The Pirates have been remarkably consistent the last 4 seasons. They've won no fewer than 12 games and no more than 15 against D-I competition each season. They've won between 4 and 6 AAC games each of those years. And their final RPI has been between 214 and 223 in that stretch. So...they've been consistently bad, of course.

This season appears to bare similar resemblance given early results. ECU is off to a 2-4 start, with their 2 wins coming against unimpressive competition in Cleveland St. and Coppin St., who have a combined 1-10 record.

Sure, the Pirates will get a nice RPI bump based on the league the play in. The AAC has been the 7th or 8th toughest league based on RPI in each of the past 3 seasons. But that won't fool anybody; this is a bad program under Jeff Lebo.

None of that matters much on Thursday night, however, as ECU always gets up for games against UNCW. The last time the Seahawks visited Minges Coliseum back on December 16, 2015, UNCW was sitting at 5-1, and had a 5-point halftime lead on ECU. However, the Pirates took advantage of foul trouble for the Seahawks and got to the line 51 times (compared to 21 for UNCW), coming back to win ugly by a 78-73 score.

Sure, the Seahawks exacted some measure of revenge with an 81-71 victory at Trask last season. But coming off a pair of losses in Savannah, losing again in Minges just can't happen.

Much like last year, ECU are led by senior shooting guard B.J. Tyson, who leads the team in scoring (14.5 ppg), three-pointers made (12), free throw shooting (21-23, .913), and minutes (34.0).

In supporting roles are junior point guard Isaac Fleming and junior wing Kentrell Barkley. Fleming sports a 1.52 A:TO ratio to go along with his 12 points per game, while the 6-5 Barkley, the # 2 scorer at 13.2 ppg, has operated as a slasher, sporting a .500 field goal percentage on the young season while also adding 5.2 rebounds and 2.7 assists per contest.

In the post are a freshman, 6-8 Serbian Dimitri Spasojevic, and 6-10 senior Jabari Craig. Both have started all 6 games and are averaging 6.0 rebounds per contest, and Craig has also added 1.0 blocks per game as the primary rim protector. He will be a very interesting opponent for Cacok in the post.

Turnovers, much like in years past for ECU, have represented the biggest problem for the Pirates this season. As a team, ECU are averaging 15.3 turnovers per contest, while opponents have only turned it over 12.8 times per game. ECU also commits a hefty 21.5 fouls per game, with Craig and Fleming being the biggest offenders there. Also, outside of Tyson, ECU doesn't have much consistency beyond the arc, as ECU's other shooters are just 23-83 (.277) from the perimeter.