Evansville @ East Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 30, 2013 ) Evansville 58, East Carolina 81

East Carolina hopes to begin turning its season around at the Islands of the Bahamas Showcase this weekend, but it has a tough first-round opponent as the Pirates face giant-killer Evansville on Friday in Nassau. East Carolina will try to snap a three-game losing streak in the quarterfinals against the Purple Aces, who traveled to Rupp Arena earlier this month and beat then-No. 2 Kentucky 67-64.

The Pirates won their season opener against VMI before losing at Navy 62-57 and Appalachian State 68-62, then came home to get routed 77-57 by Liberty - another team in the Bahamas this weekend - last Saturday as they shot 38.5 percent from the floor. “They imposed their will from the beginning of the second half and all through the end,” East Carolina coach Joe Dooley told reporters after the loss. “(I’m) disappointed in our lack of ability to bounce back. I think that we gave up too many easy shots. … I thought they just dominated the second half. We had no answer, which was very embarrassing.” Evansville, coached by former Kentucky standout Walter McCarty, showed plenty of poise to knock off the Wildcats on Nov. 12 and followed that up with a win over an NAIA school before suffering a 59-57 loss to SMU at home on Monday. “They are all disappointed. I thought we had a good plan,” McCarty told reporters. “We just need to get back to who we are. … We all just need to really evaluate ourselves, our games and what makes us successful.”

TV: 8 p.m. ET, No TV

ABOUT EVANSVILLE (3-1): Sophomore forward DeAndre Williams recorded 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting in the loss against SMU and leads the team in scoring (17.8), rebounds (8.5), steals (1.5) and is shooting 64.4 percent from the field. Senior guard K.J. Riley scored a team-high 18 versus Kentucky and is averaging 11.5 to go along with 2.5 assists while junior guard Sam Cunliffe (10.5 points) scored 17 off the bench against the Wildcats. Artur Labinowicz is the fourth Purple Ace averaging in double figures scoring (10.3) and fellow junior guard Noah Frederking (8.0) scored a season-best 12 on Monday.

ABOUT EAST CAROLINA (1-3): Sophomore Jayden Gardner (team highs of 20.0 points, 9.3 rebounds per game) scored a season-high 28 in the win over VMI before the 6-7 forward nearly matched that with 26 against Liberty. Freshman forward Brandon Suggs is the only other player averaging in double figures scoring (11.0) after registering a season-best 13 last time out while freshman forward Tristen Newton (9.8 points, team-high 3.5 assists) scored 20 in the opener and 19 combined in three games since. Senior forward Seth LeDay (8.8 points) scored a season-high 20 against Appalachian State.

TIP-INS

1. The winner will take on either George Washington or Missouri-Kansas City in the next round on Saturday., while the losers will also match up Saturday.

2. The Purple Aces are connecting on 35.1 percent of their 3-pointers and the Pirates are at 28.4 percent from beyond the arc.

3. East Carolina’s 6-7 junior G Bitumba Baruti has blocked a team-high five shots - two against Liberty.

PREDICTION: Evansville 76, East Carolina 68