ECU Clashes With Cincinnati To Open AAC Tournament

Game 30: East Carolina vs. Cincinnati (AAC Championship First Round)
Date \| Time	March 10, 2022 \| 1:00 p.m. ET
Location	Fort Worth, Texas \| Dickies Arena (13,300)
AAC Tourney Central	American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Central
Coverage	Broadcast: ESPNU Radio: 107.9 WNCT \| TuneIn Radio Online
Live Stats	Statbroadcast
Statistics	East Carolina \| Cincinnati
Game Notes	East Carolina \| Cincinnati \| The American
Record Book	East Carolina 2021-22 Record Book
Social Media	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram \| YouTube \| #OnePirateNation

FORT WORTH, Texas – Having earned the No. 9 seed, East Carolina opens play at the Air Force Reserve American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Championship Thursday afternoon with a first-round contest against No. 8 seed Cincinnati inside Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas. Tipoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game will air on ESPNU.

If the Pirates (15-14) advance, they would face No. 1 seed and regular season champion Houston in Friday's first quarterfinal.

ECU dropped both meetings with the Bearcats during the regular season, falling 79-71 in Cincinnati Jan. 12 and 60-59 in Greenville Jan. 30.

The Pirates are 2-6 in American Athletic Conference Championship play with their last victory occurring in 2017 when East Carolina knocked off Temple 80-69 in the first round in Hartford, Conn. ECU was the No. 11 seed last season, falling to No. 6 seed UCF 72-62 in Fort Worth.

East Carolina lost to Wichita State 70-62 on the road to finish out the regular season March 5. Tristen Newton paced East Carolina with 16 points while Vance Jackson added 10. Newton also corralled a career-high 11 rebounds for his third career double-double. The Pirates shot the ball at a 36-percent clip from the floor as compared to the Shockers' 48-percent effort. Wichita State also outrebounded ECU 41-31 and held a 42-22 advantage in the paint.

Newton enters the tournament just 10 points away from becoming the 33rd player in program history to score 1,000. He has netted double figures in all but two games this season. Currently, Newton is among the single-season and career program leaders in a couple of statistical categories. He ranks sixth in career assists (331), eighth in single-season assists (145) and 10th in single-season scoring (504). Additionally, Vance Jackson is sixth on the single-season list for three-point field goals made (77).

The Competition
Cincinnati (17-14) has lost five straight, including a 76-71 setback at SMU March 3 in its regular season finale. The Bearcats are led in scoring by David DeJulius' 14.5 points per game average while Jeremiah Davenport is putting up 13.5 points per contest. Cincinnati is a tough out defensively, holding opponents to 65.9 points per game – third in the American Conference. The Bearcats are also third among league squads in turnover margin (+1.81) and assist/turnover ratio (1.23).

The Cincinnati Series
Cincinnati leads the series with East Carolina by a 17-2 count. The Pirates have dropped their last five against the Bearcats but have never met Cincinnati in conference tournament play.

Wichita State Leftovers
The Pirates dropped to 0-6 versus Wichita State in the all-time series ... East Carolina finished the season with a 2-7 record in true road games ... Tristen Newton led ECU in points, rebounds, assists and steals and is the first Pirate to do so since Jayden Gardner pulled it off against Temple on Feb. 23, 2020 ... The East Carolina bench has matched or outscored its opponent reserves in eight-straight contests ... The Pirates used the starting lineup of Newton, Miles, Robinson-White, Jackson and Debaut for the second-straight game.

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Players Mentioned

Jayden Gardner

Vance Jackson

Tristen Newton

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