GREENVILLE — A 17-game home slate featuring Charlotte, Massachusetts, Memphis and UAB highlights East Carolina’s 2011-12 men’s basketball schedule released by University athletic officials Thursday. Television arrangements will be announced once they are finalized.
The Pirates, who return three starters from last year’s 18-16 squad that produced the program’s first postseason appearance since 1993, will play outside of North Carolina just once prior to beginning Conference USA competition at Southern Miss on Jan. 4.
ECU’s non-conference schedule consists of nine home games, three road games and a neutral site affair against Appalachian State at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte on Nov. 22. The Pirates play three of their six November games inside Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum before playing six of seven December games at home to close out the calendar year.
In addition to visits from Charlotte (Dec. 3) and UMass (Dec. 6), East Carolina will welcome Coastal Carolina (Dec. 19), Gardner-Webb (Dec. 22) and N.C. Central (Dec. 29) as well as four non-Division I opponents to Greenville during non-conference play. The Pirates will be on the road to face Campbell (Nov. 14), Old Dominion (Nov. 29) and UNC Greensboro (Dec. 16).
After opening C-USA play at Southern Miss, the Piratesreturn home to face UCF (Jan. 7) and Tulsa (Jan. 14) before embarking on a six-day venture to Texas for games at UTEP (Jan. 18) and Houston (Jan. 21).
ECU will then play four of its next five games at home, including three in a row to start the month of February against SMU (Feb. 1), Rice (Feb. 4) and Memphis (Feb. 8). The three-game homestand will be followed by a three-game road swing at Marshall (Feb. 11), UCF (Feb. 18) and Memphis(Feb. 22).
The Pirates will play two of their final three games at home as they host UAB (Feb. 25) and Marshall (Feb. 29) before closing out leagueplay at Tulane (March 3).
The 2012 Conference USA Championship returns to Memphis, for the first time since 2009, and will be held March 7-10 at the FedExForum.