ECU Looks To Power Past USF While Raising Autism Awareness
February 15, 2016 | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. --- East Carolina opened the second-third of its American Athletic Conference schedule with a road win at Memphis followed by a home win over Temple.
The Pirates (10-15, 2-10 The American) will look to duplicate that feat Tuesday as they open the final third of its league slate against USF (5-21, 2-11) at 7 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum, where the previous two games have gone well past the wire suffering a double overtime and triple overtime loss.
"We're really fatigued," East Carolina coach Jeff Lebo said. "We're playing guys a lot of minutes, particularly our guards, and that wears on you."
Prince Williams (39.3), B.J. Tyson (39.1) and Kentrell Barkley (38.3) are all averaging more than 38 minutes per game the last six contests with Caleb White averaging more than 31minutes per game since his return.
All four played scored double figures against Cincinnati on Saturday with each playing at least 30 minutes. Williams led the way with 15 points followed by White with 13 off the bench. Tyson added 12 and Barkley had 11 as the foursome combined for 51 of the Pirates' 60 points.
"We did some good things on the road in a tough environment against a really-good team that is really hard to score on," Lebo said. "We got good play from our perimeter players. We went nose-to-nose with them at those spots. We were just a little out-manned there at the four and five spots."
The four and five spots will once again be a concern for Lebo's Pirates on Tuesday as USF features one of the biggest frontcourts in the league with 6-foot-11 centers Jaleel Cousins and Ruben Guerrero, along with 6-foot-8 forwards Luis Santos, Angel Nunez and Chris Perry, who didn't play in the previous six games due to a violation of team rules but could return against ECU.
The Bulls also enter Tuesday game with four straight losses with its most recent defeat coming Sunday at Temple, 77-65.
USF is lead by six-foot freshman guard Jahmal McMurray, who ranks fifth in the conference with 15.5 ppg. Nunez (9.8 ppg) and Perry (9.7 ppg) ranks second and third on the team in scoring, while Cousins (8.1 rpg) is eighth in the conference in rebounding.
The Bulls are coming off a game in which they shot 55.1 percent from the field, their second-best outing of the season. ECU has yet to shoot over 50 percent from the field in conference play.
However, the Pirates have shot better than 40 percent from outside the arc three times in the last seven games and are averaging 7.0 3-pointers per game this season compared to USF's 3.9 made 3s per game.
The Bulls hold a one-game advantage, 5-4, over the Pirates in the all-time series. The two teams split the season series last year with each team winning on its home court.
Members of the ECU coaching staff will be wearing Autism Speaks blue puzzle piece pin to help raise awareness of Autism, which affect 1 in 68 children throughout the United States. The first 1,000 ECU students will received a FREE "Pirates Powering Forward for Autism" t-shirt provided by ECU SGA.
| Game 26: USF | |
| Date | Tuesday, Feb. 16 |
| Time | 7 p.m. EST |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum) |
| Tickets | Buy Tickets |
| Live Game Coverage |  TV/Online: ESPN3 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  | USF |
| @ECUScoreboard | |
