Next: ECU at UCF Saturday, 4:30 pm | TV: ESPNN

BASKETBALL Southern Methodist remains unbeaten GREENVILLE — Tenth-ranked Southern Methodist remained unbeaten with a 79-55 win at East Carolina on Wednesday night. Five players scored in double figures for the Mustangs with Ben Moore leading the way with 17 points. ... More... Next: ECU at UCF | Saturday, 4:30 pm | TV: ESPNN

FOOTBALL RECRUITING Aaron Ramseur carries on tradition Few high schools in North Carolina have produced more standout major college linebackers than Crest High School in Shelby. One of the originators of the Crest linebacker legacy was Tim Ramseur, who as a senior in 1994 was a Shrine Bowl all-star pick and the state 4-A defensive player of the year. ... More from Sammy Batten... Thumbnail: ECU's recruiting class of 2016...

BASKETBALL Glimpses give hope East Carolina’s first half at Temple on Saturday night showed just how good this basketball team can be. Unfortunately, the Pirates couldn’t put together two halves ... More from Brian Bailey... MULTIMEDIA Audio: The Brian Bailey Show The Brian Bailey Show airs on Pirate Radio 1250 on Mondays at 6:30 p.m. Brian's guest this week was ECU AD Jeff Compher (right): Replay show...

FOOTBALL Coach Mo caps off staff East Carolina football coach Scottie Montgomery put the finishing touch on his inaugural full-time staff on Monday with the hiring of Vanderbilt graduate assistant Ryan Anderson as inside linebackers coach. ... More from Al Myatt...

FOOTBALL Coach Mo talks Clemson-Alabama East Carolina football coach Scottie Montgomery is excited about the College Football Playoff championship between Alabama and Clemson tonight. ... More from Al Myatt...

BASKETBALL Owls overtake ECU PHILADELPHIA — Despite trailing by 11 points in the first half, Temple rallied for a 78-60 American Athletic Conference win over East Carolina before 4,524 fans at the Liacouras Center on Saturday night. Quenton DeCosey was five of eight behind the arc to lead the Owls (8-6, 3-1 AAC) with 24 points. ... More... Next: SMU at ECU | Wed., 6:15 pm | TV: ESPNN

FOOTBALL Prolific prep coach joins Pirates New East Carolina football coach Scottie Montgomery continued the building of his staff on Friday with the hiring of one of the most successful high school coaches in North Carolina as running backs coach. Antonio King will take charge of the Pirates' runners after guiding Durham Hillside to six straight PAC-6 titles ... More...

By Al Myatt
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ECU outshone by masterful Mustangs

East Carolina basketball coach Jeff Lebo didn't get a Powerball ticket for the drawing valued at $1.55 billion on Wednesday night.

"No, I didn't," Lebo said. "I don't play that."

Odds on an individual ticket matching all six numbers were reportedly one in almost 300 million so maybe Lebo was wise not to invest in such a long shot.

The Pirates were facing some long odds of their own as they hosted Southern Methodist, now the only unbeaten team in Division I after a 79-55 win at ECU on Wednesday night.

While the lottery is designed to be entirely random, there are some definable factors involved in the success of the Mustangs (16-0, 5-0 American Athletic Conference).

"There's a lot of things, their ability to pass the ball," Lebo said. "They can get scoring from all seven players in their rotation. They score inside. They score outside. They score in transition. They're one of the most efficient offensive teams in the country. They're in the top 10 in almost every statistical offensive category that is charted. They've got good players. They're well-coached. They have the ability to share the ball and play the right way and score at a variety of places and they do it effortlessly. They do it every night. They're consistent. They're one of the best teams in the country. You can put them up there with Kansas, North Carolina and Oklahoma this year. They're that good."

Brown returns to North Carolina

Coincidentally, the man responsible for the rise of the 10th-ranked Mustangs, Larry Brown, was coaching San Antonio during Lebo's brief NBA career with the Spurs.

"Johnny Moore came out of retirement and they released Jeff," Dave Lebo, Jeff's dad, recalled last summer.

Like Lebo, Brown was an outstanding guard for Dean Smith during his collegiate career at North Carolina.

Jeff Lebo was an All-American at Carlisle (PA) High School where his dad guided the Thundering Herd to four straight state championships. The first of those was during Jeff's senior year.

Brown is some distance up the road in Dallas now but he still has some Moores among his personnel.

Ben Moore led the Mustangs with 17 points at ECU. Nic Moore had 12 assists.

SMU beat Michigan 82-58 in Dallas earlier this season.

"John Beilein (Michigan coach) said SMU was the best team they have faced," Lebo noted.

The Wolverines have played Xavier, Texas, Connecticut, Purdue and Maryland. Because of NCAA sanctions, SMU won't be involved in postseason tournaments.

"They've just dismantled people because of their offensive efficiency," Lebo said. "There's nobody that doesn't pass, catch and shoot for them. They're special to watch. ... They do it and it looks so easy. That's what good teams make it look like."

Lebo was coaching at Auburn in the SEC when Florida won NCAA Tournament championships in 2006 and 2007.

"They're right up there with them," Lebo said. "They probably don't have some of the depth there but they move the ball, shoot the ball. They've got good guard play. They're efficient, like Florida was when they had (Joakim) Noah and (Corey) Brewer and (Al) Horford, big guys. Florida may be a little taller in there but similar."

Pirates lacking at line

Lebo's teams are often at their best when they can get to the free throw line with a degree of regularity.

Case in point – ECU made 35 of 51 foul shots in a 78-73 win over UNC-Wilmington on Dec. 16. The Pirates were four for six at the stripe in the SMU game.

ECU has shot 45 free throws in AAC games. Opponents have attempted 48.

"We're not getting to the line at all in conference play," Lebo said. "People have kind of figured us out a little bit. Again, if you don't score inside and you don't shoot it, there's not a lot of room to drive it. There's bodies in there. You can't get to the foul line. You can't throw it to a somebody with their back to the basket and get a foul. We've not gotten to the foul line at all in conference play. We haven't put a lot of people there. Early, our ability to put the ball on the floor and drive it when people didn't really know us very well – we had games where we shot 40 foul shots. We're not getting that to manufacture any kind of points there. That's typically what happens once you get into conference play."

Work in progress

Lebo has brought teams along during the course of seasons in the past. This year's team is 8-9 overall and 0-4 in the AAC.

"We've got a long way to go," said the ECU coach. "We've had some things happen to us that were unexpected, loss of personnel that were key for us in some areas that have hurt us. Last year's decision by Terry (Whisnant) to go pro, to the injuries to our two big guys inside (Marshall Guilmette and Deng Riak). That's taken its toll when it gets to this level.

"We're trying to figure it all out and trying to put band-aids on things. We try to put our finger on a leak and another one pops out over there. We've got to be able to be consistent. We've shown signs. The first half against SMU, I was proud of our guys. They came out and Coach (Larry) Brown even said it, the first five minutes was as perfect a five minutes as he's ever coached. They went out 21-6 and we cut it. We cut it to four (34-30) there late in the first half. We battled hard. We did some good things, in particular that first half. Offensively, we're just so limited in what we can do. We just have moments where we have trouble scoring the ball. We're getting really hurt on points in the paint. In conference games, the points in the paint have been decidedly for the other team. That's hard to overcome when you rely so much on your perimeter shooting every game and we're not as good a perimeter-shooting team as we were last year.

"We had Terry Whisnant last year and Marshall Guilmette, a five man who could really shoot the ball. We had extra guys out there who could really shoot that thing. That gave us a little more space to work when you have those kind of shooters out there to create space. We're fighting to find where we can get a basket. It's so hard for us. Everything has got to be manufactured. We got some (Wednesday night) in transition early, which we do a little bit at home. You see less of that on the road. We're going to have to find a way to get some of those odd baskets, particularly in transition. B.J. (Tyson) got some of those against SMU in the first half."

Another "what if" involves Brandan Stith. He came in as a freshman with Caleb White, ECU's leading scorer in AAC games at 13.0. Stith transferred to Old Dominion when his dad, Bryant, a former Virginia star and durable performer in the NBA, became an assistant for Jeff Jones at ODU.

Stith scored 15 points and had 13 rebounds as the Monarchs were nipped 72-71 in overtime by visiting UAB on Thursday night.

Tejada shows promise

There has been some discrepancy in the performance of sophomore point guard Lance Tejada from what was expected after he signed with ECU as a highly-regarded recruit.

He had 10 points, three assists and no turnovers in 24 minutes against SMU.

Senior Prince Williams and transfer Charles Foster have also played the point with varying degrees of consistency this season.

Lebo was glad to see Tejada conquer some of his issues against a quality opponent.

"Finally," Lebo said. "He's been struggling mightily for really the whole year. I think in the conference he was 0-for-10 from three coming into that game so it was nice to see him make some shots. Get that first one to go – I know that was a relief for him.

"He shot it pretty good. He was 50 percent (3-for-6) from the field. Hopefully, that will give him some confidence. It's been an area that we struggled with having some consistent play there. That's a concern for us. ... Hopefully, that will give him some confidence because he's worked awfully hard. He knows he's struggling. He wants to do well. He's been working hard in practice. It's frustrating when it doesn't come for you when you work so hard but finally it did come for him (Wednesday) night so hopefully he can build upon that."

Bryant steady

Sophomore forward Grant Bryant got 13 minutes in the SMU game. He didn't score but he had a rebound, an assist and a steal without a turnover.

"He's been practicing pretty good," Lebo said. "He hadn't played a whole lot but he's been practicing hard. He stayed in there and I thought he did some good things for us.

"That's a tough game to get in there and play minutes against a team like that. He did some good things and he continues to have a great attitude and work his butt off in practice. He needs to be rewarded for that and he was (Wednesday) night with some minutes."

Barkley adjusting

Freshman Kentrell Barkley is averaging 9.2 points for ECU, 8.0 in AAC games. He has the ability to be an additional scorer that the Pirates are seeking but he is making adjustments to the college game.

"He's a freshman," Lebo said. "He's coming to this point in the season and people are getting scouting down. He's got to get better, get into that second and third level of his game, which he will. He scored a lot in transition early for us. That's probably where he's best, in transition and offensive rebounds.

"There are a lot of half-court games now. He's got to be able to find his way there, half-court-wise. He's been a better shooter than what I kind of thought he was going to be, catch and shoot. He needs a little time to get it off but he's continued to work hard. He's going to have to continue to grow as a player as he moves into this next step of scouting, conference play and guys are a little bit bigger, stronger and faster. They have coaches, too. They watch film. They're making him go to his second option, sitting on his left hand a little bit so that's an area he's got to get better."

Riak rehabbing

Riak played in eight games for the Pirates this season before undergoing shoulder surgery. At 6-10, Riak was the tallest player on the ECU roster after 6-11 Marshall Guilmette had to stop playing for health reasons.

Riak would give the Pirates a paint presence. ECU is hopeful the native of Australia will be granted a medical redshirt, which would give him the potential of four more seasons with the Pirates.

"The paper work is being done on all that," Lebo said. "Hopefully, by the end of the season, that will be complete. His rehab is going good. We're hopeful if things go well we'll have him back at some point in the summer to go back into basketball-related things."

UCF has impressive size

The size factor will be in evidence Saturday when ECU visits Central Florida for a 4:30 p.m. tipoff.

"Tacko Fall (UCF freshman) is going to be a terrific player and he effects the game at 7-6," Lebo said. "Then you've got Justin McBride, who comes off a game against SMU (88-73 UCF loss in Dallas on Sunday) where he had 20 (points) and nine (rebounds). They couldn't handle him in there, SMU's big guys, he was so big. They list him at 325. He may be heavier than that. He's got great hands. He can finish. He's playing better. He's got a skill package for a guy that big. He's a load. He'll outweigh our guys by a hundred pounds, whoever we play in there. We've had a hard time trying to defend scorers in there against size."

The Pirates can't simulate in practice the size challenges the Knights will present.

"There's no way to do it so you just kind of show it to them on film," Lebo said. "You show them the size and what he does. You try to take advantage of his weaknesses in other areas and we've got to be able to do that. On the defensive end we've got to be ready to run. We've got to be able to beat them down the floor. We've got to get stops to do that. We've got to be able to bring them out on the perimeter to make them defend a little bit. He may have an advantage on one end. You've got to try to neutralize it."

Knights rally in first meeting

ECU began the second half of a 71-68 loss to UCF at home on Jan. 2 with a 15-2 run. That gave the Pirates the first of several 10-point leads.

"We were in really good shape in that game," Lebo said. "They played man. We missed a dunk to go up nine with five minutes to go in the game and come down and foul. ...

"They were struggling shooting the ball, but from that point on they made three threes late in the game. They went a little bit smaller defensively, had the two bigs out. They did a lot of switching on us. We'll, hopefully, be prepared for that and be able to attack that. When people switch a lot, you've got to be able to throw the ball inside a little bit. We struggle in there to score consistently. That's been a problem for us a little bit. We kind of know what they do. We can kind of prepare for that.

"It was the three threes, the missed dunk that took a lot of juice right out of us there. A.J. Davis made a three. I don't think he's made a three since. That was a real dagger for us late in the game."

UCF outscored the Pirates 16-10 on points in the paint.

Keys against Knights

UCF presents an opportunity for ECU. The Pirates got their lone AAC road win against the Knights last season.

The Pirates coach talked about important factors for the contest Saturday.

"We've got to get some stops defensively," Lebo said. "We've got to get out in transition. Offensively, we can count on two guys (Tyson and White) scoring most nights. We've got to get a third and a fourth scorer for us.

"We've got to get something inside a little bit. We know it's not going to be a heckuva lot but we've got to get something in there from our big guys inside. It would be nice to get to the foul line a little bit more than we have been and finishing around the basket. Those are things offensively that we have to do. We've got to rebound the ball with them. They're very big. We've got to be tough right there and gang rebound the ball, particularly with our guards so we can get out in transition."