East Carolina embarks on its third season under coach Mike Schwartz at home against North Carolina Wesleyan on Monday at 7 p.m.

The Pirates have nine new players and some significant departures.

Most notable of the roster retainees is guard R.J. Felton, who is second in scoring among returning players in the American Athletic Conference, posting 17.3 points per game as the Pirates went 15-18 overall and 7-11 in league play in 2023-24.

Gone are Brandon Johnson and Ezra Ausar among others. Johnson left for Miami after putting up 14.0 points and pulling down 8.6 rebounds for the Pirates as a junior. Ausar has relocated to Utah after scoring at an 11.4 clip with 4.7 boards.

The players that left created voids.

There are new assistant coaches as well, including former Pirates head coach Mike Perry, who has stayed close to the program as an analyst for the ECU radio network.

Schwartz likes the work his new staff has put in. Riley Davis and Reggie Williams have been with him at ECU from the outset.

“I.J. Poole, new assistant coach,” Schwartz noted on media day. “He came here from Providence. Mike Perry, who you guys know very well, a former coach here. He is on staff now with us. We have a new sports performance coach, Coltan Susen, who came from Southern Illinois.

“We have a couple of new staff members, Collin Donahue (special assistant to the head coach) here from Nevada and Rob Lewis (director of player development) here from Florida State. So really excited about this staff and this team.

“I just want to give a ton of credit to this coaching staff and what they did this spring in terms of how detailed and meticulous they were through navigating this new college basketball process of recruiting and the portal and all the things that come with that. … ”

“I love this team, but these players and these coaches have been fantastic from June to now in terms of getting ready to take the next step. So excited about that.”

Transfers that bear watching include guard Jordan Riley from Temple, who averaged 11.9 points for the Owls; forward C.J. Walker, who was limited by injuries in two seasons at Central Florida; and guard Julien Soumaoro from Gardner-Webb. Perimeter swing man Vann Ferrell was a starter at St. Bonaventure.

In figuring out a playing rotation with the abundance of new faces, Schwartz started two entirely different lineups in a formative trip to the Bahamas during the summer.

“We had an opportunity to get six new players, four transfers, two junior college players, and then three freshmen,” Shwartz said. “So nine new players come on the roster because of some of that turnover.

“I go back to what we talked about with this coaching staff and what they did in the spring with recruiting those guys and evaluating and finding the right personalities for ECU that we don’t have that if the climate isn’t what it is right now. And those nine guys, love every one of them, love the way they’ve meshed with the returning guys.”

Prominent among the returners is Cam Hayes, who came from LSU last year after a stint at N.C. State.

“He will play a lot of point,” Shwrtz said “He’s been playing primarily point this summer and in this training camp. Now, he can absolutely slide off the ball and we can play multiple point guards together, which we’ve talked about.

“I really love being able to do that and have a couple pure ball handlers out on the court. Cam has done a really nice job passing. His assist to turnover ratio in practice is very high, and I think his mind is as strong as it’s ever been, particularly because of some of the challenges he went through last year eligibility-wise in terms of NCAA eligibility because of the transfer and being able to allow him to play midseason.”

Felton has been joined in the program by his brother, freshman Ladontae Felton.

Shwartz appreciates the loyalty that the older Felton has shown.

“He really does bring it every day and that’s why he’s been so consistent,” Schwartz said. “You do see something different in him. He knows this is his final year at ECU and, again, it goes back to how he announced he was coming back for his senior year when everyone else was talking about leaving.

“He talked about being a Pirate for life and loves being at ECU. And so you can see a definite extra sense of determination, a sense of what we want to accomplish as a team in terms of in this conference, in the nonconference, and the success in winning that he wants this program to have in his last year. And you can feel it every day in practice.”

Shot blocker Cyr Malonga and paint presence Callum Richard return for their sophomore seasons.

The Pirates are predicted to be in the lower echelon of the AAC, but that is not a concern.

“We were picked last my first year and did much better than that,” Shwartz said. “Last year, we were picked fifth and did not do that well. …

“With all the player movement, it’s really hard to figure that stuff out.”