ECU Hoops Preview: Pirates travel to much-improved Tulsa for CUSA opener on Wednesday night

CUSA-fans.com has a new staff of team correspondents this fall to help bring you, the fan, more detailed Conference USA sports coverage. Today, our ECU Correspondent Thomas "Bubba" Rosenbaum previews the basketball game between East Carolina and Tulsa.

Ricky Stokes and Doug Wojcik are in their second seasons at East Carolina and Tulsa, respectively. Their teams will meet in the CUSA opener on Wednesday night at the Reynolds Center in Tulsa, OK. The game will tip off at 8:00 p.m. (EST).

Stokes and his staff are still in the early stages of a major building project. After an 8-20 season in year one, it was decided that a roster overhaul was needed. Those changes have not been reflected in a better record as the Pirates come in at 5-8 (which includes three Division II wins), but it is apparent that there is more athleticism and better basketball players in the program than there was a season ago. East Carolina fans must exercise patience with its staff and attempt to comprehend the magnitude of their building efforts.

At Tulsa, Wojcik seems to be well on his way to returning a proud program to its storied past. Historically, the Golden Hurricane has made it a habit of frequenting the postseason as they’ve made several strong showings in the NCAA tournament and the NIT. They achieved that success with some of college basketball’s most well known names—Nolan Richardson, Tubby Smith, Bill Self and Buzz Peterson—leading the way.

Last season, Wojcik’s club won only 11 games, but that was still a two-game improvement over 2004-2005. Tulsa has already nearly matched that total this year, as they enter with a strong 10-3 mark. Its most impressive triumph was an 18-point (75-57) victory over Oral Roberts, who had won at No. 3 Kansas earlier in the season. The Golden Hurricane’s losses have been against solid competition. TU dropped a 58-48 decision to Jeff Capel’s Oklahoma Sooners in Oklahoma City. Recently, they hung with the Arkansas Razorbacks (who just defeated #8 Alabama, 88-61) before falling 68-59 in Fayetteville.

This will be only the third time that these programs have met on the hardwood. The series is tied at 1-1. Last season’s meeting in Greenville, which the Pirates won 59-45 after leading by as many as 22, marked the first meeting since the initial game back during the 1984-85 campaign. East Carolina guard Sam Hinnant totaled 12 points and drained 3-of-8 from behind the arc in that game. Courtney Captain finished with 8 points while Jeremy Ingram was held scoreless in 18 minutes of action. Tulsa’s Brett McDade and Sam Mitchell tallied 8 points apiece while Charles Ramsdell had 5.

Tulsa uses a very balanced scoring attack to reach their 73.5 points per game average. The Golden Hurricane is shooting 45.5 percent from the floor and nearly 36 percent from three. TU is a good free throw shooting team and is connecting on 71.7 percent.

The Golden Hurricane is limiting opponents to only 60 points per game, less than 40 percent shooting from the floor and outrebounding them by eight boards a contest.

The roster features nice depth as it has nine players who are averaging more than 15 minutes and no one is playing more than 26.2 per contest.

Junior college transfer guard Rod Earls (6’2”, 194) leads the Golden Hurricane attack and is scoring 12.3 per game. He has also made more three-pointers than anyone else has on the team (28) while shooting a solid 41.2 percent from long range. Earls is the team’s top free throw shooter, as he is knocking down nearly 90 percent (42-47) from the stripe. He has started all 13 games thus far.

The other consistent starters have been Ben Uzoh, Charles Ramsdell, Calvin Walls and Brett McDade. Uzoh, the only player besides Earls who has started all 13 games, is averaging 9.9 points and 5.2 rebounds (tops on team) per contest. Ramsdell, a 6’10” center, is posting 9.3 points and is a perfect 17-of-17 from the line in his senior campaign. He receives help in the low post from junior college transfer Calvin Walls. Walls (6’7”, 235) is putting up 6.8 points and 4 boards per game. McDade, a 6’0” guard, has dished out a team-high 37 assists and is also averaging 5.8 points.

Post players sophomore Sam Mitchell (6’9”, 235) and freshman Jamel McLean (6’8”, 230) are a couple of the leading contributors off Wojcik’s deep bench. They are each shooting well over 60 percent from the floor (Mitchell is 26-of-39 and McLean is 33-of-52) and are both pulling down more than four rebounds every time out.

FOR EAST CAROLINA TO WIN, IT MUST:

• PLAY ITS MOST COMPLETE GAME OF THE SEASON - Only two of the Pirates’ five wins have been against Division I competition. They are also only 1-6 away from Williams Arena-Minges Coliseum. It will take their best effort to date if they’re going to pull the upset over a much-improved Tulsa team in the league opener.

• CAPITALIZE AT THE CHARITY STRIPE - Tulsa is the much better free throw shooting team in this match-up. It is shooting nearly 72 percent from the stripe while East Carolina is a horrific 57.1. For an offensively challenged team like ECU to win against superior competition anywhere, especially on the road, it has to make the most of these opportunities.