By By BRIAN HAINES
Sports Writer
GREENVILLE — The Pirates path towards their first Conference USA win of the season just got a little darker as they will have to trek forward without popular power forward Darrius Morrow and freshman guard Wakefield Ellison.
Morrow, who was named to the all-conference freshmen team last season, and is averaging 12.4 points per game and team-best 6.7 rebounds a night this year, has been suspended indefinitely after being arrested on Dec. 21 for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. Morrow has a court date set for Feb. 2.
Ellison has not been linked to Morrow’s troubles, but has violated team rules according to East Carolina University.
The Pirates have faced some of the best C-USA has to offer so far this season as they have lost to UAB, Marshall and Memphis, and will face Houston tonight at home at 7 p.m.
Houston currently sits at seventh place in the conference with an 8-7 (1-1) record, while Marshall occupies the top spot with a 14-2 (3-0) record. East Carolina is at the bottom of the standings with a 6-11 (0-3) record.
The Cougars come to town boasting one of the best players in the conference in Aubrey Coleman. The 6-4 senior guard currently leads Conference USA in scoring with 25 points per game, is 10th in rebounding with 7.1 boards a night and first in steals making 3.4 thefts per contest. Coleman will no doubt present the biggest challenge to the East Carolina defense.
If somehow the Pirates manage to contain Coleman, they must beware of his sidekick Kelvin Lewis. Like Coleman, Lewis is a 6-4 senior, and is third in the conference in scoring with a 17.4 points per game average.
Point guard Desmond Wade makes the offense flow and has done a nice job distributing the ball as his 5.9 assists per game average is second in the conference only to ECU’s Brock Young who is dishing out 6.2 assists a night.
The trio of Coleman, Lewis and Wade have helped Houston become the most prolific offense in C-USA as it tallies 84 points a game.
Young, who is the Pirates leading scorer as well as assist man, is seventh in the conference with 16.4 points per game, and will become the school’s all-time assist king with his next helper. Young heads into tonight’s matchup tied for first place with Travis Holcomb-Faye at 413 assists.
If the Pirates want to compete with the Cougars tonight they must find a way to make up for the production that will be missing from the absence of Morrow.
Shooting guard Jontae Sherrod, who is third on the team in scoring with 12.4 points per game, and forward Jamar Abrams, who is fourth on the team with 11.4 points per night, will have to find ways to add to those statistics. However, the burden of picking up the slack during Morrow’s suspension will fall heavily on junior center Chad Wynn.
Wynn and Morrow are the only two legitimate post players on the team, but now it will be solely up to Wynn to produce points in the paint and defend it as well.
Wynn has had a decent season so far as he is averaging 10.1 points per night to go along with his 6.1 rebounds.