East Carolina Goes For Season Series Split At UCF
January 15, 2016 | Men's Basketball
ORLANDO - Mired in a four-game slide and still in search of both its first conference win and road win of the year, East Carolina heads to Orlando Saturday to face American Athletic Conference rival UCF at CFE Arena, the site of the Pirates' lone road win of the 2014-15 season.
Two weeks ago, the Pirates (8-9, 0-4) opened conference play with a 71-68 loss to UCF (8-6, 2-1) inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. East Carolina led by 10 with 8:41 to play, but the Knight went on an 18-6 run to take a 61-59 lead with 3:00 left as Adonys Henriquez sank his second consecutive 3-pointer to put UCF ahead to stay.
The Pirates held UCF to 22.2 percent shooting outside the arc, but couldn't defend the foul line where the Knights converted 21-of-26 free throw attempts. East Carolina scored 28 points off 19 UCF turnovers, but shot under its season average in all three categories.
Sophomore B.J. Tyson led East Carolina with 17 points, while junior Caleb White added 16, making 4-of-10 3-pointers.White is averaging 16.0 points per game against the Knights in four career games, including 14 in the Pirates' 71-66 win at CFE Arena last February.
That five-minute stretch turned into four consecutive losses. The Pirates battled 10th-ranked SMU for 20 minutes Wednesday night before the Mustangs exerted their strength at the start of the second half. Tyson and White each scored 15 points to lead East Carolina.
UCF's last game was also against SMU a week ago. The Knights traveled to Dallas and suffered an 88-73 loss at the hands of the Mustangs. Justin McBride tallied a season-high 20 points and grabbed nine boards to lead UCF.
Tennessee transfer A.J. Davis leads the Knights in scoring (13.1 ppg) and rebounding (5.8 rpg). He had 23 points against the Pirates earlier this month, leading four UCF players in double figures. McBride grabbed 13 rebounds against ECU and missed a double-double by two points.
UCF snapped the Pirates' three-game series winning streak and took a 15-9 overall series lead.
| Game 18: at UCF | |
| Date | Saturday, Jan. 16 |
| Time | 4:30 p.m. |
| Location | Orlando, Fla.(CFE Arena) |
| 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 | |
| Game Notes | East Carolina  | UCF |
| @ECUScoreboard | |
