ECU Looks To End Two-Game Skid Against Liberty

Game 4: vs. Liberty Flames
Date:	Saturday, Nov. 16, 2019
Time:	4 p.m. EST
Location:	Greenville, N.C. (Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum)
Live Game Coverage:	Radio: WNCT 107.9 FM \| TuneIn Radio Online Stream: ESPN3
Internet Options:	Live Stats
Game Notes:	ECU (PDF) \| LIBERTY (PDF) \| The American (PDF)

GREENVILLE, N.C. – East Carolina dropped a pair of road games last week by a combined 11 points and looks to reverse its fortunes Saturday, Nov. 16, as the Pirates host Liberty inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum at 4 p.m.

The Pirates are off to a 1-2 start with their lone win coming in the season opener at home against VMI before suffering close road losses at Navy and Appalachian State.

ECU held an eight-point lead over the Midshipmen early in the second half, but were outscored 19-10 in the final 6 ½ minutes in a 62-57 loss.

The opposite was true against the Mountaineers as ECU feel behind 11-0 at the start of the game and had to fight its way back, eventually gaining a three-point advantage. However, Appalachian State made 9-of-10 free throws in the final three minutes, while the Pirates were 1-for-6 from the field with two turnovers in the game's final minutes.

"The bad news is that we've lost the games, the good news is that we've had the opportunity to win them," ECU head coach Joe Dooley said. "We were better against Navy than we were against VMI, and we were better against App than we were against Navy. We do have to make some open shots. We've had a bunch of open shots that we've missed."

The Pirates are shooting just 27 percent (14-of-52) outside the arc this season. However, ECU has been very efficient in getting the ball inside the arc and effective closer to the rim.

More than 81 percent of ECU's field goals this season have come inside the arc (60-of-74). In fact, the Pirates are shooting 50.4 percent (60-of-119) from two-point range. Senior Seth LeDay and freshman Brandon Suggs are both shooting better than 60 percent inside 3-point range, while sophomore Jayden Gardner is shooting at 51.4 percent clip.

Gardner leads the Pirates with 18.0 points and 8.7 rebounds per game followed by LeDay at 11.7 ppg and Suggs at 10.3 ppg.

Liberty, who has opened the 2019-20 campaign by winning its first three games, is led by ASUN Preseason Player-of-the-Year Caleb Homesley and first-team all-conference selection Scottie James.

"The won 29 games last year and have four starters back along with their sixth-man." Dooley said. "They're very experienced and very efficient. They make a lot of 3s, they haven't shot a great percentage yet, but they did last year. You look at their 3-point field goal percentage last year, they had three guys shot over 40 percent."

Homesley averaged 12.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game as junior last season and currently ranks 23^rd on the school's all-time scoring list with 1,110 points.

James is dominant force in the paint, standing 6-foot-7 and 230-pounds. Now in his third season at Liberty, James has a career rebounding average of 8.9 rebounds per game and is just 13 shy of 1,000 career points heading into his 78^th game.

The Flames, who implement the "Pack Line Defense" model of Virginia, haven't yield more than 60 points in a game this season. A year ago, they ranked sixth in scoring defense and 19^th the prior season.

Liberty is the first of five NCAA Tournament teams from a year ago on the Pirates' schedule with each of the other four being American Athletic Conference opponents.

East Carolina leads the all-time series with Liberty 5-2, but the Flames won each of the last two most recent meetings in 2006 and '07.

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Players Mentioned

Jayden Gardner

Seth LeDay

Brandon Suggs

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