GAMEDAY PREVIEW: UCF at East Carolina

Game 27: East Carolina vs. UCF
Date	Saturday, Feb. 18
Time	4 p.m. (ET)
Location	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum)
Television	ESPNEWS
Web Coverage	WatchESPN \\\ Live Stats \\\ Listen Live \\\ SiriusXM
Game Notes	East Carolina \\\ U CF \\\ The American
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUPirateHoops

GREENVILLE, N.C. --- East Carolina goes after its fourth consecutive home victory Saturday afternoon as it host UCF Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The game will be televised on ESPNEWS and the WatchESPN app, and can be heard throughout eastern North Carolina on WNCT 107.9 FM or on the TuneIn app.

Family 4-Pack tickets are available for $40 and include four game tickets and $20 in concessions.

The Pirates are going for their third win in the last four games after posting a 78-64 win over Temple Wednesday night. Kentrell Barkley scored 19 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead ECU, while Caleb White added 17 with Andre Washington scoring 15 and Michel Nzege 11.

At 16-10 overall and 7-7 in league play, UCF is one game behind Memphis for a first round bye in the upcoming conference tournament. The Knights lead The American field goal percent and 3-point field percent defense, while ranking second in scoring defense.

ECU has lost three in a row to UCF, including a 48-45 decision in Orlando earlier this season.

NEWS & NOTES

The Pirates have won their last three home games and own a record of 11-4 inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum this season. During their current three-game home winning streak, the Pirates are averaging 73.7 points, shooting 43.6 from the field and 40.9 percent outside the arc, while holding their opponents to 65.0 points per game and 36.1 percent shooting from the floor. They've out-rebounded their opponents by an average of 8.7 during the streak.
UPCOMING MILESTONE: Senior Caleb White is expected to make his 110th career start Saturday, setting a new ECU record. He is also eight points shy of moving into fifth-place on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,485 points and 23 points short of 1,500. B.J. Tyson is two points away from becoming the 20th player in school history with 1,100 career points.
Assistant coach Michael Perry will serve as the Pirates' Acting Head Coach for the eighth time Saturday, while ECU Head Coach Jeff Lebo continues to recover from hip replacement surgery on Jan. 16. There is no timetable for Lebo's return. The Pirates are 3-4 under Perry, who is in his 10th season as an assistant coach at East Carolina. Perry spent more than four years as the head coach at Georgia State before becoming a member of the Pirates; coaching staff.
ECU recorded a 78-64 win over Temple on Wednesday, scoring a conference season-high 78 points. Caleb White made a layup and then a 3-pointer to cap an 11-3 run that put the Pirates up 57-49 with 10:31 to play and Nzege scored six straight points to close an 8-0 spurt that pushed the lead to 17 nearly six minutes later. Temple missed eight shots in a row early in the second half and then hit just one during another eight-plus minute stretch as ECU pulled away
Barkley posted his third consecutive double-double (eighth of the season) with 19 points and 13 rebounds in 32 minutes Wednesday against Temple. He is averaging 13.2 points per game in conference play after averaging 10.9 ppg against non-conference opponents. He is also averaging an American-best 9.2 rebounds per game in conference play.
Graduate transfer Andre Washington is averaging 3.4 blocks per game in conference play, swatting 44 opponent field goal attempts in 13 league games. He blocked 30 shots in 13 non-conference games. He ranks second in The American with 2.85 blocks per game, which is ninth among all Division I players. His 74 total blocks is first among all American Athletic Conference players and sixth nationally.
Freshman Jeremy Sheppard is the top assist distributor among all American Athletic Conference freshmen, averaging 3.3 assists per game. He also ranks first among all league rookies with a 1.3 assist/turnover ratio.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Kentrell Barkley

Michel Nzege

Jeremy Sheppard

B.J. Tyson

Andre Washington

Caleb White

Footer