Pirates Hold First Official Practice Of 2020-21
October 16, 2020 | Men's Basketball
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina men's basketball team officially tipped off the 2020-21 season with its first practice on Friday inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
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With the new COVID-19 protocols in place, the Pirates can hold 30 practices sessions until the start of the regular season, which can begin no earlier than Nov. 25. Prior to that, teams were allowed to participate in strength and conditioning and skill instruction for up to 12 hours per week from Sept. 21 to Oct. 13.
Anticipation for the upcoming season is high as ECU returns 13 lettermen, including all five starters, from last season's team led by junior Jayden Gardner who led the American Athletic Conference in scoring (19.7 ppg) last season and was named second-team all-conference. He is the conference's top returning rebounder after averaging 9.2 rebounds per game last season which ranked him third in the league.
Sophomore guard Tristen Newton ranks second in assist/turnover ratio (1.9) and fourth in assists per game (3.7) among returning players in The American. He was the fourth highest scoring freshman in the conference last season with 11.0 points per game and is the second highest scoring returning sophomore.
East Carolina returns more than 97 percent of its offense and over 96 percent of its rebounds and assists from a year ago. Six of the returning players averaged more than seven points and 22 minutes per game.
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"For the first time, we've got some continuity," Pirate head coach Joe Dooley said. "We're not teaching from ground zero this year. We've got a lot of guys back and I think they have a better understanding of what we're trying to do and how we're trying to do it."
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Dooley is in his third season of his second stint at the helm of the ECU basketball program, seventh overall. He ranks fourth on the school's all-time wins list and is eight wins shy of 200 for his career which includes five years at Florida Gulf Coast.
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