Gameday Central: East Carolina at Marshall
March 05, 2014 | Men's Basketball
March 5, 2014
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SETTING THE SCENE
? East Carolina closes out the 2013-14 regular season with a visit to longtime rival Old Dominion on Thursday night. The Pirates will look to end a five-game losing streak to the Monarchs and avenge an 81-70 loss earlier this season. Their last win over ODU came on Dec. 7, 2002 in Norfolk.
? A win would secure the Pirates' second consecutive winning season. ECU hasn't posted back-to-back winning seasons since having four straight from 1993-97.
? Both teams are coming off road losses Sunday. The Pirates fell at Marshall, 64-61, and Old Dominion lost at Charlotte, 73-64. East Carolina will look to end its three-game road losing streak.
? The two teams have put up similar numbers in conference play this season. ECU (63.8 ppg) and ODU (61.5 ppg) rank 12th and 13th in scoring offense in league games only. The Monarchs are allowing 64.3 ppg in C-USA games and the Pirates are surrendering 67.3 ppg. The teams ranks sixth and seventh in scoring defense, respectively.
? East Carolina leads the conference in free throw shooting at 71.8 percent (514-716) and Old Dominion ranks 16th at 60.8 percent (400-658).
? The ECU backcourt combo of Akeem Richmond (138) and Paris Roberts-Campbell (50) have combined to make 188 3-pointers this season, 38 more than Old Dominion (150) as a team.
THE QUEST FOR 400
? Akeem Richmond is one 3-pointer shy of becoming just the 13th player in NCAA Division I history to make 400 career 3s. He currently ranks 13th on the all-time list with 399.
OTHER THINGS TO WATCH FOR
? Richmond is also one 3 shy of moving into the top 10 on the NCAA single-season chart. He enters the game with 138 3s made this season. The record is 162 set by Stephen Curry in 2008. Richmond is seven 3s shy of the C-USA single season record.
? Freshman Caleb White needs 16 points to become the third freshman in school history to score 400 points in a season.
? Junior Paris-Roberts-Campbell needs seven assists for 100, which would give ECU a pair of 100-assist distributors for the first time in school history. Prince Williams enters the game with 109 helpers.
LAST TIME OUT
? Freshman Caleb White scored a personal Conference USA-best 23 points and Akeem Richmond added 15 in a 64-61 loss to Marshall Sunday. The Herd held ECU without a point in the final four minutes, scoring the game's last 10 points.
? The Pirates trailed by 13 early in the first half, but bounced back to take an 11-point halftime lead. They shot 61-percent in the first half, but only 28 in the second. Marshall stormed out of the locker room to score the first 16 points of the final 20 minutes.
SERIES HISTORY
? Old Dominion leads the all-time series 36-14. The Monarchs have won five in a row in the series and own a 16-7 advantage in games played in Norfolk.
LOOKING AHEAD
? East Carolina will begin its quest for an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament Tuesday in El Paso, Texas at the 2014 Conference USA Championships.
