Pirates set to welcome UNCW to Minges on Tuesday

by | Dec 3, 2024

By ECUPirates.com

The East Carolina men’s basketball team remains at Williams Arena inside Minges Coliseum as the Pirates gear up to host in-state foe UNCW for a Tuesday night battle.

The game is set for a 7 p.m. tip time and the contest will be streamed on ESPN+ with Patrick Johnson (play-by-play) and Si Seymour (analyst) on the call and Matison Little (sideline reporter) on the baseline.

Fans are encouraged to wear white for Tuesday’s ‘white out’ game and the first 1,000 students at tomorrow’s game will receive a free white Pirates script t-shirt.

The Pirates are looking to win their fourth straight game after going 7-1 in the month of the November. ECU is led in scoring by All-Conference senior guard RJ Felton’s 21.3 points per game, which is top five in the conference and the Aiken, S.C. native adds 7.3 rebounds per game. C.J. Walker (17.5 ppg, 7.5 rpg), Jordan Riley (13.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg) and Cam Hayes (10.6 ppg, 3.9 apg) round out the Pirates’ double-figure scorers.

Last Time Out
C.J. Walker scored a team-high 23 points on 9-of-13 shooting as East Carolina used a balancing scoring attack to defeat N.C. A&T, 93-69, on Friday evening inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. Cam Hayes had his best performance in a Pirates jersey with a season-high 20 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds. RJ Felton added 15 points and Jordan Riley tallied 11 points to round out ECU’s scorers in double figures. The Pirates were also efficient in running their offense with 23 assists to just nine turnovers.

Best Start Since….
ECU is 7-1 for the first time since the 2020-21 season and for only the fifth time since 2000. The Pirates’ 7-1 start is their best start to a season under head coach Michael Schwartz. ECU is seeking to improve to 8-1 for the first time since 2008-09 with a win on Tuesday.

Scouting the Seahawks
UNCW is coming off of a 2-1 week as the Seahawks hosted the Live Oak Bank Holiday Classic, falling in the opening contest against Colgate and then defeating Sam Houston and Appalachian State. Donovan Newby (17.6 ppg) and Khamari McGriff (11.4 ppg) lead the Seahawks in scoring and UNCW is the top scoring team in the CAA, averaging 84.9 points per game. UNCW is 1-1 on the road this season having defeated USC Upstate and losing at No. 1 Kansas.

Series History
UNCW leads the all-time series with East Carolina 38-31 as the teams have alternated wins in the last eight meetings. The home team in this series has won in the last eight meetings as well with the Pirates taking last year’s contest 74-66 in Minges. ECU is 22-13 all-time at home against the Seahawks.

On This Date
The Pirates are 9-11 in games played on Dec. 3 with the last game on this date coming during the 2019-20 season as ECU fell at home to Coppin State, 85-75. The last time the Pirates won on this date was in 2016-17 as the Pirates defeated N.C. Central at home, 69-56.

Up Next
East Carolina will travel down to Columbia, S.C. to face South Carolina on Saturday at 2 p.m. on SEC Network+ and ESPN+.

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