Basketball Gameday: at UConn
February 03, 2015 | Men's Basketball
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| East Carolina at UConn Feb. 4, 2015 | 7 p.m. EST Gampel Pavilion|Storrs, Conn. |
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On Sunday, East Carolina took down reigning American Athletic Conference Champion Cincinnati, scoring their first-ever win over the Bearcats in nine tries.
Wednesday the Pirates will look to upend a different kind of champion as they visit Gampel Pavilion in Storrs, Conn. to face off with the 2014 National Champion UConn Huskies, who returns home after suffering back-to-back road losses to the Cincinnati and Houston.
"We're not playing them last year, we're playing them this year," ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo said. "I've got to explain that to my players and make sure they understand that. [UConn] is a program that has a lot of pride and they're not going to lay down when they face adversity by any stretch of the imagination."
The game will be the Pirates' fourth straight against teams that reached the NCAA Tournament a year ago and during the first three games of this stretch, ECU held Tulsa, Memphis and Cincinnati to an average of 60.7 points per game and using its conference-best 3-point defense to hold the trio to an average shooting percentage of 28.3 outside the arc.
The Huskies are led by American Athletic Conference Preseason Player of the Year Ryan Boatwright, who leads the league in scoring with 17.5 points per game, while ranking among the top five in 3-point percentage, free throw percentage and steals.
"They've got a terrific player in Boatwright," said Lebo. "He's one of the top guards in the country and hard to disrupt. He's a talented offensive player that can score in a variety of ways. He can put it on the floor to get to the rim, he's shooting over 40 percent from 3 and nobody's really been able to stop him."
Sophomore Amida Brimah also averages double figures and leads The American in field goal percentage (.691) and ranks second in blocks (55). Freshman Daniel Hamilton averages 10.0 points per contest and leads the Huskies in rebounding with 6.7 boards per contest.
The Pirates are led by a tri of underclassmen: junior Terry Whisnant, sophomore Caleb White and freshman B.J. Tyson form the third-highest scoring trio in the conference with 37.6 points per game. Tyson poured in 18 in the Pirates' win over Cincinnati on Sunday and will look to elevate his game even higher against UConn.
Whisnant, who leads the team with 14.6 points per game and sits atop the league leaders in 3-point percentage and 3s per game in league play, was held to just four points on Sunday as was White. White ranks third on the team with 11.9 ppg.
Senior Antonio Robinson, who was instrumental in the win over Cincinnati, ranks second in the league with a 2.2 assist/turnover ratio and fifth in steals (1.5 spg). The Winston-Salem native collected a career-high five steals and distributed four assists with only one turnover Sunday.
It'll be the first meeting between ECU and UConn since 1978 and the fifth all-time meeting with the Huskies holding a 3-1 edge.
