Pirates Welcome No. 10 SMU For Wednesday Night Hoops
January 12, 2016 | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. - For East Carolina to pick up its first conference win of the season, it will need to do something it's only done once in its history, beat a top-10 team.
The Pirates welcome No. 10 SMU (15-0, 4-0), which is one of only two remaining unbeaten teams, to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum on Wednesday at 6:15 p.m.
After suffering road losses at Tulsa and Temple, East Carolina (8-8, 0-3) returns home where it is 7-1 this season and where it posted its only win over a top-10 team 14 years ago against then-No. 9 Marquette. The Pirates are shooting better than 47 percent from the field at home compared to less than 37 percent on the road.
Sophomore B.J. Tyson and junior Caleb White, the Pirates' top two scorers, are each averaging more points at home than overall. They rank as the fifth-highest scoring duo in The American combining for 27.8 points per game. White scored 14 points in each of ECU's two games against the Mustangs, while Tyson was held to just nine total points.
White dropped in four 3-pointers against SMU in the quarterfinals of the 2015 American Basketball Championship and helped ECU nearly oust the top-seeded Mustangs. The game was tied at 64 with 4 1/2 minutes left, but the regular season champions closed the game on a 10-4 run, hitting eight free throws down the stretch.
East Carolina made a tournament record 15 3-pointers in the game to keep pace with the 20th-ranked ponies.
The Pirates are shooting 34.6 percent from outside the 3-point arc and averaging 6.4 per game, but have made 10 or more in a game three times.
SMU is leading The American in 10 of 21 statistical categories with a league-high 43.1 3-point field goal percentage. ECU will counter with one of the nation's top perimeter defenses, holding its opponent to 29.1 percent beyond the arc.
The Mustangs ranks fourth in the NCAA with a 52.1 field goal percentage and have the third-highest rebounding margin at 12.6.
Senior Nic Moore leads SMU in scoring (16.1 ppg) and assists (4.7 apg). Six-foot-seven, 240-pound Texas Tech transfer Jordan Tolbert leads the conference with 9.7 rebounds per game with 6-foot-8 junior Ben Moore ranking eighth with at 8.1 rpg.
Freshman Kentrell Barkley (6.0 rpg), listed at 6-foot-5, and Tyson (5.3 rpg) are the Pirates' top rebounders. Senior point guard Prince Williams is averaging 4.0 assists per game and has more dimes than turnovers in six consecutive games with 25 helpers against just five miscues. Williams ranks fourth in the conference with a 2.9 assist/turnover ratio and has more assists than turnovers in 13 of 16 games this season.
SMU leads the all-time series 7-4 after sweeping the two-game series from the Pirates last season. East Carolina is 2-2 against the Mustangs inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
| Game 17: No. 10 SMU | |
| Date | Wednesday, Jan. 13 |
| Time | 6:15 p.m. EST |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum) |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage |  TV/Online: ESPNEWS/WatchESPN  Radio: WNCT 107.9 FM | ECU Pirates On Demand (Listen Live) TuneIn Radio Online (within the app search ECU or Pirate IMG Sports Network) |
| Live Stats | Gametracker |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | SMU |
| @ECUScoreboard | |
