East Carolina @ South Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Feb 11, 2017 ) East Carolina 57, South Florida 64

A pair of struggling offenses look to get back on track Wednesday when East Carolina travels to South Florida for an American Athletic Conference contest. Both teams were held to 39 points in their previous game.

East Carolina has opened up conference play with many issues on offense, averaging just 46 points in the first two games. The Pirates have converted 36-of-113 shot attempts from the floor (31.9 percent) and just 8-of-42 from 3-point range (19 percent) in losses to Central Florida and Tulsa. USF has shot equally as poor to start conference play while hitting on just 32-of-107 field goal attempts (29.9 percent) and 10-of-35 from behind the 3-point line (28.6 percent) in consecutive conference losses to Houston and SMU. The respective teams might not find the going much easier, as the Bulls enter the game fifth in scoring defense (68.2 percent) in the conference overall and East Carolina is sixth at 69.6.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN3

ABOUT EAST CAROLINA (6-7, 0-2 AAC): The Pirates come into the game leading the AAC in defending the 3-point line, holding opponents to 30.1 percent. East Carolina has held eight of 13 opponents this season to 32.0 percent or lower from behind the arc while four of the six victories for the Pirates this season have come when holding their opponent to under 30 percent from the 3-point line. Senior guard B.J. Tyson leads the team in scoring (15.5) and junior backcourt mate Isaac Fleming contributes 13.3 per contest.

ABOUT SOUTH FLORIDA (7-8, 0-2): As the season has progressed for the Bulls, coach Brian Gregory has tried to rely less on the team's three graduate transfers and give more minutes to the underclassmen. Freshman guards Justin Brown and David Collins are at the forefront of that after both reached the 15-point mark on Dec. 28 to become the first pair of true freshman to accomplish the feat in the same game for USF since at least 2002-03. Brown has hit on 20-of-54 shots from 3-point range and needs just four more made 3-pointers to break into the top 10 for most by a freshman in a single season for the Bulls.

TIP-INS

1. East Carolina looks to avoid a third 0-3 start to conference play in the four years since joining the AAC.

2. USF F Isaiah Manderson is averaging 12 points and 5.5 rebounds off the bench through the first two games of conference play.

3. Bulls leading scorer F Payton Banks (13.7) missed the past two games due to illness.

PREDICTION: South Florida 62, East Carolina 60