Pirates Look To End Skid Friday Against UNC Greensboro
December 15, 2011 | Men's Basketball
Dec. 15, 2011
 vs.  |
| East Carolina vs. UNC Greensboro Dec. 16, 2011 | 7 p.m. ET Greensboro, N.C. TV: None |
 Watch |  Live Stats |  Game Notes |  Tickets |  Gameday Central |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
THE LATEST NEWS & NOTES
? East Carolina will be returning to action for the first time in 10 days following final exams when it faces the UNC Greensboro Spartans inside the Greensboro Coliseum on Friday. The Pirates last played Dec. 6 against UMass (L, 63-58).
?The Pirates are searching for their first "true" road win over the season. ECU lost on the road at Campbell and Old Dominion, but scored a neutral site victory over Appalachian State at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.
?Friday's game against UNC Greensboro will be the Pirates' final road game for the 2011 calendar year. East Carolina will play its final four games of the year inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
?East Carolina is 1-1 all-time at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Pirates defeated UNCG, 82-61, during the 2009-10 season after falling to Wake Forest at the venue during the same year.
?ECU has lost each of its last two games coming out of the exam break. Its last win was over UNCG (97-53) at home after a seven-day layoff following the conclusion of the 2008 fall semester.
?Pirate head coach Jeff Lebo is seeking his fifth win over the Spartans. He is 4-0 against UNCG with three of those victories coming during his tenure as head coach at Chattanooga. Lebo has a career record of 35-17 against Southern Conference teams, including a 14-6 mark in non-conference play. Lebo is 23-10 all-time against teams from North Carolina.
?Both teams have already played Appalachian State this season with ECU scoring a 20-point win over the Mountaineers and UNCG falling by 14 on the road.
?East Carolina is just 1-5 in non-conference road games the past two seasons, scoring their lone victory last season at North Carolina Central.
?The Pirates rank second nationally in steals per game (11.0), trailing only No. 1 Syracuse (12.3). ECU has recorded double digit steals in six of eight games this season with a season-high 14 in the season-opener against Milligan.
WHO TO WATCH
? Senior Darrius Morrow needs two points to move into 10th place on the school's all-time scoring list and 13 points to become the seventh player in ECU history to reach 1,200 career points. He has tallied 1,187 points in 100 career games.
?Junior Shamarr Bowden, a native of Greensboro, N.C., has scored double figures in three straight games, averaging 12.3 ppg. He is shooting 56.0 percent (14-of-25) from the floor and 45.0 percent (9-of-20) from outside the arc.
?Junior Miguel Paul leads Conference USA in assists per game (5.6) and steals per game (2.6). He also ranks second in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.4), third in scoring (16.1 ppg) and fourth in 3-point field goals per game (2.5).
?Junior Erin Straughn has grabbed a total of 19 rebounds the past two games, including a season-high 10 against UMass; two shy of his career-high. He is tied with senior Austin Steed for second on the team in rebounding (5.4 rpg).
QUICK SHOTS
?Either Miguel Paul or Darrius Morrow has been the Pirates' leading scorer in seven of eight games this season. Paul has led the Pirates in scoring five times and Morrow has done it three times. Shamarr Bowden is the only other player to lead ECU in scoring this year.
?Four different players have recorded double digit rebounds in at least one game. Maurice Kemp and Austin Steed each have a pair of double digit rebounding games this season.
?The Pirates scored first in each of the first five games of the season, but have fallen behind initially in each of the last three games.
SERIES HISTORY
? Friday's game will be the 10th all-time meeting between the Pirates and Spartans. ECU has won four in a row in the series and holds a 7-2 series lead.
UP NEXT
? East Carolina will return to the court to take on Coastal Carolina inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Monday, Dec. 19. The Pirates have lost each of the last two meetings in the series, but hold a 4-3 advantage all-time.
