Cleveland St. @ East Carolina preview

East Carolina will try to rebound from a pair of embarrassing losses when it hosts Cleveland State on Monday night. The Pirates were beaten by previously winless Central Connecticut State on Friday 79-68.

East Carolina appeared as if it would be able to handle the dismissal of projected starting point guard Jeremy Sheppard by winning its first game handily. But they have dropped homes games to Radford and Central Connecticut while scoring an average of 67 points since. “We were offensively challenged, continued to not shoot the ball well, so we had to rely on getting a lot of stops,” East Carolina coach Jeff Lebo told reporters. The Vikings snapped a two-game skid to start the season by defeating Coppin State 80-56 on Friday.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN3

ABOUT CLEVELAND STATE (1-2): The Vikings rebounded from a 70-38 blowout against Rutgers to rout Coppin State in their first home game of the season. Kenny Carpenter scored 24 of his career-high 26 points in the first half, making six 3-pointers in the contest. Freshman forward Stefan Kenic, from Serbia, has a total of 25 points in the past two contests.
ABOUT EAST CAROLINA (1-2): The Pirates were one of the lowest-scoring teams in the nation last season and things may not be much different this campaign. Kentrell Barkley leads the team in scoring at 15.3 points per game and had 19 points against Central Connecticut. B.J. Tyson also scored 19 points against Central Conn., including 4-for-6 from 3-point range.

TIP-INS
1. East Carolina's point guard duo of Isaac Fleming and Shawn Williams combined to go 0-for-8 from 3-point range last game.
2. After outrebounding its first two foes, the Pirates were beaten on the boards 36-26 by Central Connecticut.
3. Cleveland State's 58.3 scoring average is the sixth-lowest among the 351 Division I teams in the nation.

PREDICTION: Cleveland State 70, East Carolina 65