ECU to take on Camels

GREENVILLE — East Carolina’s extended early-season road trip continues today when the Pirates visit Campbell at 7 p.m.

Playing the second of seven straight games away from home, ECU (1-1) will try to apply the lessons learned during an 89-58 loss to much taller and more talented Wake Forest on Sunday in Greensboro.

The Pirates, who beat Campbell 86-65 last November, stand a much better chance against the Fighting Camels (1-0) than they did against the Deacons. Unlike Wake, which had four players 6 foot 11 or taller, Campbell doesn’t have a player taller than 6 foot 8.

ECU forward Darrius Morrow, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, said playing the Deacons early in the season was a good test.

“It’s going to really help us in the long run being able to score over bigger defenders,” he said.

The Pirates picked up a 77-60 win over UVa.-Wise in their home opener on Friday before venturing into the Atlantic Coast Conference. Campbell, which plays in the Atlantic Sun Conference, opened its season with a 76-52 home win over St. Andrews on Friday.

ECU shot 24.6 percent from the floor against the Deacons, who who were ranked 12th in the final Associated Press poll last season. Forward Jamar Abrams and guards Jontae Sherrod and Chris Turner went a combined 0-for-20.

“They’re all better than that,” third-year coach Mack McCarthy said Sunday. “But doing it at this speed against this level of competition, they have to know you can’t coast and go through the motions and get better. If this is a lesson that we learned, then it’ll be well worth what we went through today.”

The Pirates travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands this weekend for three tournament games, including Friday’s opener against No. 10 Tennessee. They visit UNC Greensboro and Charlotte before returning home to face Coker on Dec. 5. 

David Hall can be reached at 252-559-1086 or at dhall@freedomenc.com.