Inside
Game Day Saturday, January
14, 2012
By Al Myatt |
|
Early troubles still vex
Pirates
Al Myatt
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
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GREENVILLE — Usain Bolt
wouldn't be a world champion sprinter if he gave opponents a 20-yard head
start. Coach Ruffin McNeill will never concede a foe a touchdown to begin an
East Carolina football game. Mitt Romney won't spot his Republican
challengers any votes in the upcoming South Carolina primary.
Playing from behind makes successful
results more difficult and the East Carolina basketball team has become a
prime example. An unproductive pattern of slow starts has engulfed the
Pirates in three Conference USA losses.
The trend started at Southern Miss in the
league opener when ECU fell behind by double digits in the first five
minutes of the game.
It continued last week when Central Florida
had the Pirates down 14 points midway through the first half.
Tulsa continued ECU's early difficulties by
jumping out to a 22-4 lead on Saturday in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum.
In the first nine minutes of three league
games, the Pirates have been outscored 60-27. That's a lot to overcome and a
big reason the Pirates head for a Texas swing this week (at UTEP on
Wednesday, at Houston on Saturday) still searching for a C-USA win.
ECU has managed to be competitive at the
end of two of its C-USA games, losing 78-76 at Southern Miss and 70-67 on
Saturday to Tulsa as a tying 3-pointer by Maurice Kemp missed in the closing
seconds. A rally against UCF seemingly was short-circuited by an untimely
technical foul which changed momentum after the Pirates had cut a 22-point
Knights lead to 11 during a 3-minute span in the second half.
"We've been digging out of holes from the
beginning," said ECU coach Jeff Lebo. "I wish I knew (the answer)."
The Pirates have outscored their opponents
179-169 in the final 31 minutes of their three league games but the rallies
thus far have been classic cases of too little, too late.
There haven't been consistent problems in
the three games. Rebounding was a big factor in the first two but poor
shooting was the culprit for struggles against Tulsa.
"We had a chance to win against a really
good team, shooting 38 percent," Lebo said. "We've got to be 45, 46
(percent)."
The Pirates were 7 of 26 from behind the
arc for 26.9 percent. The only shooting area where ECU did well was at the
free throw line as the Pirates dropped 14 of 17 for 82.4 percent.
ECU is not the same team that produced a
breakout 18-16 record among its many accomplishments in Lebo's first season
as Pirates coach in 2010-11. First-year players in the program got a total
of 97 minutes against Tulsa and that was with Miguel Paul, a transfer at
point guard, limited to 26 minutes by foul problems.
"When you've got a lot of young guys you
find different ways," Lebo said. "Something else rears its ugly head.
Whether it's rebounding one game or turnovers one game."
ECU had just eight turnovers and rebounded
evenly (34-34) with the taller visitors on Saturday.
"We've got to put it all together and find
a way," Lebo said.
The Pirate coach saw good things in terms
of outscoring Tulsa 34-30 in the second half.
"Defensively, the second half, we did a lot
of nice things," he said. "We scratched and clawed."
Paul and Robert Sampson both fouled out but
not before ECU had closed within 59-56 with seven minutes left. Paul missed
a tying 3-point attempt with 6:50 to go.
"We have a chance to make the big one,"
said the ECU coach. "We missed a wide open one to tie the game. Miguel Paul,
wide open from the top — the best look in the house. They went under the
ball screen. Darrius (Morrow) wiped the guy out and we can't make it."
Shot selection was not the issue in the
slow start.
"Tonight, we took good shots," Lebo said.
"We just didn't make any and they made everything to start. I thought we
settled down. We had those same looks in the second half. We kind of started
to make a few and they didn't make as many. We got back into the game."
The Pirates came back to have a shot at
going to overtime, inbounding from beneath their basket with 4.9 seconds
left and facing a 70-67 deficit.
"They were very physical with us," Lebo
said. "We were trying to run a screen for Paris (Roberts-Campbell) in the
corner, then run Kemp off to the corner through an elevator door but they
got right through the screen. Very physical. I don't think they were afraid
to foul at that point so they could be really physical. If they foul on the
floor, it still would have been a two (shot foul)."
Kemp's closing try from the left corner
under extreme pressure had a good trajectory under the circumstances but hit
the far side of the rim and bounced away. Erin Straughn gained possession
underneath before the buzzer.
Jordan Clarkson, a 6-foot-4 guard,
continually spotted up for threes or pulled up on drives to total 23 points
for Tulsa (9-9, 2-2). He was 5-for-5 behind the arc, 7-for-9 from the field
and 4-for-6 at the line. He also had six assists. Kodi Maduka, 6-11, also
presented match up problems. He had 17 points and 10 rebounds.
"We've got to be able to make some shots
because we're not going to overpower anybody," Lebo said. "We're very
small."
The Pirates (9-7 overall) became even
smaller with the announcement Saturday that Austin Steed (6-8, 245), a
transfer from South Carolina, had become academically ineligible in graduate
school.
Steed was averaging 4.1 points and 4.3
rebounds in an average of 13.9 minutes per game at ECU.
"Without Steed, we can't simulate anything
in practice," Lebo said. "We're going to have to make some shots from the
perimeter to win a game. ... We've got three big guys who can play. If
you're going to define Kemp and Sampson as big guys, then that's what we've
got."
Morrow, ECU's lone legitimate post player,
had 18 points and five rebounds against Tulsa. Kemp had 10 points and 10
rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Paul made just two of 11
field goal attempts but sank seven of nine at the line for 13 points. His
assist-to-turnover ratio was four-to-one.
BOX
SCORE
TULSA
70, EAST CAROLINA 67
Date:
Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012
Place: Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum, Greenville, NC
Attendance: 4,584
Records: ECU 9-7 (0-3 Conference USA); Tulsa 9-9 (2-2)
SCORE BY PERIODS 1 2 FINAL
Tulsa
40 30 - 70
East Carolina
33 34 - 67
TULSA
GOLDEN HURRICANE
#
PLAYER FG 3PT FT R PTS MIN
......................... ..
... .. . ... ...
32 Maduka, Kodi........ f 5-9
0-0 7-10 10 17 23
35 Magley, D.J......... f 3-6
0-0 1-2 6 7 24
02 McClellan, Eric..... g 1-6
1-1 0-0 0 3 23
03 Clarkson, Jordan.... g 7-9
5-5 4-6 3 23 35
34 Haralson, Scottie... g 3-7
2-5 2-3 2 10 33
01 Smith, Rashad......... 1-1
0-0 0-0 1 2 5
05 Peete, Tim............ 0-4
0-1 0-0 3 0 23
11 Idlet, Steven......... 2-6
0-0 4-4 5 8 22
15 Wishon, David......... 0-0
0-0 0-0 0 0 2
33 Richard, Joe.......... 0-0
0-0 0-0 2 0 10
TEAM.....................
2
TOTALS................... 22-48 8-12 18-25 34
70 200
PERCENT.................. 45.8 66.7
72.0
EAST
CAROLINA PIRATES
#
PLAYER FG 3PT FT R PTS MIN
......................... ..
... .. . ... ...
01 Morrow, Darrius..... f 7-11 0-0
4-4 5 18 37
02 Kemp, Maurice....... f 3-9
2-5 2-2 10 10 33
00 Paul, Miguel........ g 2-11 2-7
7-9 1 13 26
20 Bowden, Shamarr..... g 2-8
0-3 0-0 1 4 21
23 Straughn, Erin...... g 3-7
1-3 0-0 9 7 25
11 Gaines, Corvonn....... 2-4
1-3 1-2 1 6 20
12 Sampson, Robert....... 2-4
0-2 0-0 3 4 18
22 CAMPBELL, Paris....... 2-6
1-3 0-0 1 5 17
35 Morales, Darius....... 0-0
0-0 0-0 0 0 3
TEAM.....................
3
TOTALS................... 23-60 7-26 14-17 34
67 200
PERCENT.................. 38.3 26.9
82.4
Fouled out: Miguel Paul, Robert Sampson
Technical Fouls: None
Officials: Duke Edsall, Kevin Mathis, Bret Smithh
E-mail Al Myatt.
PAGE UPDATED
01/16/12 01:19 AM.
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