Pirates look to snap five-game skid against Southern Miss

East Carolina lost 78-76 in Hattiesburg on January 4th

East Carolina is currently in the midst of a five-game losing streak—its longest skid ever under second-year coach Jeff Lebo.

Slow starts, dismal rebounding, and inconsistent efforts from its shooting guards have been some of the major issues in the Pirates’ current downward spiral.

Now, ECU (9-9, 0-5) will face the challenging task of collecting its first league win against one of the league’s top teams in Southern Miss.

There is some good news besides the fact that the game will be played Greenville, and it’s that the Pirates were only a play or two away from capturing a win in Hattiesburg when the teams met in the league opener just three weeks ago (Southern Miss won 78-76 on January 4th). While ECU never led in that contest, it battled back from down 12 with just over 12 minutes left to tie the game.

The Pirates are led by junior point guard Miguel Paul. Paul, who averages team-highs in points (16.3) and assists (5.5), reached the 20-point plateau for the sixth time this season by tallying 23 points in his team’s loss at Houston on Saturday.

Shamarr Bowden and Erin Straughn provided some desperately needed scoring production against the Cougars. Bowden, who finished with 12 points on four trifectas, reached double figures for the first time in six games. Meanwhile, Straughn’s 12-point performance marked his first double figures’ outing in 11 contests.

Darrius Morrow and Maurice Kemp, who rank as the club’s second and third leading scorers, finished with just nine points apiece.

Defensively, East Carolina has surrendered at least 70 points in all five of its league games and opponents have scored 78 or more on three occasions.

Southern Miss (17-3, 4-1), which holds an 11-7 edge in the all-time series—including a mark of 5-4 in Greenville, is led by LaShay Page. The Golden Eagles, who are led by eighth year head coach Larry Eustachy, suffered their lone league loss at Memphis when the Tigers captured a two-point victory.

LaShay Page, who has knocked down a team-high 58 three’s while shooting just under 40 percent from behind the arc, produces 13.4 points while playing nearly 36 minutes per game.

Darnell Dodson, Maurice Bolden, Neil Watson, and Angelo Johnson also average in double figures for the Golden Eagles. Bolden produces a team-high 6.3 boards while Watson dishes out over four assists on average. Watson, the team’s point guard, also shoots 90 percent from the charity stripe. He is 90 of 100 on the season.