McCarthy leads Pirates against former school on Tuesday night

VCU visits Williams Arena-Minges Coliseum for 7 p.m. tip-off tonight

East Carolina will conclude its five-game homestand to start the season when it hosts Coach Mack McCarthy’s former school, VCU, tonight.

McCarthy, who is in his second year at the helm of the Pirates’ program, led the Rams for five seasons from 1998 through 2002 after taking over for his mentor Sonny Smith. He compiled a 66-55 record during his time in Richmond—including a 21-11 mark during his final season.

The Pirates and Rams were conference brethren from 1996 to 2001 when the schools were members of the Colonial Athletic Association. VCU holds a 15-6 lead in the all-time series, but ECU did win the last meeting when it collected an 87-84 overtime win in Greenville back in January of 2001. The Pirates are 4-5 against the Rams in Minges Coliseum.

The Rams (2-1), who are most people’s preseason pick to win the CAA, suffered their first loss of the year on Saturday when they lost a 92-86 nail-biter to Rhode Island—who had nearly upset Duke at Cameron Indoor days earlier. VCU’s victories were against The Citadel (82-59) and South Dakota State (72-56).

Anthony Grant, who is in his third season as head coach, has a 52-15 record at the Richmond school. In Grant’s first year, the Rams finished 28-7 and earned a No. 11 seed in the NCAA tournament where they defeated Duke in the opening round. Last season, VCU won the regular season CAA title and concluded the year 24-8 after a trip to the NIT.

Senior point guard Eric Maynor, who hails from Fayetteville, NC, is the reigning CAA Player of the Year. Maynor, who is projected to repeat as the award’s recipient this season, leads the team with 21 points and 6.7 assists per game. Against Rhode Island, he had 22 points and eight assists; however, he did commit ten turnovers. Maynor’s dad, George, lettered in hoops for ECU during the 1979-80 campaign.

T.J. Gwynn, a 6’4” junior forward, also averages in double figures with 10.7 points per contest. He has made all 13 of his field goal attempts.

Maynor receives help in the backcourt from sophomore Joey Rodriguez (5’10”, 170) and freshman Bradford Burgess (6’5”, 207). Rodriguez had 14 points versus URI while Burgess had 11. Burgess averages nine points and 4.3 boards.

Junior Kirill Pishchalnikov (6’8”, 248) and sophomore Larry Sanders (6’10”, 220) provide size on the interior. Pishchalnikov is a hard-nosed player, who produces six points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Sanders logs 15 minutes per contest and averages five points and four boards.

Like the Rams, the Pirates (3-1) are also attempting to rebound from their first loss of 2008-2009 as they dropped a see-saw 77-71 decision to George Mason on Saturday evening.

ECU’s guard-oriented attack is led by the team’s lone seniors in Sam Hinnant and James Legan. Hinnant, who averages 19.5 points per game, scored a season-high 27 against the Patriots when he played all 40 minutes. He has diversified his game, which is reflected by him averaging 4.5 assists per game and getting to the free throw line much more frequently. Hinnant, who is already one of East Carolina’s top five three-point shooters in its history, can move into a tie for fourth with Othello Meadows with six more trifectas. Legan is averaging 15.3 points and four boards.

Sophomore point guard Brock Young, who tallied a career-high ten assists against Mason, has done a good job leading the Pirates. Young yields nine points and eight assists per game.

The lack of experience in the frontcourt was a real cause for concern for coach Mack McCarthy and his staff. However, the Pirates’ coach is pleased with what he has seen from the trio of Chad Wynn, Darrius Morrow and DaQuan Joyner although he would like to see them to continue to increase their consistency and aggressiveness.

Wynn averages 10.3 points, but only 3.5 rebounds. Darrius Morrow has really impressed in his first four games in the purple and gold. The true freshman from Atlanta is putting up 8.5 points and pulling down 7.3 rebounds. He posted his first career double-double in game two against St. Andrews when he had 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sophomore DaQuan Joyner, who saw very limited action last season, is producing 5.8 points and 2.3 boards. However, he is battling an ankle injury and was less than 50 percent on Monday.

The Pirates would like to receive more point production from sophomore swing man Jamar Abrams, who averages 5.3 points per contest. However, he has rebounded the basketball very well to date. After having ten boards against GMU, he is averaging 6.8 for the season.

While McCarthy is pleased with the progress made, he continues to stress the need for continued improvement on the glass and defensive end.

ECU vs VCU Final Analysis & Prediction

Mack McCarthy and Anthony Grant are anxious to see how their teams will respond to their initial loss of the season.

Despite many unknowns and not much experience, McCarthy’s Pirates have been impressive to date. They have shown much improvement—even in their loss to George Mason.

VCU has been one of the winningest programs in the country the past two seasons.

For ECU to garner the big non-conference win, it should try to exploit the Rams down low. They allowed 56 points in the paint so Wynn, Morrow and Joyner could have big games. However, Hinnant and Legan will need to play with the same consistency they have to date as well.

Defensively, they must manage to at least slow down Eric Maynor. VCU’s offense runs through their lone senior.

VCU shoots the ball very well as a team so the Pirates will need to continue to shore up their defense.

This game could be much like the loss to George Mason in that the Pirates compete, but don’t make the necessary plays in the last ten minutes to pull out the win over a very good VCU team.