Houston @ East Carolina preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 27, 2019 ) Houston 99, East Carolina 65

Houston will look to extend its winning streak to five games Wednesday when the 20th-ranked Cougars visit East Carolina in the only matchup between the schools during the American Athletic Conference regular season. The calling card of the Cougars has been their dominance on the glass and they used a 37-32 advantage on the boards Sunday – their 20th consecutive game outrebounding their opponent - to propel them to a 68-49 victory over South Florida.

The offense wasn’t at its best for the Cougars on Sunday but they earned their victory by turning the ball over just nine times after committing a season-high 19 Thursday when they squeaked out a 63-59 victory against Connecticut. “Sometimes we don’t shoot the ball well and it looks like we won’t play well, but that’s further from the truth,” Cougars coach Kelvin Sampson told reporters after his team went 5-for-21 from downtown Sunday. “We played good today and we didn’t make a lot of shots, but we did a lot of good things.” ECU snapped a three-game losing skid with an 81-62 victory over Tulane on Saturday thanks to a 27-point, 13-rebound effort from sophomore forward Jayden Gardner and junior guard J.J. Miles hitting a career-best seven triples off the bench en route to 21 points. “I love when (Miles) is making shots. It makes my assists totals go up,” Gardner told the media. “J.J. is a great shooter. He’s just going to keep getting better and more confident, and he’s going to keep being big-time for this program.”

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: ESPN3

ABOUT HOUSTON (16-4, 6-1 AAC): Junior point guard DeJon Jarreau knocked down 6-of-7 free throws Sunday on his way to a game-high 12 points while also dishing out six helpers – the 12th time this season he’s led his team in assists. “The other night (Jarreau) had seven turnovers and today he had one,” Sampson told the media. “I thought that he really tried to get better today from the other night. That’s a tribute to his character.” Junior forward Fabian White Jr. and redshirt freshman guard Caleb Mills each added 11 points and three rebounds Sunday while redshirt senior Chris Harris Jr. led the squad with eight boards and a pair of blocks.

ABOUT EAST CAROLINA (9-11, 3-4): The Pirates held a 40-19 halftime lead Saturday - their highest scoring first half of the season – and held the Green Wave to 28.3 percent shooting while forcing 10 turnovers in the first 20 minutes. Freshman guard Tristen Newton made his first start since Nov. 24 and celebrated by registering 13 points, seven boards and a team-best six assists on a night when his team combined for a season-high 22 helpers on 26 made field goals. Gardner leads the conference in scoring with 20.9 points per game (13th nationally) while the North Carolina native is first in the country in free throws attempted (171) and second in makes (129).

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Jarreau averaged 8.2 points per game in 13 non-conference games but is second on the squad with 12.9 points per game in seven AAC contests.

2. The Cougars have won the last eight meetings against the Pirates - the last three by an average of 43 points.

3. Entering Tuesday’s action, Houston sat first nationally with a 10.7 rebounding margin and was third in the country with 42.55 rebounds per game.

PREDICTION: Houston 80, ECU 64