Looking for a much needed American Athletic Conference win, ECU returns home to take on Tulane Thursday night.
The 8-11 Pirates are just 1-6 in what has been a top heavy league schedule. Meanwhile Tulane is coached by Mike Dunleavy who is fresh off a 85-75 loss at SMU. The Green Wave have had their own issues with just a 4-15 record. The Green Wave remain winless in AAC play.
6-4 guard Caleb Daniels leads Tulane in scoring at 15.2 points a game. 6-9 forward Simir Sahic and Jordan Cornish at 6-6 at guard are also both averaging in double figures at over 11 points a contest. Sahic at just under eight rebounds a game leads the Green Wave on the glass while Cornish at four assists a game leads the team in that category.
ECU hopes to snap a five game losing streak. The Pirates have won four of the last five games between the two teams and 9 of the last 13 between the two schools since 2010. The bad part is ECU has lost four of the last five home games against the Green Wave including a pair of overtime losses.
The Pirates are fresh off a 77-57 loss to USF Saturday where freshman Jayden Gardner posted his eighth double-double of the season.
finished with 15 points and 15 rebounds. Shawn Williams made four 3-pointers in the contest and DImitrije Spasojevic has reasserted himself of late. He score ten points in the last game.
“The big thing is really just trying to play better,” said Joe Dooley, “I’m sure they’re coming in with the mindset that we should win this game but we should have the same kind of mindset. It’s almost like we start playing well and then we do a 180 and we’ve got to figure that out and just continue to do what we’ve done.”
Gardner leads The American in scoring (18.9 ppg) and ranks second in rebounding (9.4 rpg). He also ranks among the league leaders in offensive rebounds (2nd), defensive rebounds (2nd) and field goal percentage (8th). Gardner is averaging a double-double in league play with 18.9 ppg and 10.6 rpg, which is tops in the conference.
“Tulane has really big guards. They like to post our guards with a 6-6 starting point guard,” Gardner said, “Really good freshman power forward and a really good team overall. We just have to be solid overall and hopefully we can get the W.”
Shawn Williams has scored double digits in 10 of his first 13 games of the season, scoring 15 or more points five times. He is averaging 2.0 3-point field goals per game in conference play. Williams had made four or more treys five times this season. He talked about what his team has to do.
“Just stay together. We’re a new team, a lot of young people. We’ve got to stick together. Tulane has got a lot of size. We’re going to have to play bigger, attack the glass and do a lot of things we haven’t been doing well. It’s definitely a must win for us.”
Williams averaged 22.0 ppg against the Green Wave as a freshman last season. After scoring 15 points at home versus Tulane,
he dropped 29 on the Green Wave in New Orleans, going a perfect 6-of-6 outside the 3-point arc. He has had his shooting difficulties this season and Thursday night’s game could give him a chance to hit the refresh button.
Seth LeDay has scored double figures in four of the last six games, averaging 10.0 points. He led the Pirates with 12 points and five rebounds at Houston. It was the first time he led the team in both points and rebounds in the same game.
It should make for an interesting game between two teams badly in need of a victory.
Anish Shroff will do the play by plan and John Thompson III will handle color commentary for ESPN U. Tipoff is at 7 o'clock.
PI AUDIO: Jayden Gardner, Shawn Williams & Joe Dooley Preview Tulane
