Basketball Gameday: at UCF
February 28, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Feb. 28, 2015
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| East Carolina at UCF Feb. 28, 2015 | 12 p.m. EST CFE Arena |Orlando, Fla. |
 Watch |  Gametracker |  Game Notes |  Tickets |
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ORLANDO --- East Carolina will look to earn its second win in its last three games when its visits CFE Arena to take on UCF Saturday afternoon at 12 p.m. on ESPNEWS. The Pirates will be going for their first season series sweep of the Knights since 2011 after they took down UCF at home, 67-49 three weeks ago.
The Pirates will look to bounce back from a deflating loss to UConn Wednesday night. East Carolina led the Huskies by nine at halftime, but scored just 16 points after halftime and fell by 11, 60-49. Marshall Guilmette had 13 points and B.J. Tyson added 11 off the bench.
Tyson leads the Pirates with 12.8 points per game, second-highest scoring average among all American conference freshmen. He's scored double figures in seven of the last eight games and is the only rookie to be shooting better than 47 percent from the field in league play.
Terry Whisnant and Caleb White will be looking to bounce back after each player was held under double figures in the same game for just the fourth time this season Wednesday night. The duo posted a combined 32 points and 11 rebounds against the Knights earlier this month with White pouring in 21 points.
The junior and sophomore combo has made more 3-pointers, 121, than any other pair of the players in the conference. They average a combined 4.3 3s and 24.8 points per game.
Whisnant is second only to Houston's Jherrod Stiggers in 3-pointers made this season, while White is one of only three players in the conference to be shooting better than 40 percent behind the arc.
Michel Nzege is the team's leading rebounder with 4.9 boards per game and Antonio Robinson is the Pirates' leader in assists (95) and steals (45).
RADIO / TELEVISIONFans can hear Saturday's game live on the flagship station of the ECU Pirates, WNCT 107.9 FM, with Jeff Charles calling the action and Si Seymour providing analysis. The pregame show begins at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.
Fans also can hear the radio broadcast online by visiting ECUPirates.com and following the appropriate links to Pirates On Demand or by clicking here. A Pirates On Demand subscription is required to listen to the game online.
Fans can watch Saturday's game live on ESPNews, by visiting WatchESPN.com and following the appropriate links or by clicking here with Allen Bestwick calling the play-by-play and Kevin Lehman providing analysis.
Fans can follow live stats by clicking the GameTracker link at ECUPirates.com or by clicking here.
ABOUT UCFUCF enters Saturday's game with an overall record of 12-15. The Knights are 5-11 in The American, sitting in ninth-place, one-half game behind Tulane and East Carolina.
The Knights suffered their second consecutive loss Wednesday night, falling 83-60 at Cincinnati. Brandon Goodwin led UCF with 12 points and Adonys Henriquez added 11. It was their second straight loss following a three-game winning streak.
Staphon Blair was the Knight's top scorer in this season's earlier meeting with the Pirates, netting 12 points. Goodwin and B.J. Taylor added 10 each in the game, but ECU held UCF to just 2 of 16 outside the arc and forced it into 17 turnovers. The Pirates scored 19 points off turnovers and outscored UCF in the paint by 14, 44-30.
Taylor is the Knight's leading scorer with 12.9 points per game, tops among all American conference freshmen. Henriquez and Goodwin also average double figure points with 10.7 and 10.5 points per game, respectively. Blair leads the team in rebounding with 5.1 boards per game, while senior Kasey Wilson is second with 5.0 rpg. Wilson will be playing his final home game Saturday
SERIES HISTORY
Saturday's game will be the 22nd overall meeting in the series, which began in 2000. UCF won the first nine games in the series before East Carolina broke through with an 89-75 win on Feb. 7, 2009. The Pirates have won seven of the last 12 games in the series.
UCF leads the all-time series 14-7, but East Carolina has won two of the last three and six of the last nine overall. The Pirates are just 2-7 all-time in Orlando and haven't won here since 2011.
The two teams met regularly as rivals in Conference USA from 2004-05 to 2012-13 with the series renewing this season after ECU joined the American Athletic Conference.
STAY CONNECTED
Fans can receive the latest news and notes by following @ECUPirateHoops on Twitter. Fans also can discuss the latest ECU Men's Basketball news and notes on the team's Facebook page by clicking LIKE at East Carolina Men's Basketball.
