By By BRIAN HAINES
Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — After finishing the regular season with a 74-65 loss to Southern Miss on Saturday, then seeing their head coach Mack McCarthy announce his resignation immediately after the game, the idea of hitting the road doesn’t sound too bad for the Pirates.
A few days away from all the distractions could be good for an East Carolina team that must play a tough Houston squad in the first round of the Conference USA tournament today at 1 p.m. at the BOK Center in Tulsa, Okl.
The Pirates finished the regular season in 10th place in the conference standings with a 10-20 (4-12) record, which gave them the No. 10 seed. Houston wrapped up its regular season with a 78-76 loss to Tulane, giving it a 15-15 (7-9) record and a No. 7 seed.
This season was McCarthy’s fifth with the Pirates and his third as their head coach. During his three years as ECU skipper McCarthy compiled a 34-56 record.
McCarthy has agreed to coach this team until athletic director Terry Holland can find a new coach. That move is a classy one by McCarthy, and there is no doubt his players would love to give him one more win before he steps down from the sideline and into his new role as a fundraiser.
East Carolina heads into the game having lost four of its last five contests, and is led by point guard Brock Young. The junior is ECU’s leading scorer and assist man, tallying a C-USA seventh-best 15.4 points per game, while handing out a league-best 5.5 assists a night. That effort led Young to be named third-team all-conference.
Young and his crew will have to contain Cougars’ star, and first-team all-conference guard Aubrey Coleman. The senior is a strong candidate for conference player of the year and leads the nation in scoring with 26 points per game, and is second nationally in steals with 2.7 a night. Coleman is also seventh in the conference in rebounds averaging 7.5 a game.
Behind Coleman’s outstanding season, the Cougars hold the No. 2 scoring offense in the league posting 78.7 points per contest. However, Houston also has the lowest rated defense in C-USA, giving up 75 points a game.
The big key to today’s game is Cougars’ ability to create steals versus the Pirates knack for turning the ball over.
Houston forces a C-USA best 9.9 steals a game and have a +8.1 turnover margin which is also tops in the conference. On the other hand, ECU is by far the league’s worst in the TO department with a turnover margin of -8.43.
On the season the Pirates have committed a whopping 504 turnovers, the next closest team is UCF with 430.
Another big factor for ECU will be whether or not it hits the three-ball. The Pirates are 10th in the league in three-point percentage, but when Jamar Abrams has his shot going they can be a very pesky team.
If East Carolina wants to give McCarthy one last win before he steps down, they must take care of the basketball and hit the long ball.