Gameday Preview: ECU Host Presbyterian

Game 13: Presbyterian at East Carolina
Date	Thursday, December 22
Time	7 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum)
Web Coverage	ESPN3 \\\ Listen Live \\\ Live Stats
Game Notes	East Carolina \\\ P resbyterian
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUPirateHoops

East Carolina will try to end a three-game losing streak when it host Presbyterian College Thursday night at 7 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

The Pirates (7-5) are coming off an 81-71 loss at UNCW, in which four players scored double figures led by junior B.J. Tyson's 17. Elijah Hughes, Jeremy Sheppard and Caleb White each finished with 12 points.

Tyson, who was held scoreless for just the second time in his career the previous outing, made 7-of-12 from the field for his fifth 15-point game in the last eight contests. His performance moved him into sole possession of sixth-place on The American's career scoring list with 1,034 points.

White (13.5 ppg), Tyson (12.8) and Kentrell Barkley (10.8) are each averaging double figures for the Pirates, who rank among the top-35 in the country in scoring defense, field goal percent defense and 3-point field goal percent defense. They have yet to allow an opponent to shoot 40 percent or score more than 62 points at home this season.

Presbyterian comes in with a record of 4-6, following up each win with a pair of losses. They defeated Coastal Georgia on Saturday, 90-48.

Jo'Vontae Milner is their leading scorer with 12.0 points per game and leading rebounder with 5.8 per contest. He's the only player averaging double figures for the Blue Hose, which shoot 37.1 percent outside the arc and 45.4 percent overall. PC is looking for its first road win of the year after playing games at UNCG, William & Mary, Boise State, The Citadel, Tennessee and USC Upstate.

Thursday's game will be the fifth meeting in the series, which ECU leads 3-1. The two teams last met in 2000 with the Pirates holing on for a 65-61 victory.

Tickets for Thursday's game start at $5 and can be purchased on line at www.ecupirates.com or by calling the ECU Athletic Ticket Office at 1 (800) DIAL-ECU (342-5328).

NEWS & NOTES

During the second half of Tuesday night's game at UNCW, East Carolina posted its best shooting half of the season connecting on 64 percent of its field goal attempts (16-25). It was the fifth time this season that ECU shot better than 50 percent for a half and the second time over 60 percent. The Pirates shot 60 percent against Air Force in the first half.
ECU got a season-best 32 points from its bench against UNCW, led by Hughes and Sheppard's combined 24 points. Michel Nzege and Deng Riak each scored four points to complete the scoring.
Washington is 15 points of equaling his three-year, 67-game Wake Forest career scoring total of 116. Through 12 games at ECU, he's scored 101 points, an average of 8.4 points per game. He averaged 1.7 points per game for the Demon Deacons.
White has scored 20 points in four of the first seven home games. Should he post his fifth 20-point game Tuesday, he would move into sixth-place on the ECU all-time scoring list surpassing Bill Otte (1961-64). who scored 1,368 points. White enters the game with 1,348 points.
Tyson is five points shy of moving into 24th-place and 14 short of 23rd-place on the school's all-time scoring list. He currently ranks 25th with 1,034 points, which ranks sixth on The American career scoring list.
Hughes posted double figures for the second time in four games played Tuesday. He played a season-high 23 minutes in just his second game back after missing eight games due to injury.
Sheppard is the only player to score double figures each of the last four games, netting 13 against NC Central, 17 at Virginia, 11 versus College of Charleston and 12 at UNCW. In the last three games, he's averaged 13.25 points per game, while shooting 17-of-41 (.415) from the field and 8-of-20 (.400) outside the arc.

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Players Mentioned

Kentrell Barkley

Elijah Hughes

Michel Nzege

Deng Riak

Jeremy Sheppard

B.J. Tyson

Caleb White

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