ECU was due for a solid outing after three straight losses and they got one Saturday night. Tulane had no answer for Jayden Gardner and J.J. Miles who scored 27 and 21 points respectively to lead the Pirates to a 81-62 win in Minges Coliseum.
Gardner recorded a double-double, pulling down 13 rebounds and Miles made 7 of his 9 shots from behind the arc for a Pirate team that made 52.6 percent of their three-point shots on 10 of 19 shooting.
“It was a good shooting night for me. Seeing the first couple go in gave me confidence and my teammates were able to find me when I was open,” Miles said after the game, “Shooting every day has helped our confidence. The crowd played a big part. We feed off of their energy.”
Defensively, ECU(9-11/3-4 AAC) was solid Saturday night and limiting Tulane to one shot had a lot to do with the Pirates’ ability to be successful against the Green Wave.
“Ultimately the coaches came in and said to guard your yard. They aren’t really a multiple action team. When they got it to the player and he got the ball, he shot it,” said Gardner, “We did a great job of guarding the ball, being in the passing lanes and stealing the ball.”
The Pirates also made their way to the charity stripe with regularity making 19 of 27 in a game where Tulane never led the entire game.
“I thought our defense got us off to a good start and then obviously when you make some shots .you get a little more confidence,” Joe Dooley said, “With the exception of the first five or six minutes of the second half we actually played pretty well and did some good things. We were a little lethargic to come out in the second half but our energy in the first half and our defense really sort of set the tone for us and gave us some confidence to get going.”
The Pirates limited Tulane to 36.7 percent shooting from the floor and 8 of 23 from the arc in the win. Joe Dooley outlined what that does for his team when they play that brand of defense.
“They’re a good offensive team. We got hit the other night. SMU is very, very talented offensively,” Dooley told PirateIllustrated.com, “Tonight we didn’t give up as many easy ones. Obviously when we don’t give up as many threes - they’re right at their season average of eight - that usually helps. The other night we were minus eight from the three-point line which absolutely kills you.”
“We really emphasize taking good shots and tonight I thought for the most part we took good shots,” said Dooley, “We had a stretch where we took a couple of bad ones. J.J. took good open ones and as a matter of fact he turned down two or three that I wish he would have shot.”
Nic Thomas led Tulane(10-9/2-5 AAC) with 19 points. Thomas made 5 for 8 from the arc while Christion Thompson wound up with 14 points and 13 rebounds and Teshaun Hightower added 12.
ECU got off to a good start, taking a 22-7 lead midway into the first half on nine early points from J.J. Miles and seven points from Jayden Gardner.
The Green Wave got off to a slow shooting start, making just 3 of 14 including only 1 for 4 from three point range. Two Gardner dunks later, ECU had opened up a 17 point 26-9 lead on a Green Wave team that made just 4 of their first 19 shots.
Nic Thomas’ second trey of the game, Christion Thompson’s drive in the paint and a Jordan Walker three-pointer trimmed the ECU lead to 21 at 40-19 at halftime in ECU’s highest scoring first half of the season and their biggest halftime lead. The Pirates got to the charity stripe with regularity and made 11 of 14 in the first twenty minutes.
“I think (the fast start) it just helped. It helped the crowd get into the game early and stay in the game the whole game and it built our confidence,” Gardner told PirateIllustrated.com, “Every shot seemed to go in and we were playing really good defense.”
The Pirates held Tulane to 23 percent first half shooting including just 3 of 10 from the arc with Nic Thomas’ eight points leading the Green Wave in the first half.
Tulane’s 16-6 second half run got the Green Wave back to within 11 points at 46-35 and threatened to make a game of it until two J.J. Miles three-point bombs and a Jayden Gardner fast break layup stretched the ECU lead back to 61-43 with nine minutes remaining.
Gardner’s dunk with 3:22 to go pushed the East Carolina lead to 23 for his 25th point of the game and the Pirates coasted in the remainder of the way.
PI AUDIO: JOE DOOLEY POST GAME PRESS CONFERENCE
