By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — The contrast in East Carolina’s first two opponents is stark.
The Pirates opened up their season on Friday with a 77-60 win over the University of Virginia-Wise, a NAIA school with an enrollment of under 2,000.
Standing in the on deck circle is Wake Forest, an ACC school’s whose accolades are well known.
Last season Demon Deacons’ coach Dino Gaudio led his team to a 24-7 (11-5) record which was the second most wins in school history.
Wake Forest (1-0) was powered by two future first round draft picks in point guard Jeff Teague and forward James Johnson, and at one point held the No. 1 ranking in the country.
In their matchup last year, the Deacons crushed the Pirates in Greenville winning 94-54 and out-scored ECU 54-17 in the second half.
Teague led the way with 21 points, while center Chaz McFarland had 20 points and 14 boards.
The two teams will battle at a neutral site today when they tip-off at 2 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum.
While Teague and Johnson may be gone, perhaps the most talented person on last season’s team, freshman forward Al-Farouq Aminu, is coming into his own.
At 6-9, Aminu is a big small forward who possess tremendous athletic ability and tremendous versatility. In the 2008-09 season Aminu averaged 13 points and eight rebounds a night as the team’s third, and sometimes fourth option.
Reports out of Wake Forest say Aminu has gained some much-needed weight and improved his jump shot.
In the Deacons’ season-opening 76-56 win over Oral Roberts on Friday night Aminu netted 25 points while ripping down 13 boards.
Aminu and the 7-foot McFarland helped Wake hold a 51-25 advantage on the boards.
Replacing Teague at point guard is Ishmael Smith, who was a key backup last season.
Joining Smith, Aminu and McFarland in the starting lineup will likely be seven-foot F/C Tony Woods and 6-4 shooting guard L.D. Williams.
The Deacons starting five presents a tremendous challenge for ECU coach Mack McCarthy.
“We don’t really match up with them very well,” McCarthy said. “They have a couple of seven-footers inside with a couple of seven-footers sitting behind them. (Aminu) is a big small forward, then they got Williams on the wing who is an incredible athlete. They have a couple of big time point guards in Ish and (freshman) C.J. Harris. They are really, really talented and always well-coached.”
The Pirates will likely answer with a starting lineup of Brock Young, who had 12 points, nine assists and six boards in their opener against Wise, and Jontae Sherrod at the guard spots, while Jamar Abrams, Darrius Morrow and Chad Wynn are expected to start in the frontcourt.
Wynn had his first double-double of his career Friday when he tallied 16 points and 10 boards.