Pirates Set To Host North Texas On Wednesday

Game 18: North Texas (10-5, 3-0 AAC) at East Carolina (9-8, 2-2 AAC)
Date \| Time	January 17, 2024 \| 7:00 p.m. ET
Location	Greenville, N.C. \| Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum
Game Program	Digital Game Program #4
Coverage	Stream: ESPN+ Radio: 107.9WNCT Live Stats: Statbroadcast
Statistics	East Carolina \| North Texas \| The American
Game Notes	East Carolina \| North Texas \| The American
Record Book	East Carolina 2023-24 Record Book
Social Media	Facebook \| Twitter \| Instagram \| YouTube \| #GreenvilleGrit

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The East Carolina men's basketball team concludes its brief two-game homestand on Wednesday evening when the Pirates welcome North Texas to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.

The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tip and will be streamed via ESPN+ with Patrick Johnson (play-by-play) and Si Seymour (analyst) on the call. Saturday's game can also be heard on the ECU Sports Network 107.9 FM or 9.43 The Game with Daron Vaught (play-by-play) and Michael Perry handling broadcasting duties.

RJ Felton leads ECU is scoring with 16.5 points per game (6th in AAC). Ezra Ausar and Brandon Johnson round out the Pirates' top scorers with 14.3 and 14.2 points per game respectively. Johnson leads the team on the glass with 8.9 rebounds per contest which ranks as third-best in the league. Bobby Pettiford Jr. leads the Pirates with 3.7 assists per game and leads the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio at 3.3.

Last Time Out
Ezra Ausar scored a career-high 25 points but East Carolina's second-half comeback fell short as the Pirates lost to SMU 75-64 on Saturday afternoon inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. Ausar added eight rebounds and two steals for the Pirates (9-8, 2-2 AAC), who saw their two-game winning streak come to a halt. RJ Felton added 15 points and Cam Hayes scored 12 to round out ECU's double-figure scorers.

Scouting the Mean Green
North Texas enters Wednesday's game on a five-game winning streak as the Mean Green defeated Temple, 69-51, in its last game on Jan. 13 led by Jason Edwards' game-high 16 points. Edwards leads the Mean Green in scoring with 16.9 ppg (5th in AAC). Aaron Scott and Rubin Jones add 12.3 and 12.2 points per game respectively. The Mean Green are one of the best teams in the country on the defensive end, allowing only 58.4 points per game from their opponents and holding teams to 37 percent shooting from the floor. In its first 15 games, North Texas has only allowed the opposition to score 70 or more points twice and has held its past five opponents to under 60 points in four games.

Series History
North Texas leads the all-time series with East Carolina 2-1 as the teams last met on Feb. 15, 2014 when both schools were Conference USA foes. ECU fell 53-51 in that contest at North Texas and Wednesday's game will be the Mean Green's first game in Minges Coliseum. The first meeting between the two programs was on Dec. 21, 1983.

On This Date
ECU is 6-10 in games played on Jan. 17 since the 1960-61 season with the last game on this date coming during the 2017-18 season, a 90-52 win at home over South Florida.

Up Next
East Carolina will hit the road for a matchup on Saturday against UAB at 3 p.m. on ESPN+.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ezra Ausar

RJ Felton

Cam Hayes

Brandon Johnson

Bobby Pettiford Jr.

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