Coppin St. @ East Carolina preview

After a disastrous preseason, East Carolina opens it campaign Sunday against Coppin State minus three players. The Pirates dismissed starting point guard Jeremy Sheppard and key reserve Raquan Wilkins because of a violation of team rules and found out late this week that Virginia Tech transfer Seth LeDay was not cleared by the NCAA.

Sheppard, a sophomore, became the Pirates’ starting point guard early last season and finished fourth in scoring at 9.2 points per game while dishing out a team-high 3.5 assists. Wilkins was expected to see plenty of time off the bench while LeDay was a wildcard who began his collegiate career at a pair of junior colleges two years ago. Coppin State will be looking to bounce back after a dismal coaching debut for Juan Dixon. The former Maryland and NBA standout, who coached the University of the District of Columbia women's team last year, watched his team fall behind 42-14 at the half in a 70-54 loss at Oregon on Friday.

TV: 5 p.m. ET, No TV

ABOUT COPPIN STATE (0-1): With a strong reputation, Dixon should be able to turn things around at Coppin State soon, but the Eagles were picked to finish 12th of 13 teams in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference preseason poll after going 8-24 in 2016-17. Sophomore guard Dejuan Clayton is back to pace the offense after finishing second on the team in scoring at 12.4 points last year. Tre' Thomas, who averaged 9.8 points last season, and Clayton each scored 13 points against Oregon.

ABOUT EAST CAROLINA (2016-17: 15-18): This is not the way Jeff Lebo envisioned starting the season. The Pirates finished 334th among the 347 Division I teams in the nation in scoring last season and that was with Sheppard, who earned a spot on the American Athletic Conference All-Rookie team. Look for B.J. Tyson to man the point once again after moving to the shooting guard spot last season, where he averaged 9.6 points and 2.9 rebounds.

TIP-INS

1. G Kentrell Barkley averaged team highs of 13.2 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Pirates last season.

2. East Carolina was voted to finish 11th in the 12-team AAC preseason poll.

3. The Pirates also lost four big men to graduation including Andre Washington, who blocked 95 shots last season.

PREDICTION: East Carolina 70, Coppin State 65