Pirates Host Wichita State Sunday

Game 22: Wichita State (10-10, 3-5 AAC) at East Carolina (11-10, 2-6 AAC)
Date \| Time	January 29, 2023 \| 12:00 p.m. ET
Location	Greenville, N.C. \| Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum (7,100)
Game Program	Hoops Digest #5
Coverage	Watch: ESPNU Radio: 107.9 WNCT
Live Stats	Statbroadcast
Statistics	East Carolina \| Wichita State \| The American
Game Notes	East Carolina \| Wichita State \| The American
Record Book	East Carolina 2022-23 Record Book
Social Media	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram \| YouTube \| #PurpleReign

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina men's basketball team wraps up its January slate on Sunday afternoon when the Pirates take on Wichita State inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

Tipoff is scheduled for noon and the game will be broadcasted on ESPNU with Mike Corey and Sean Harrington on the call.

The Pirates are seeking to sweep the regular season series with the Shockers after winning the first matchup 79-69 back on New Year's Eve in Wichita.

Last Time Out
Brandon Johnson scored a game-high 24 points and grabbed eight rebounds as East Carolina used a second-half surge on offense to defeat Tulsa 76-66 on Tuesday night at Williams Arena in Minges Coliseum. Johnson's 24 points tied his career-high and RJ Felton added 23 points on 10-of-17 shooting for the Pirates (11-10, 2-6 AAC) who snapped their five-game skid with the win. Benjamin Bayela chipped in with 11 points and eight rebounds and Kalib LaCount turned in eight points and four assists. Johnson and Felton's scoring outputs marked the second time this season that two Pirates have each scored at least 20 points in a game: Brandon Johnson (24) and Javon Small (23) against Mercer (11/8/22). The Pirates defeated Tulsa for the third straight time and earned only its second win of the season when making fewer threes than its opponent. Conversely, ECU is 9-4 when making more threes than its opponent.

Scouting the Shockers
Wichita State is coming off an overtime loss at home to Tulane where the Shockers fell 95-90. The Shockers led 48-35 at the half but the Green Wave rallied in the second half to force overtime and outscored Wichita State 21-16 in the extra period for the win. Jaykwon Walton scored a career-high 24 points in the losing effort. Walton leads the Shockers in scoring at 13.3 points per game on a team-high 51.5 percent shooting from the floor (ninth best in the AAC). Craig Porter Jr. is the other Shocker who averages double figure scoring numbers at 12.1 ppg and he leads the conference in blocked shots per game at 1.89 (39th nationally). The Shockers are one of the league's stingiest teams on the defensive end of the floor, allowing just 64.1 points per game behind only Houston in that category and are 44th in the nation. Wichita State is also second in the AAC in field goal percentage defense at 38.5 percent.

Series History
Wichita State leads the series against East Carolina 6-1 and has won both meetings in Greenville. Due to game cancellations, both teams have not played each other in Greenville since Feb. 6, 2019. The Pirates defeated the Shockers on New Year's Eve for their first-ever win against Wichita State.

On This Date
ECU is 11-4 in games played on Jan. 29 since the 1960-61 season. The last time the Pirates played on this date was an 80-53 loss to Memphis in 2021 at Minges Coliseum.

Up Next
The Pirates will travel south to Tampa, Fla. for a rematch with South Florida on Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. on ESPNU.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Benjamin Bayela

RJ Felton

Brandon Johnson

Kalib LaCount

Javon Small

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