Last week, East Carolina’s basketball team gave No. 5 Memphis all it wanted in their Conference USA meeting in Minges Coliseum’s Williams Arena.

But, as they have so many times against Top 20/25 teams, the Pirates finally succumbed to the Tigers, bowing 77-67.

There was a little bit of a controversy over whether Memphis was the highest-ranked team ever to play in Minges, but, as it turned out, it was.

A lot of fans remembered when ECU played host to South Carolina back on Dec. 10, 1969, the first time a ranked team played on the Pirates’ home court. Many, myself among them, recalled that the Gamecocks were the top-ranked team in the nation at that time.

Not so.

South Carolina had opened the 1969-70 season as the No. 1 team in the country, but in the first weekly Associated Press poll, the Gamecocks had dropped down to No. 8, just one day prior to playing the Pirates.

The game was the first of four contests against ranked teams that season, two of them in Greenville. The second came on Feb. 5, 1970, when Jacksonville, with a player by the name of Artis Gilmore, rolled into Minges and took a 111-94 win.

East Carolina’s first contest against a ranked team in what is now Division I came on Jan. 28, 1965, when the Pirates visited No. 6 Davidson in a Southern Conference game. The Lefty Driesell-led Wildcats took an 82-68 victory in that match-up.

The Pirates played ranked teams 40 times before they finally managed a victory. That came on Feb. 26, 2002, when ECU stunned visiting No. 9 Marquette 51-46.

ECU then repeated that in their next home meeting with the Golden Eagles, then ranked 13th, dropping Marquette 73-70 on Dec. 30, 2002, for back-to-back wins against ranked teams.

The Pirates just missed getting a victory over another ranked team in Minges on Dec. 13, 1997, when No. 23 Georgia managed to steal a 55-54 win in the final seconds of play.

East Carolina has often come within 10 or less against ranked teams, include twice this year.

But the worst licking the Pirates have taken was on Feb. 22, 1971, when they visited Jacksonville and were pasted, 127-69.

Three times the Pirates have played the No. 1 team in the country. The first time came on Nov. 30, 1974, when N.C. State took a 79-47 victory at Reynolds Coliseum.

Then, on Nov. 30, 1987, top-ranked Duke topped the Pirates 95-46 in Cameron Indoor Stadium. Duke also won as No. 1 on Nov. 25, 1991, 103-75, at Cameron.

ECU has also faced No. 2 on two occasions, No. 3 on one, No. 4 twice and No. 5 once.

No. 8 teams have faced the Pirates on five occasions, more than any other.

A number of other teams which faced East Carolina were ranked at some time during the seasons, but not when the two met.

Following are East Carolina’s meetings with Top 20/25 teams since the Pirates joined Division I, giving the date, the opponent, the opponent's ranking at the time in parenthesis, and the site and score:

• Jan. 28, 1965, at Davidson (6), ECU lost 82-68;

• Dec. 10, 1969, South Carolina (8), lost 49-68;

• Jan. 13, 1970, at Davidson (8), lost 91-76;

• Jan. 15, 1970, at N.C. State (13), lost 100-81;

• Feb. 5, 1970, Jacksonville (8), lost 111-94;

• Feb. 22, 1971, at Jacksonville (6), lost 127-69;

• Dec. 4, 1972, Jacksonville (11), lost 77-68;

• Jan. 20, 1973, at Jacksonville (15), lost 100-61;

• Feb. 13, 1973, at N.C. State (2), lost 105-70;

• Dec. 5, 1973, at N.C. State (2), lost 79-47;

• Nov. 30, 1974, at N.C. State (1), lost 98-81;

• Dec. 7, 1974, at Alabama (11), lost 99-86;

• Nov. 29, 1975, at Maryland (3), lost 127-84;

• Dec. 3, 1975, at N.C. State (13), lost 117-81;

• Jan. 24, 1976, VMI (20), lost 74-60;

• Dec. 8, 1976, at Maryland (17), lost 80-69;

• Dec. 7, 1977, at Maryland (12), lost 130-106;

• Jan. 8, 1978, at Duke (11), lost 102-82;

• Jan. 23, 1979, at N.C. State (20), lost 104-88;

• Feb. 26, 1979, at Notre Dame (3), lost 89-72;

• Dec. 8, 1979, at Duke (2), lost 92-73;

• Dec. 4, 1981, at Missouri (16), lost 87-55;

• Jan. 13, 1982, at N.C. State (14), lost 63-53;

• Dec. 8, 1982, at N.C. State (18)), lost 57-49;

• Dec. 3, 1983, at Virginia Commonwealth (20), lost 75-44;

• Jan. 9, 1985, at Duke (4), lost 87-63;

• Dec. 2, 1985, at Duke (6), lost 98-66;

• Dec. 20, 1985, at Kentucky (13), lost 86-52;

• Dec. 13, 1986, at Indiana (2), lost 96-68;

• Jan. 5, 1987, at Navy (9), lost 91-66;

• Nov. 30, 1987, at Duke (15), lost 94-45;

• Nov. 30, 1988, at Duke (1), lost 94-45;

• Jan. 4, 1989, at Georgia Tech (19), lost 72-69;

• Feb. 14, 1990, at Duke (6), lost 84-51;

• Nov. 26, 1990, at Duke (6), lost 125-82;

• Nov. 25, 1991, at Duke (1), lost 103-75;

• March 18, 1993, vs. North Carolina (4), lost 85-65;

• Dec. 3, 1994, at Georgia Tech (20), lost 100-74;

• Dec. 13, 1997, Georgia (23), lost 55-54;

• Jan. 29, 2002, at Cincinnati (4), lost 75-48;

• Feb. 26, 2002, Marquette (9), won 51-46;

• Dec. 30, 2002, Marquette (13), won 73-70;

• Jan. 16, 2003, Louisville (15), lost 87-70;

• Jan. 29, 2003, at Marquette (18), lost 80-48;

• March 1, 2003, at Louisville (11), lost 82-76;

• Jan. 15, 2004, Louisville (8), lost 76-66;

• Jan. 28, 2004, Cincinnati (8), lost 80-57;

• Nov. 19, 2004, at N.C. State (9), lost 100-66;

• Jan. 12, 2005, Cincinnati (18), lost 84-78;

• Jan. 19, 2005, at Louisville (14), lost 92-41;

• Jan. 1, 2006, at Wake Forest (23), lost 58-54;

• Jan. 1, 2006, Memphis (5), lost 77-67.