Basketball Gameday: vs. Tulane
December 30, 2014 | Men's Basketball
 vs.  |
| East Carolina vs. Tulane Dec. 31, 2014 | 12 p.m. EST Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum | Greenville, N.C. |
 Watch |  Gametracker |  Game Notes |  Tickets |
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Setting The Scene
? Coming off a pair of decisive wins over Florida A&M and UNCG to close out its non-conference portion of the schedule, East Carolina host Tulane in its inaugural American Athletic Conference Wednesday at 12 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The game will be televised on ESPNEWS.
? The American is the Pirates' fifth conference home since joining the ranks of Division I in the mid-1960s (1965-77 Southern Conference; 1981-85 ECAC-South; 1986-01 CAA; 2002-14 Conference USA).
? The Pirates have won two straight entering Wednesday's game. It's the first time this year that they posted consecutive victories after alternating wins and losses through the first eight games and losing two straight at FAU and UNC.
? The Pirates have won five straight at home and are 6-1 inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum this year. ECU has outscored its opponents by an average margin of 17.3 at home this season.
? East Carolina has held three of its last four opponents under 60 points.
? ECU sophomore Michel Nzege leads The American in field goal percentage at 75.9 percent.
? The Pirates have shot better than 70 percent at the free throw line each of the last two games, combining to make 31 of 42 attempts (.738) against FAMU and UNCG. In their two previous games against JMU and UNCW, they were just a combined 32 of 54 (.592).
? Junior Terry Whisnant has led the Pirates in scoring four times in the past five games. He's averaged 15.8 ppg during the last five games.
? Sophomore Caleb White was named to The American Weekly Honor Roll after averaging 16.5 ppg in wins over Florida A&M and UNCG last week. .
East Carolina-Tulane Connections
? ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo and Tulane assistant coach Shammond Williams rank among the all-time 3-point field goals made leaders at North Carolina. Williams holds the record with 233, while Lebo is fifth with 211. Lebo was the first Tar Heel to make more than 200 3s in his career. They share the record for most 3-point attempts in a game with 14.
Series History
? Each of the previous 18 games in the series occurred while the Pirates and Green Wave were members of Conference USA.
? Prior to last year's home loss to the Green Wave, ECU had home five in a row overall against Tulane and four straight in Greenville.
? East Carolina is opening conference play against Tulane for the second time. The two faced off in their 2009 Conference USA opener with ECU claiming a 69-66 win in Greenville.
ECU On New Year's Eve
? East Carolina has won three in a row on New Year's Eve, including two straight at home. The Pirates are 3-4 all-time on New Year's Eve, dating back to 1962. They played their first recorded Dec. 31 game that season against Erskine College, falling 78-77. The Pirates played their most recent game on New Year's Eve just three years ago, defeating UVa.-Wise, 91-56.
Coming Up
? The Pirates will play their next two games on the road beginning Saturday, Jan. 3, at USF. ECU will then head north to Cincinnati to take on the Bearcats on Tuesday.
