It’s been a frustrating month for the East Carolina men’s basketball team and with six straight conference losses, head coach Jeff Lebo and company will head to Memphis Sunday night to take on the Tigers.

Memphis sits at 3-2 in the American Athletic Conference and 12-6 overall. The two conference losses came at the hands of Connecticut and Cincinnati by no more than four points. Memphis is led by a pair of top-10 conference scorers in Shaq Goodwin and Dedrick Lawson.

Lawson, a 6-foot-8 forward, is also third in the conference in rebounding with 8.8 per game. Goodwin shortly follows him up as the number eight rebounder with 7.9 per game. With a difficult pair on the inside, Lebo said its tough to matchup down low.

“We just adjust the best we can and that’s what we do,” Lebo, who lost two centers to season-ending injuries this year, said. “(Michel) Nzege is undersized in there, Clarence (Williams) isn’t really a back-to-the-basket guy. So it’s difficult now because we don’t score very well in there. But we battle hard, I can’t fault them.”

ECU won its first rebounding battle of conference play in an 84-69 loss to Tulsa. The Pirates hung around with the Golden Hurricane until a late run that propelled Tulsa to the win.

ECU saw similar losses at the hands of Temple and Central Florida earlier in conference play. Senior guard Prince Williams said it gets frustrating, but it’s important to not dwell on the past.

“I don’t know what it is, that just seems to usually happen to us,” Williams said. “We’ll be in games late, then the last five or four minutes it’s just breakdown after breakdown and teams take advantage of it and it costs us in the end.”

Memphis plays a strong defensive game and ranks fifth in the conference in scoring defense, first in blocks and second in steals and turnover margin. Lawson and senior Ricky Tarant each rank in the top-five of conference steals. Aiding Memphis is ECU’s eighth-ranked turnover margin in the conference.

Though the matchup is already tough for ECU, it has been reported that B.J. Tyson will not play Sunday after sustaining a shoulder injury against Tulsa and Caleb White may not play due to an injury as well.

In a season chock-full of injuries, Lebo said he hasn’t seen a team deal with this many in a while.

“We’ve endured a lot, we had a broken nose (Tuesday) with Chuck (Foster),” Lebo said. “With B.J. now, it’s unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. So they’ve endured a lot, they’re fighting and clawing and we’re still doing some good things.”

The duo provides over 40 percent of ECU’s offense and would be sorely missed by the Pirates. ECU may have to turn to third scoring option Kentrell Barkley (9.2 points per game) to lead the offense. The freshman reached double figures again in the Tulsa matchup and his assist numbers have been rising.

Sunday’s game will be a difficult time.