from 3-point range at home this season. Statistically Houston is the second-best perimeter defensive team in the conference, holding its opponents to 29.6 percent shooting behind the arc.
ECU ranked second in the league in 3-point defense at the beginning of the week, but a 54.5 percent shooting night behind the arc by Southern Miss dropped the Pirates to fifth. Overall, the Golden Eagles shot 55 percent from the floor.
"We had some breakdowns defensively, not major ones, but we have to be more disciplined.
"We can't have those kind of plays and expect to win in this league and good teams penalize you for little mistakes. When we've lost, that's what's happened."
The Houston game will mark the first of three consecutive Saturday night home games for the Pirates, who travel to SMU Wednesday before returning home to face UCF on Saturday, Feb. 5.
