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Notes, Quotes and Slants
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Pirate Notebook No. 166 Friday, January 2, 2004 By Denny O'Brien Staff Writer and Columnist

Pirates fortified for league gauntlet

©2004 Bonesville.net

Memories of the post-December collapse that extinguished East Carolina's postseason hopes last year still haunt Derrick Wiley.

After sprinting to a 10-2 start that included a historic home win over ninth-ranked Marquette, the Pirates were beginning to create some serious buzz about the NIT, even the NCAA Tournament.

Then came that nightmare performance at rival Charlotte that launched a string of four-consecutive losses from which ECU never recovered.

The Pirates went on to win only two of their last 15 games and failed to even qualify for the Conference USA tournament.

One year later, the Pirates find themselves in familiar territory at 8-1, but this time Wiley is confident of a happier ending.

"I know I've got a lot of confidence going into the conference (schedule)," Wiley said. "We've got Ole Miss Saturday and that's going to be a tough one. If we can win that one, it's going to be a big confidence booster going into the conference.

"That's all we've been waiting on since last year. We were really disappointed with the season we had last year, and that's what we've been waiting on. We've got to take advantage of it."

Wiley certainly is doing his part.

Heading into Saturday's important non-conference showdown at Ole Miss, he leads the Pirates in scoring at almost 17 points per game. In Tuesday night's blowout win over Radford, the senior forward turned in one of his better performances of the season with 26 points and six rebounds.

In addition to his contributions on the court, Wiley has become a leader in the locker room for a team that is focused on finishing strong this year.

"We are more determined," Wiley said. "We know what we've got to do.

"Everybody knows their role, and, on the court, we know who needs the ball at what spots. Everybody is coming together. Chemistry-wise, we've bonded more."

The Pirates do appear to have more balance.

Along with Wiley, senior forwards Gabriel Mikulas and Erroyl Bing both are averaging double figures in scoring. Center Moussa Badiane has made tremendous strides on offense and on the glass, and the young backcourt trio of Belton Rivers, Japhet McNeil, and Mike Cook have shown steady improvement.

It would seem that a repeat of last season is less likely, but Mikulas is taking nothing for granted.

"We were in the same position last year," Mikulas said. "Right now, we can't relax. We know that we've got tough games to play ahead.

"We've got to do a better job than we did last year. Right now we're playing pretty well — pretty good defense. We've got to keep doing it in the conference."

The improved effort, especially on defense, hasn't gone unnoticed by Bill Herrion.

"We're playing extremely hard and for 40 minutes," said ECU's 5th-year head coach after the win over the Highlanders. "I think in the past we've always been a team that kind of played hard in spurts, then we drop off, and then we would have to pick it back up again.

"I think right now it's a pretty consistent effort from this basketball team. Our defense has been very, very good. (Radford) had 21 points at the half. I think they shot 20 percent from the floor in the first half. We held them to 30 percent in the game."

For the season, ECU's opponents aren't fairing much better.

The Pirates' field goal percentage defense is among the nation's best at 35.7 percent. East Carolina's tough man-to-man pressure is forcing almost 20 turnovers per game, enabling the Pirates to get into transition.

The result has been solid production on the other end of the floor, something that was missing last season.

"When we guard tough and we rebound, we can run," Herrion said. "That's been a big part of our game this year offensively, is our ability to run the ball in transition and get lay-ups, get dunks, and get easy baskets.

"That's why we're shooting such a high percentage this year. We shot 52 percent (against Radford). We're shooting about 50 percent as a team through nine games because we're taking high-percentage shots. We're not taking a lot of threes."

So far, a flurry of flings from behind the arc hasn't been necessary.

With such a strong interior presence, East Carolina has been able to pound the ball inside against smaller foes. Quickness on the perimeter also enables the Pirates to attack the basket and dish to the open man.

That combination of size inside and speed on the perimeter was absent last year, but Herrion believes those are two areas in which the Pirates have made huge strides.

"I think we are a quicker basketball team this year than we've been," Herrion said. "I think we're a physically stronger basketball team top to bottom than we've been in the past. I think that's making a big difference.

"Last year, you look at our team — and I know we really struggled in January and February in conference play — but our field goal percent defense for the season was 40 percent. That's pretty good. We just had a dog of a time putting the ball in the basket. I think this year we just have a few more pieces out there offensively."

Herrion hopes it's enough to avoid another late-season meltdown.

"We're not going to know until we move on here in January and February," Herrion said. "I've said this from the beginning. We play in a very difficult league, and if we don't win non-conference games and try to get confidence and get our heads above water in November and December, this thing gets really tough in January and February. We all know that.

"...Last year we had to win in the non-conference just to prove we could get out of the gates. I think this year we thought, 'OK, we know we can win in the non-conference, now we're trying to build this team for January and February.'

"I just told the kids in the locker room to put the helmet on; put the chin strap on; put the mouthpiece in; put the shoulder pads on. It's coming, and hopefully we're going to be ready for it."

With an opening league slate that starts Wednesday with UAB, followed by a trip to Charlotte next Saturday and a visit from Louisville in less than two weeks, we'll know soon enough.

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02/23/2007 01:56:01 AM