CHRONICLING EAST
CAROLINA & CONFERENCE USA
SPORTS
-----
|
View from the East
Friday, March 2, 2012
By Al Myatt |
 |
Morrow makeover, team attitude rewarded
 |
Darrius Morrow in
game action earlier
this season. |
|
(Photo by W.A. Myatt) |
|
|
|
|
By
Al Myatt
©2012 Bonesville.net
All rights reserved.
View the Mobile Alpha version of this page.
Just when you're thinking
this East Carolina basketball team is beyond hope, they step up and do
something special. So it was on Wednesday night as the Pirates hosted
Marshall on ECU's Senior Night.
Darrius Morrow, who wears
jersey No. 1, took his bows in his final regular-season home game in
Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. The 6-foot-8 center from Atlanta rose
to the occasion as he scored 27 points, including four of the Pirates'
six points in overtime in
a 69-68 victory over the Thundering Herd.
Morrow also pulled down a
team-high eight rebounds.
It was a fitting chapter
in the story of a player who has matured and become a dedicated team
player in the last two years of his college career.
"It was a big night," said
ECU coach Jeff Lebo after the Pirates improved to 13-15 overall and 4-11
in Conference USA. "Darrius being the only senior and captain of the
team — his teammates, coaches and fans wanted to see him go out with a
W. You always want to win no matter when you set foot on the floor but
it's especially sweet when you can do it on Senior Night."
Morrow may have had some
extra motivation in the 120th game of his ECU career. It may have caused
him to try a little too hard before he settled into the flow of the
game.
"I thought he was a little
nervous to start maybe with all the emotions of the game," Lebo said.
"He had a lot of family and friends there but he really settled down. It
was a perfect script and a perfect ending for him to have the big night.
He really led us to a victory in that one."
The outcome snapped a
five-game losing streak for ECU.
Morrow has undergone
mental, physical and emotional changes since Lebo arrived at ECU prior
to the 2010-11 season. He has shed about 30 pounds and kept the weight
off during the course of the current campaign.
"We were all waiting for
him," Lebo said. "He was the last one to come in the locker room. We
were all waiting for him to come in. When he rolled in, it was like
everybody gave him a standing ovation. When I first came here, everybody
might want to get up and leave. In that period of time, that's pretty
neat.
"It's been gratifying for
me as a coach to watch him. He's worked hard. He's saying the right
things. He's evolved into a leader. Before, he didn't really have the
respect of his teammates or his coaches to where he has the respect of
that group. It's really gratifying to me as a coach to watch that.
"That goes over and beyond
the wins and losses. That's what fun (is) about ... what we do when you
see it work out like that."
The win over the
Thundering Herd wasn't without its downside as junior guard Shamarr
Bowden played just seven minutes before going out with a possible
concussion.
Personnel losses have been
a recurring factor for the Pirates, who were without Maurice Kemp and
Erin Straughn in
a 78-68 loss at Marshall on Feb.
11.
"We go to the bench and
somebody else steps up," Lebo said. "I think you can really tell a lot
about your players and your coaches when you're not winning games. How
are you going to approach your work? How are you going to come out the
next day? Are you going to blame people? Are you not going to work as
hard? Are you going to make excuses? Are you not going to prepare the
right way?
"We never have that even
though we've lost some games. We haven't had that. Our kids have come
out every day and worked. They've been dialed in. They want to correct
their mistakes. They've had the will to win and the will to prepare to
win. We haven't always come up on the right side of the score but our
kids deserved to win that game last night. We overcame a lot of stuff to
stay involved in it. We got down and came back. We kept battling and
pulled it out."
Lebo said the Pirates
(made) some defensive adjustments on Wednesday night from the first
matchup with Marshall.
"I thought (the
adjustments) were relatively effective in the game," Lebo said. "They
tweaked things. We tweaked things. It comes down to putting that ball in
the basket. We made it interesting at the end by missing a lot of foul
shots and having a couple of turnovers late. We overcame all those
mistakes. They gave us some balls, too. They had 20 turnovers in the
game. They're a team that typically doesn't turn it over that much. Our
first game, they had single digit (five) turnovers. The second round
here, they turned it over a lot more. Every time you play somebody
twice, you tweak things a little bit — make some changes..."
ECU's tweaks primarily
involved how the Pirates defended certain Marshall players on ball
screening action.
"They scored a ton of
points on certain plays that we didn't handle very well the first time,"
Lebo said. " ... They didn't hurt us with those plays the second time."
Despite its struggles
after losing four motivated seniors from last year's team, this year's
group has maintained a good attitude.
"This group has been fun
to coach," Lebo said. "This group has been ready to work every single
day. After big wins or disappointing losses, they've come to work.
They've been pretty consistent. That's what we talk to them about all
the time, just being consistent in their work habits, being consistent
in their attitude."
The Pirates coach said the
attitude factor is a two-way street.
"The coaches need to be
consistent with them, too," Lebo said. "I tell them all the time that
there's nothing worse for a coach to not know what he's going to get
when he steps on the floor as far as effort and attitude and being
dialed in to what we're trying to do. As a player there's nothing worse
than not having consistency on the coaching side — not knowing if the
coach is going to scream at you today, talk to you today, how he's going
to respond, what's his emotional level.
"We work hard to be
consistent in all areas. I think that's healthful for players and this
group has really lived up to their end of the bargain. They've been
consistent in their approach to practice and games and preparation."
E-mail Al Myatt
Al Myatt Archives
03/02/2012 03:00 AM
----- |
