ECU faces Wichita State in AAC tourney
No. 11 seed East Carolina (10-20, 3-15) vs. No. 6 seed Wichita State (17-13, 10-8)
American Athletic Conference Tournament First Round, FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee; Thursday, 9 p.m. EDT
BOTTOM LINE: East Carolina is set to meet Wichita State in the opening round of the AAC tournament. Wichita State swept the two-game regular season series. The teams last played on March 5, when the Shockers shot 39.1 percent from the field while limiting East Carolina to just 35.6 percent en route to a 72-55 victory.
SQUAD LEADERSHIP: Wichita State’s Markis McDuffie has averaged 17.9 points and 4.9 rebounds while Samajae Haynes-Jones has put up 12.2 points. For the Pirates, Jayden Gardner has averaged 16.3 points and 8.5 rebounds while Seth LeDay has put up 10.6 points and 5.6 rebounds.
OFFENSIVE THREAT: Isaac Fleming has directly created 58 percent of all East Carolina field goals over the last three games. The senior guard has 20 field goals and 25 assists in those games.
WINLESS WHEN: The Shockers are 0-8 when they score 62 points or fewer and 17-5 when they exceed 62 points. The Pirates are 0-11 when they fail to score more than 65 points and 10-9 on the season, otherwise.
ASSIST DISTRIBUTION: The Shockers have recently created buckets via assists more often than the Pirates. Wichita State has an assist on 47 of 78 field goals (60.3 percent) over its past three contests while East Carolina has assists on 38 of 78 field goals (48.7 percent) during its past three games.
BALL SECURITY: East Carolina’s offense has turned the ball over 13.4 times per game this year, but is averaging 9.7 turnovers over its last three games.
