Gameday: Pirates Open 2016-17 Against Grambling State

Friday, November 11

Greenville, N.C.

8 p.m.

East Carolina University

Grambling State

November 10, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Game 1: East Carolina vs. Grambling State
Date	Friday, November 11
Time	8 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum)
Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Watch Live \\\ Listen Live
Game Notes	East Carolina \\\ Grambling State
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUPirateHoops

GREENVILLE, N.C. - The East Carolina men's basketball team will open its 2016-17 regular season at home Friday when it hosts Grambling State at 8 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

POINTS OF INTEREST
•East Carolina opens its 85th season of intercollegiate basketball Friday, Nov. 11, at 8 p.m. EST against Grambling State inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The Pirates defeated Grambling, 61-53, to lift the lid on the 2015-16 campaign. Caleb White had 21 points to lead ECU, while Kentrell Barkley added eight points and grabbed 11 rebounds in his Pirate debut. That is the only previous meeting between the two schools.
•The Pirates haven't lost their season opener this millennium, winning 16 consecutive lid-lifters. The last time ECU opened the year with a loss was Nov. 19, 1999, 58-53, at Robert Morris. East Carolina has also won its home opener each of the last 14 seasons.
•A victory would give head coach Jeff Lebo his 100th victory at ECU, making him just the third coach in school history to eclipse the century mark for wins (1. Howard Porter, 1947-59, 182; 2. Tom Quinn, 1966-74, 102).
•East Carolina is 2-0 all-time on Veteran's Day, twice opening the season on the day the country formally recognizes those who have served in the armed forces. The Pirates opened the 2006-07 season with a 86-67 win over Morgan State on 11/11 and defeated Milligan College, 101-45, to start the 2011-12 campaign on 11/11/11.
•The Pirates are 21-1 in season openers inside Williams Arena, which was named in honor and recognition of Walter and Marie Williams following a renovation in 1995.
•A win would give ECU its 13th straight non-conference home win. The Pirates posted a 7-0 record a year ago and have won 13 of their past 14 non-conference games inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. They have a combined record of 44-8 (.847) in non-conference home games under coach Jeff Lebo.
•Senior Caleb White scored double figures in each of his three previous season openers. In addition to the 21 he had against Grambling a year ago, White netted 13 off the bench against N.C. Wesleyan in 2013 and then scored 14 against Wesleyan to start the following season. He needs 33 points to pass Brock Young and move into seventh-place on the school's all-time scoring list. White begins his senior season ranked eighth with 1200 career points.
•A year ago, the Pirates had 70 missed player games. The count will be at one when the season opens Friday as senior Michel Nzege will be sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury he sustained in practice during late October.

TEAM NOTES
About Grambling State
•Grambling State went 7-24 last year in its second season under coach Shawn Walker, who spent the previous 12 seasons at Elizabeth City State University. Walker is a native of Roper, N.C. and was an All-CIAA player for the ECSU in 1993 and '94.
•Senior Ervin Mitchell is the Tigers' top returning scorer after averaging a team-high 11.7 ppg as a junior. He finished 17th in the SWAC in scoring last season.
•Senior Deonte Hearns ranked 19th in the SWAC with a scoring average of 11.5 ppg. He led Grambling with 6.9 rebounds per game.
•Freshmen Charles Simmons (Ahoskie) and Noah Cummings (Pembroke) are both native North Carolinians. Simmons played for his father, Charles Simmons Sr., at Hertford County High School, which is located approximately 58 miles north of Greenville. They are two of seven freshmen on the Grambling State roster.
•Grambling State returns six players from last year's squad: Hearns, Mitchell, Nigel Ribero, Remond Brown, Carlton Lowe and Chase Cormier.
•East Carolina and Grambling State have two common opponents this season: North Carolina A&T and Virginia.

HOSTING HBCUs
•East Carolina will play five HBCUs (Historically Black Colleges & Universities) this season: Grambling State, N.C. A&T, Florida A&M, Hampton and N.C. Central.

TYSON & BARKLEY RECEIVE PRESEASON HONORS
•Junior B.J. Tyson was named to The American Preseason Second-Team as voted upon by the league's 11 head coaches. Tyson is the fourth-leading returning scorer in the conference after averaging 14.6 points per game last season.
•Tyson and sophomore teammate Kentrell Barkley were also tabbed all-conference third-team selections by Athlon Sports.
•The duo was also named to the CollegeSportsMadness.com American Athletic Conference preseason fourth-team.

PIRATES PICKED TO FINISH SEVENTH IN THE AMERICAN
•ECU was picked to seventh in The American this season by the league's head coaches. The Pirates garnered 39 points to finish ahead of UCF (37), Tulsa (34), USF (25) and Tulane (11).
•East Carolina posted a 4-14 record in The American last season to finish tied for ninth.

WILLIAMS TO SIT OUT 2016-17 SEASON
•Freshman point guard Shawn Williams must complete a year of academic residency at the ECU before being cleared for competition according a ruling by the NCAA over the summer.
•A native of Little Rock, Ark., Williams inked his National Letter-of-Intent with the Pirates during the 2015 fall signing period. As a senior at Maumelle High School, he received all-state honors from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and Arkansas High School Athletic Association. He averaged 23.0 points and 3.6 assists per game, while leading his team to the state 5A championship game.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND
•East Carolina will participate in the first Savannah Invitational to be held Nov. 25-26 at the Savannah Civic Center. The Pirates will face Mercer on Nov. 25 at 5 p.m. and then take on either Air Force or Akron the following day.
•As a part of the event, ECU will host Stetson on Nov. 20 and Florida A&M Nov. 22. The Pirates defeated Stetson last season at the Las Vegas Invitational and took down FAMU at home two years ago. ECU and Mercer haven't met since 1978, while the Pirates have never competed against either Air Force or Akron.

COACHING STABILITY
•Coach Jeff Lebo is in his seventh season as the Pirates' top man, making him the third-longest tenured head coach in program history behind Howard Porter (1947-59) and Tom Quinn (1966-74).
•Assistant coach Michael Perry is in his 10th season at ECU, making him the second-longest tenured basketball coach, head or assistant, in the program's 85-year history. He joined the coaching staff prior to the 2007-08 season as an assistant coach to Mack McCarthy and was retained for Lebo's staff in 2010.
•Assistant coach Ken Potosnak is in his seventh season at ECU, after coming over from Auburn with Lebo, as is Director of Basketball Operations Kyle Robinson. Mike Netti is in his fourth year as an assistant coach. Potosnak is second only to Perry in terms of years spent as an assistant coach at ECU.

NEARLY 140 DIFFERENT TRIUMPHS FOR LEBO
•ECU Head Coach has defeated 136 different opponents during his 18-year head coaching career. This season he will have a chance to bring that number to 140 as he leads ECU against two foes he never faced for the first time: Hampton and Presbyterian. Should ECU face Akron in the Savannah Invitational, the Zips would be a first time opponent for both Lebo and the Pirates.
•The only other opponent on the schedule that Lebo has yet to gain a victory over is UConn. He will have two opportunities to record his first win over Huskies, first in Hartford on Jan. 22 and then at home on March 1.

CRAIG & WASHINGTON BRING ADDED SIZE
•The summer addition of graduate transfer center Andre Washington and junior college transfer Jabari Craig gave the Pirates a much needed boost in size.
•At 7-foot-1, Andre Washington is the tallest player in school history and one of only two American-born seven-footers to compete at ECU. With his shoes on, Washington is nearly 7-foot-2 at 7-1 3/4.
•Toronto native Jabari Craig brings a 6-foot-10, 235-lb. frame to the Pirates after spending the previous two seasons in junior college. Although his minutes were limited in JUCO, Craig has the potential to impact the game on both ends of the floor.
•The Pirates also got bigger up front with the return of 6-foot-10 forward Deng Riak, who played in a mere eight games before sustaining a should injury that cost him the final 24 contests of the year. He received a medical redshirt and has four years of eligibility.

MILLENNIAL SCORERS
•Senior Caleb White enters his final campaign ranked eighth on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,200 points. With a career average of 12.4 ppg, White is on pace to score more than 1,500 points and finish as the Pirates' second all-time leading Division I scorer (since 1965) and fourth overall.
•Junior B.J. Tyson will look to become just the fourth Pirate to score more than 1,000 points in his first three seasons since freshman were ruled eligible for competition in 1972. Tyson scored a total of 881 during his first two seasons in Greenville, averaging 13.6 ppg during 65 games played as a freshman and sophomore.

RANKED FOES
•ECU has four games scheduled against teams ranked in the preseason AP and/or coaches polls. Virginia, whom the Pirates will face in Charlottesville on Dec. 6, is ranked seventh in the coaches poll and eighth in the AP. UConn comes in at No. 16 in the coaches poll and 18th in the AP, while Cincinnati, who ECU will face just once at home on Jan. 15, is No. 25 in the coaches poll, but isn't ranked in the AP.

ROSTER BREAKDOWN
•The Pirates' 2016-17 roster features 16 players (13 scholarship student-athletes) from seven states and three foreign countries (Australia, Canada and Switzerland).
•Five Pirates are native North Carolinians, while an additional seven hail from eastern seaboard states (Delaware, Florida, Georgia, New York, Virginia).
•East Carolina has one graduate transfer, three seniors, three juniors, three sophomores, one redshirt freshman and five true freshmen. Junior Isaac Fleming and freshman Shawn Williams will both sit out the 2016-17 season in compliance with the NCAA.
•Six Pirates stand 6-foot-7 or taller, while 10 are 6-foot-5 or smaller.
•Five players transferred to ECU from either another NCAA institution or junior college.

NEW FACES
•ECU added nine new faces to the team in 2016-17 following the loss of five seniors and three transfers. Isaac Fleming and Andre Washington are both Division I transfers, Jabari Craig joined the program from junior college and four freshmen (Elijah Hughes, Jeremy Sheppard, Raquan Wilkins, Shawn Williams) signed NLIs. The Pirates also added a pair of walk-ons (Addison Hill, John Whitley).
•Billy Hubly is the newest member of the coaching staff, taking over the role of video coordinator. Hubly spent the previous three seasons at Georgia Tech, two as a graduate assistant coach on the floor and the previous as the Yellow Jackets' video coordinator.

WILLIAMS INVITED TO TRAINING CAMP
•ECU graduate Prince Williams, who was named The American's Most Improved Player last season, was invited to training camp for the NBDL's expansion Greensboro Swarm, NBA affiliate of the Charlotte Hornets. Williams received an invitation following a local tryout in October.
•Opening night rosters must be made by Nov. 11. The Swarm opens their season in Greensboro on Nov. 12.