East Carolina University
Houston
Gameday Preview: Houston at East Carolina
January 10, 2017 | Men's Basketball
| Game 18: Houston at East Carolina | |
| Date | Wednesday, January 11 |
| Time | 6 p.m. (ET) |
| Location | Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum) |
| Television | ESPNEWS |
| Web Coverage | WatchESPN.com \\\ Listen Live \\\ Live Stats |
| Game Notes | East Carolina \\\ Houston |
| Social Media | Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUPirateHoops |
After a seven-day road trip that included a pair of losses to UCF and Temple, East Carolina is home for the first time in 2017 Wednesday hosting American Athletic Conference rival Houston at 6 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum, looking to snap a three-game losing streak and score its second league victory of the season.
The game can be seen on ESPNEWS and the WatchESPN app, and can be heard throughout eastern North Carolina on WNCT 107.9 FM and the TuneIn app.
Since opening league play with a win over USF, ECU (9-8, 1-3) has dropped a home game to SMU and a pair of road contests at UCF and most recently at Temple Saturday, 81-62.
Houston (12-4, 3-1) opened league play with three straight victories before suffering its first conference loss of the year Saturday night against preseason league favorite Cincinnati, the Pirates' opponent Sunday.
East Carolina and Houston each rank among the top-20 nationally in scoring defense. The Pirates are 17th, allowing 61.9 points per game (ppg) and the Cougars are just behind them at No. 18, yielding 62.2 ppg.
Last season, it took an extra 10 minutes for the Pirates and Cougars to settle their differences before Houston handed ECU a 97-93 double overtime loss here last season in their only meeting. Houston guard Rob Gray led all scorers with 31 points and Damyean Dotson posted a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds. B.J. Tyson led the Pirates with 20 points, Kentrell Barkley had 19 and Caleb White added 17.
Houston leads the all-time series 11-5 and has won two straight against East Carolina.
NEWS & NOTES
- ECU ranks seventh nationally in field goal percent defense, limiting their opponents to 37.5 percent from the floor.
- The Pirates have done a much better job of taking care of the basketball since conference play began, averaging 11.3 turnovers per game compared to 15.8 turnovers per game against non-conference foes. ECU has committed less than 10 turnovers in two of its last three games (8 vs. SMU, 9 at Temple). Houston averages the seventh-fewest turnovers per game in the nation (10.1).
- Wake Forest graduate transfer Andre Washington is averaging 4.5 blocks per game in conference play, swatting 8 opponent field goal attempts. He ranks second overall in The American with 2.8 blocks per game, which is 14th among all Division I players. His 48 total blocks is first among all American Athletic Conference players and 10th nationally.
- White needs a trio of 3s to surpass Sam Hinnant for third-place on the Pirates' all-time list.
- Tyson needs 14 points to become the fourth player in the brief history of the American Athletic Conference to score 1,100 points.
- Barkley has led the Pirates in scoring and rebounding each of the last three games and four of the last five. He's grabbed 39 total rebounds in the past five games (10 vs. Presbyterian, 8 vs. USF, 6 vs. SMU, 9 at UCF) after being limited to 21 rebounds in the previous five games combined. He's averaging a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game (rpg) in league play and ranks second on the team overall with 6.6 rpg.
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