GAMEDAY PREVIEW: Temple at East Carolina

Game 26: East Carolina vs. Temple
Date	Wednesday, Feb. 15
Time	7 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum)
Television	ESPNEWS
Web Coverage	WatchESPN \\\ Live Stats \\\ Listen Live \\\ SiriusXM (Internet 964)
Game Notes	East Carolina \\\ Temple \\\ The American
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUPirateHoops

East Carolina opens a two-game home stand Wednesday as it welcomes 2016 American Athletic Conference regular season champion Temple to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum for its second-annual White-Out For Autism Awareness game.

The first 600 ECU students will receive a White-Out Autism Awareness t-shirt that will also be worn by the coaching staff, pep band, cheerleaders and dance team during the game. The Pirate basketball players will also wear the t-shirt during warm-ups.

The Pirates will be looking to secure their third consecutive conference home win and second straight win over the Owls in Greenville.

Kentrell Barkley completed a three-point play with less than a second remaining here last season to give East Carolina a 64-61 win, its lone victory in the brief five-game series.

The Durham native has been the Pirates' best player since the start of conference play, leading the team in both scoring (12.7 ppg) and rebounding (8.8 rpg). He's posted four double-doubles in the last five games, averaging 14 points and 10.4 boards during that span.

ECU is looking to bounce back from a frustrating 64-57 loss at USF on Saturday. Freshman Jeremy Sheppard led the team with 17 points, knocking down five 3-pointers for the second consecutive game. Barkley and senior Caleb White added 12 each with Barkley grabbing 12 rebounds.

Temple enters Wednesday night's contest fresh off a win at Memphis, 74-62, Sunday afternoon led by 18 points from freshman Quinton Rose.

After starting 1-6 in league play, the Owls have won three of their last four posting victories over Tulane, USF and Memphis. Their lone loss was on the road to SMU.

NEWS & NOTES

Graduate transfer Andre Washington is averaging 3.5 blocks per game in conference play, swatting 42 opponent field goal attempts in 12 league games. He blocked 30 shots in 13 non-conference games. He is tied for first in The American with 2.9 blocks per game, which is seventh among all Division I players. His 72 total blocks is first among all American Athletic Conference players and sixth nationally. He is three blocks shy of third-place on the school's single-season list.
White is expected to make his 109th career start Wednesday night, moving into a tie with Tony Parham (1995-98) for the most in program history. He needs one field goal to become the eighth player in school history with 500 career makes and 25 points to move into fifth-place on the school's career scoring list.
Sheppard is 10-of-17 outside the arc the last past two games, going 5-of-7 against Tulane and 5-of-9 at USF.
A victory would match the Pirates' overall and conference win totals from last season.
Wednesday's game will be Pirates' assistant coach Michael Perry's seventh game as acting head coach during ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo's leave of absence following hip surgery on Jan. 16. There is no timetable for Lebo's return. Perry is in his 10th season as an assistant coach at East Carolina. He joined the Pirate coaching staff following 4+ years as head coach at Georgia State, where he compiled a 62-75 record. ECU is 2-4 under Perry.
The Pirates' leading scorer, junior B.J. Tyson is expected to miss his eight straight game after sustaining a leg injury against Houston on January 11. Tyson was averaging a team-best 11.9 points per game and led ECU in total assists (53) and steals (53) at the time of his injury.

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Players Mentioned

Kentrell Barkley

Jeremy Sheppard

B.J. Tyson

Andre Washington

Caleb White

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