Gameday: ECU Heads To USF For Sunday Matchup

Game 23: at USF Bulls
Date:	Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019
Time:	5:30 p.m.
Location:	Tampa, Fla. (Yuengling Center)
Live Game Coverage:	Radio: WNBB 97.9 FM \| TuneIn Radio Online Video Stream: ESPN3
Internet Options:	Live Stats
Game Notes:	ECU (PDF) \| USF (PDF) \| The American

ECU will look to snap an 0-8 start on away from Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum Sunday at 5;30 p.m. as it takes on USF at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, the site of one of its two conference road wins last season.

A year ago, the Bulls sat at the bottom of the American Athletic Conference standings. That's not the case this season.

USF (16-6, 6-4 The American), selected to finish last in the preseason coaches' poll, boasts one of the best turnarounds in the country. After going 10-22 last season, the Bulls are 16-6 overall and fifth in the league standings at 6-4. Among those six victories is a 77-57 win over ECU two weeks ago.

Alexis Yetna, who did not play in the Bulls' win at SMU Thursday night, had 28 points and 13 rebounds in the first meeting of the season between the teams. Justin Brown had 14 and Laquincy Rideau posted a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists.

Yetna leads the conference in rebounding (9.8 rpg) and has more double-doubles (10) than nine teams in The American. Rideau ranks third in that nation with 3.1 steals per game, top in the league, while also dishing out a conference-best 5.9 assists per game.

The Pirates (9-13, 2-8) jumped out to a 19-6 lead in the first meeting of season with USF, but trailed by two at halftime before Yetna took over the game. He scored 11 points during a 13-3 run that pushed ECU's deficit from one to 11. Shawn Williams answered with a 3, but Yetna added another bucket an USF led by double digits the remainder of the game.

The Bulls held the Pirates to just 29 percent shooting in the second half, while converting 47 percent of their attempts after halftime.

"I think you go back to the tape and see what you did well and what you did poorly, and also what they tried to attack," ECU Head Coach Joe Dooley said, "Things that they scored on, things they took advantage of and you try to address those. Obviously they are going to be doing the same thing, looking at things that worked for them and things that they can do again."

ECU freshman Jayden Gardner had 15 points and 15 rebounds in the loss with Williams scoring 12 and Dimitrije Spasojevic adding 10.

Gardner ranks second to Yetna in rebounding overall in The American at 9.0 rpg, while he is fifth in the conference in scoring 18.0 points per game.

However with ECU struggling to make shots from the perimeter, opponents have held Gardner under his scoring average in five consecutive games and single digits in two of the contests.

"Until you make shots, everybody's going to put five guys in the paint," Dooley said following the Pirates' loss to Wichita State. "If you run a million things and move them all around, but if you're not making shots, there's going to be five guys in the paint. Every team is smart, these are good coaches, it's exactly what we would do and that's what everybody's doing."

USF ranks among the top four in the conference in scoring defense, field goal percent defense, 3-point field goal percent defense and rebounding margin.

The Pirates are 11^th in field goal percentage and 12^th in 3-point field goal percentage.

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Players Mentioned

Jayden Gardner

Dimitrije Spasojevic

Shawn Williams

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