The East Carolina basketball program has undergone an extensive makeover designed to return to the success of the 2024-25 season.

The revitalized Pirate roster and staff will go on display Monday night when South Carolina-Upstate comes to Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum for a 7 p.m. tipoff (ESPN+).

ECU was 19-14 overall and 10-8 in the American Conference two seasons ago. Injuries were a factor that hindered the Pirates last season as the record slipped to 11-20 overall and 6-12 in league play.

ECU reinvented itself and featured Jordan Riley as the offensive leader down the stretch last year. The Pirates went 6-6 over their last dozen games in the American to make a push for a berth in the league tournament after a 0-6 conference start but fell short.

Notable departures

Riley averaged 23.6 points. Also exhausting his eligibility was big man Giovanni Emejuru, who scored 12.9 points and grabbed 9.2 rebounds per game. Demitri Gardner played his last college semester at ECU and helped the late surge with an 11.1 scoring average.

Corey Caulker, who transferred to Florida International, averaged 7.9 points and a team high 3.8 assists. Tybo Bailey, now at Southeastern Louisiana, was scoring at a 7.1 clip when he missed the last 11 games with an ailment.

Back from injuries

The three returning players on the ECU roster were all limited by injuries last season. Jayshane Woodard was lost after five games. He made nine starts and averaged 5.8 points with 4.1 rebounds in 2024-25.

Daithi Quinn missed the entire season after getting hurt with the Ireland under-20 team. Eli DeLaurier was out for a span, and his practice time was limited with a foot injury, but he showed his ability with 11 points in 16 minutes in an 84-68 Senior Day win over Memphis.

Staff additions

Fifth-year head coach Mike Schwartz has brought in several new staff members who have been involved in the roster rebuild.

Nick Matson is back in Greenville as associate head coach after stints at Texas and New Mexico State. Andre Gray moved to ECU as an assistant from Western Carolina.

Tyler Johnson, who played at Fresno State when Schwartz was on staff there, is a new Pirates assistant. He played nine seasons in the NBA.

New guards

The Pirates have brought in some experienced backcourt performers.

Cian Medley comes to ECU from Kent State, where he had 6.4 assists per game and set a program record with 212 assists last season. He averaged 10.5 points as a junior. Medley will wear No. 1 for the Pirates.

Brycen Blaine played for Charleston Southern last year and had 23 points and 12 rebounds in a 77-65 win in Greenville. He averaged 17.2 points and 7.2 rebounds.

Trevor Best played for former Duke star Bobby Hurley at Arizona State, appearing in 29 games in his career with an 18-point effort against Brigham Young.

A well-regarded group of freshmen includes Ashton McCullough, 6-7 wing Dreylan Creasy-Quirindoongo and Mason Pandov.

McCullough averaged 21.4 points at Oak Hills (CA). Creasy-Quirindoongo is 6-7 and was rated a 4-star prospect out of Blue Ridge in Virginia. Pandov is a 6-5 guard who shot 50 percent in averaging 11.6 points and 5.3 rebounds at Orlando Christian Prep.

Shooting woes

East Carolina’s demise last season was due in part to poor shooting. Among 365 Division I programs, the Pirates were 327th in field goal percentage at 41.9.

The 3-point percentage (28.8) was even lower, 357th nationally.

ECU was 12th among 13 teams in the American Conference in each category.

Part of the struggles can be attributed to the absence of the players unavailable due to injuries.

Gardner provided a midseason boost, especially from deep as he dropped 26 of 61 from beyond the arc for a team best 42.6 percent.

Long-range boost?

Gardner came from Division II Augusta.

The Pirates have added 6-5 swing man Jordyn Buchanan from Division II California University of Pennsylvania. Buchanan made 83 threes last season, hitting 39.2 percent from long distance.

Frontcourt help

Some of the optimism for improvement is based on the potential of frontcourt arrivals.

Kaseem Watson, at 6-8, compares favorably with former Pirate Brandon Johnson. Watson shot 38 percent on threes at Texas El Paso last season and contributed 12.5 points per game for the Miners.

Kaden Cooper (6-7, 190) averaged 9.7 points and 7.7 rebounds at Louisiana Tech. He is also highly regarded as a defender.

Matthew Hinton (6-9, 247) averaged 10.9 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.4 blocks in a 23-7 season at Mississippi Gulf Coast.

Very intriguing among the incoming post players is senior Max Klitschko (7-3, 250), who may be the tallest player in program history. He is the son of former heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko.

Schedule

The Pirates don’t have a challenge of the magnitude of Michigan State or North Carolina that confronted last year’s team.

There are a number of regional matchups on the nonconference slate that should spark interest before the league opener at Memphis on Dec. 30 at 9:30 p.m. (ESPN).

UNC Wilmington comes to Greenville on Saturday, Nov. 7, at 2 p.m. (ESPN+).

The Pirates will play three games in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands, starting with Utah Valley on Nov. 20.

ECU plays Coastal Carolina at home on Wednesday, Dec. 9, at 7 p.m. (ESPNU). That is followed by a road game with Appalachian State on Sunday, Dec. 13, at 1 p.m. The Pirates return home to take on Campbell on Friday, Dec. 18, at 7 p.m. (ESPN+).

Adjustments on the fly

Two years ago, before the Pirates won 19 games, there were some August exhibition games in the Bahamas which allowed the team to get used to playing together.

This year’s team has not played any preseason games, according to men’s basketball contact Grady Dillon.

That means meshing on the fly with 11 new players tonight.

Coach Schwartz is in favor of playing exhibition games in the summer to promote team development.

What Upstate brings

The Spartans were 13-19 overall and 5-11 in the Big South Conference, struggling with shooting accuracy, as did the Pirates.

Coach Marty Richter lost four starters but delved into the junior college ranks to add some offense.

Newcomers include 6-6 guard Derek Edmond (24 points per game at Southwestern in California) and 6-6 guard KeJuan Payne II (14.6 points at Northern Oklahoma-Enid).

Andrej Radivojevic, 6-11, averaged 10 points and eight rebounds in a pro league in Switzerland.

Pirate doubloons

The early line has ECU as a 13-point favorite. … Schwartz enters his fifth season with the Pirates with a 61-69 record. … ECU has won 26 straight season openers. … The Pirates lead the series with Upstate, 3-1. … The Spartans won, 83-81 in Greenville on Nov. 15, 2023.