ECU Faces Off Against SMU Saturday Night

Game 24: SMU at East Carolina
Date \| Time	February 12, 2022 \| 6:00 p.m. ET
Location	Greenville, N.C. \| Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (7,100)
Game Program	Hoops Digest #5
Live Game Coverage	Watch: ESPNU Radio: 107.9 WNCT \| TuneIn Radio Online
Live Stats	Statbroadcast
Statistics	East Carolina \| SMU
Game Notes	East Carolina \| SMU \| The American
Record Book	East Carolina 2021-22 Record Book
Social Media	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram \| YouTube \| #OnePirateNation

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Fresh off a pulsating two-point victory at Tulsa Tuesday night, East Carolina returns home for an American Athletic Conference showdown with SMU inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The game is scheduled for a 6 p.m. tipoff and will air live on ESPNU.

The Pirates (12-11, 3-8 AAC) used a Vance Jackson heavily-contested three-point field goal with 11 seconds remaining to cap a game-ending 5-0 run in downing the Golden Hurricane 73-71 at the Reynolds Center. The win was the first for East Carolina on the road this season and just the second ever in Tulsa in program history.

Jackson ended up with 22 points on the strength of six three-point field goals while Tremont Robinson-White returned to the lineup after a short one-game absence to net 13 points and distribute six assists. Additionally, Brandon Suggs saw his first action since the UCF contest and responded with six points, six assists and five steals.

ECU shot a sizzling 63 percent in the second half and was 9 of 14 (64.3 percent) from three-point range to finish the contest firing at a 50.9-percent clip overall. The Golden Hurricane outrebounded the Pirates 30-25 but turned the ball over 17 times. The Pirates received 22 points off the bench as compared to 10 for Tulsa.

East Carolina holds a 10-3 record in Greenville this season but has dropped its last three home outings to UCF, Cincinnati and Temple. Conversely, the Mustangs own a 5-3 record on the road with wins over New Mexico, Tulsa, Tulane, Memphis and South Florida as well as losses to Oregon, Cincinnati and Wichita State.

SMU won both meetings with ECU a season ago.

The Competition
The Mustangs (17-5, 8-2 AAC) head to Greenville on the back of a big home win over No. 6 Houston Wednesday. SMU was down 15 in the second half but rallied for the 85-83 victory. Kendric Davis scored 22 points and Marcus Weathers added 20 as the Mustangs shot the ball at a 46-percent clip from the field.

Davis is the American Conference's top scorer, averaging 19.6 points per game, and is third in the league in both field goal percentage (.452) and assists per game (4.8). SMU enters Saturday's affair in second place in the AAC standings, just one game back of Houston. The Mustangs also own a NCAA net ranking of 51.

The SMU Series
SMU leads the all-time series with East Carolina 18-5 and has won 13 of the last 14 meetings. The last Pirate win over the Mustangs occurred by a 71-68 margin back on Jan. 11, 2020 in Greenville.

Tulsa Leftovers
The Pirates improved to 2-12 against Tulsa since both teams joined the American Athletic Conference ... The 73 points represent the most since ECU scored 85 in an overtime loss at UCF back on Jan. 18 ... East Carolina posted its first true road victory of the campaign ... The road win marked the first in league play since ECU knocked off Tulane 81-67 on Feb. 8, 2020 in New Orleans ... East Carolina shot the ball at 50 percent or better for the sixth time this season ... The Pirates knocked down double-digit three-point field goals for the second-straight game and sixth time this campaign ... Newton recorded five assists in the contest and is now just two away from becoming the eighth player in school history to distribute 300 ... ECU moved to 2-0 when using the starting lineup of Newton, Felton, Robinson-White, Jackson and Frink.

Looking Ahead
East Carolina hits the road next week for American Athletic Conference games at South Florida (Feb. 17) and UCF (Feb. 20).

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Players Mentioned

Vance Jackson

Tremont Robinson-White

Brandon Suggs

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