AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW: No. 9 East Carolina vs. No. 8 Temple

Frontier Communications American Basketball Championship First Round: East Carolina vs. Temple
Date	Thursday, March 9
Time	3:30 p.m. (ET)
Location	Hartford, Conn. (XL Center)
Television	ESPNU
Radio	Pirate-IMG Sports Network (WNCT 107.9 FM) \\\ SiriusXM (SIRI 157 XM 202)
Web Coverage	Live Stats \\\ Listen Live \\\ Watch Live
Game Notes	East Carolina \\\ Temple \\\ The American
Social Media	Twitter: @ECUScoreboard \\\ @ECUPirateHoops \\\ @American_MBB

HARTFORD, Conn. --- For the second time in less than a month, East Carolina will go head-to-head with the fifth-winningest program in NCAA history, Temple.

The ninth-seeded Pirates will face the eighth-seeded Owls in the first round of the Frontier Communications American Basketball Championship Thursday, March 9, at 3:30 inside the XL Center.

The winner advances to play No. 1 seed SMU Friday at noon.

"We're looking forward to the conference tournament, obviously," ECU Acting Head Coach Michael Perry said. "It's the second season for us. Our kids have been playing good basketball here of late. We had, obviously, a setback (Sunday) against Houston but we're still focused and very determined. We're ready to get postseason play started with."

ECU is 1-2 in tournament play during its first two seasons in The American, advancing to the quarterfinals with a win over UCF in 2015 before bowing out in the first round a year ago without Caleb White against USF.

White is healthy now and playing his best basketball since December. He has scored double figures in six of the last eight games after scoring double digits in just two of the first 10 conference games, averaging 15.3 ppg during the final stretch of the regular season.

White dropped 17 on the Owls in Greenville three weeks ago.

Kentrell Barkley was the catalyst in each of the Pirates' two wins over Temple in the past 13 months. Barkley had 19 and 13 to lead ECU to a 78-64 win on Feb. 15 and converted a 3-point with 0.1 seconds remaining to lift his team to a 64-61 home victory a year earlier. He's averaging more than 11 points and seven rebounds in four career games versus the Owls.

Seven-foot-1 center Andre Washington had 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting in the most recent meeting.

"He was close to dominant," said Temple Head Coach Fran Dunphy.

Washington finished the regular season with an ECU record 92 blocked shots and ranks fifth in NCAA Division in total blocks and blocks per game (2.97) as Championship Week begins.

Temple leads the all-time series, which began in 2015, 4-2. Thursday's meeting will be the first in the series on a neutral court.

Shizz Alston is the Owls' leading scorer, averaging 14.0 point per game and ranks among the top-3 in The American free-throw percentage (1^st/.868), assist/turnover ratio (2^nd/2.7) and steals per game (3^rd/1.6).

However, the ECU defense, which ranks 10^th nationally in field goal percentage, held Alston to a total of 15 points in its two games against Temple this season. Quinton Rose and Mark Williams each scored double figures for the Owls in both games against the Pirates.

Rose joined ECU freshman Jeremy Sheppard on The American All-Rookie Team. He ranks fourth on the Owls' in scoring (10.0 ppg) behind Alston, Obi Enechionyia (12.9 ppg) and Daniel Dingle (12.7 ppg).

AMERICAN CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW: No. 9 East Carolina vs. No. 8 Temple

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Players Mentioned

Kentrell Barkley

Jeremy Sheppard

Andre Washington

Caleb White

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