NT MBB at ECU Preview
North Texas on the road vs a mediocre AAC Team
We expected a win over lowly Rice — I know some people were hyping that squad but we weren’t — and we got it. ECU is not a great squad, but every opponent deserves respect. They have scholarship players, and so the staff and team should respect them. You and I? Well, we don’t have to.
Again, I like basketball and will enjoy watching basketball. Let’s look at the matchup.
The Basics
Location: Mignes Coliseum | Greenville, NC (7,100) | 6:pm CT ESPN +
Matchup Info:
UNT form: WWWLW
ECU form: LLLWL
UNT 2-1 in AAC
ECU 1-3 in AAC
Rankings:
Kenpom: UNT 62 ECU 169
EvanMiya: UNT 69 ECU 182
Spread -3 NT
Basic Stats:
Advanced Stats: https://kenpom.com/gameprep.php?g=2824
About ECU
East Carolina, like most teams nowadays, has a transfer heavy squad. They are led by RJ Felton from Aiken S.C.. They lost to Memphis on the road, after starting the game down 3-11, they lost 70-74. Not a terrible performance. That said, they have some very questionable losses (8 total) on their resume. This is a squad that can do damage if you let them, but should be handled by good teams. That said, Miya has them playing better than normal against good teams. Yes, they are one of those teams.
Defensively, they sat in a zone vs Memphis — to my eyes it was between a 2-3 and a 3-2 matchup zone depending on the situation. Memphis handled that very well early, and bullied their way to easy shots. Offensively, they run a 4-1 offense with undersized big CJ Walker (14) inside. He has solid moves for guy in that spot, but doesn’t score with a ton of efficiency. He can step out and shoot the ball, but also will turn the ball over (four vs Memphis). All in all, a good player but playing out of position for this squad. He gets a lot of points from the line.
RJ Felton has good size (6’3”) and can accelerate toward the hoop with speed. He can also shoot the ball a little, but likes to attack to get on the post. He flew in for some offensive rebounds vs Memphis where he was beating lazy blockouts. He’s an athlete.
The rest of the squad are seemingly interchangeable guys all around the same size and ability. They like to spread the floor and attack the basketball on drive-and-kicks, with a little stand-still shooting. Memphis pressed them a bit, but got some easy turnovers.
Some Things To Look For
Again, I think we put our best on-ball defenders on Felton and Farell, and let the rest of the stifling NT defense get stops as part of the normal offense. ECU played a lot of zone vs Memphis but I am unsure if that was a game-plan thing or not. NT can struggle with some zone sometimes, but also has a lot of players that can score from half-spaces. Lorient can also jump over some of these dudes and clean that up.
ECU will feel good about a close loss vs Memphis, but the Tigers controlled that game throughout and weren’t really challenged. North Texas is top-to-bottom a better team but can easily struggle here if they don’t meet the physicality and aggression.
CJ Walker can make some things happen just by being an active guy, but NT handled both Memphis’ bigs well, and Rice’s size also. I can see Sissoko and Lorient neutralizing Walker, but if either is struggling getting Newell out there is probably too much for him.
ECU was able to push the pace a few times and get some transition fouls. They have guys that can run, so handling the ball — a strength for NT — is still key.
Enjoy the game folks.