|
BAILEY'S TAKE
ON PIRATE SPORTS
-----
|
From the Anchor Desk
Tuesday, January 10, 2006
-----
By Brian Bailey |
 |
Memphis presents unique
historical challenge
�2006 Bonesville.net
The Memphis Tigers will come
to Williams Arena on Wednesday night as the nation�s 5th-ranked basketball
team. Coach John Calipari's squad will be the highest ranked team to ever
play in Minges Coliseum.
The highest ranked teams to
come to Greenville previously were South Carolina in 1969 and Louisville in
2004, both of which came to Minges Coliseum at No. 8 in the polls.
The highest ranked team to
lose to East Carolina in Greenville was 9th ranked Marquette � on two
occasions.
Ironically, both of those
games came in the same calendar year, 2002. The first
win came on February 26, 2002, as a part of the �01-�02 season.
The
second win came on December 30, 2002, in a
game that was moved up because of the Eastern Regionals for high school
basketball, which were scheduled for the first week of March in �03.
The upsets came against a
loaded Marquette team that Dwyane Wade would led to the Final Four. Williams
Arena was truly rocking for both of those upsets, the two biggest wins by
far in the Bill Herrion era at East Carolina.
The Ricky Stokes era almost
got a huge win at Wake Forest last week. The Pirates had never beaten a
nationally ranked opponent on the road, but came very close in that 58-54
loss to the Deacs.
Wake Forest followed the close
call with ECU with a loss at home to top ranked Duke. The Deacs were right
in the game in the second half, until Trent Stickland missed a breakaway
slam. J.J. Redick went right down the court and swished a three, and the
Blue Devils cruised from there.
Memphis has won two in a row
after falling to 15th-ranked Texas last week. The Tigers beat Winthrop on
Sunday, 73-63, behind Rodney Carney�s 21 points. The only other loss that
Memphis has suffered was against No. 1 Duke in the Preseason NIT
championship game.
Winthrop
beat East Carolina in Rock Hill 70-48 back
in December.
The Pirates have had success
of late changing defenses. Texas employed a zone and held the Tigers to 29
percent shooting last week.
East Carolina comes into the
game after Saturday night�s 80-74 win over Saint Paul�s. The Pirates came
from 9 points down in the second half to pull out the victory against the
Division II Tigers.
�I give this team credit
because I don�t know if we would have won this game here weeks ago,� said
Pirate Coach Ricky Stokes. �I think we�ve made some strides in battling
adversity because we really had to fight. Hopefully, it will pay off for us
to be able to face some adversity when you�re not playing well and still
have a chance to win the game.�
Hopefully, the Pirates will
play in front of a packed house on Tuesday night. East Carolina will be an
underdog, but Williams Arena is a tremendous home court advantage when it is
rocking!
Lady Pirates continue roll
East Carolina�s Lady Pirates
wrapped up their longest road trip of the year by beating Memphis 81-68 on
Sunday. ECU is 10-4 overall and 2-1 in C-USA play.
Sharon Baldwin-Tener and crew
spent 11 days on the road, going 4-1 on the trip. In an age in which teams
just can�t seem to win on the road, the trip was a great success.
The Lady Pirates are
dominating the inside against opponents. LaToya Horton had a dozen rebounds
on Sunday, while Nicole Davis had 10 boards.
Former Ayden-Grifton star
Cherie Mills is also having an outstanding season after transferring from
Louisburg.
The Lady Pirates host Houston
on Friday before getting back on the road for games at Southern Miss and
Central Florida. After that, the schedule features five of the Lady Pirates'
next six games at home at Williams Arena.
 Send an e-mail message to
Brian Bailey.
Click here to dig into Brian Bailey's Bonesville
archives.
02/23/2007 01:33:22 AM |
