A season of countless ups and downs for the East Carolina men’s basketball team comes to a close Thursday on the road against Old Dominion.

Following the two-year contract extension of head coach Jeff Lebo last week, the Pirates are 1-1 with a big Senior Night win against cross-state rival Charlotte, followed by a poor shooting performance against Marshall in a loss on Sunday.

With a win, the Pirates would lock up their second winning season in the last three years under Lebo. It’s a respectable accomplishment, especially considering the last time ECU posted a winning record prior to Lebo’s hiring was during the 1996-1997 season under former head coach Joe Dooley (now at Florida Gulf Coast).

Despite ODU’s 14-16 record, they have managed to make some noise in the Conference USA, sitting around the middle of the table with an 8-7-conference record. ECU dropped the conference opener to the Monarchs back in January, as the team shot a mundane 40 percent from the floor.

This time around, the Pirates will need to find a way to contain red-hot guard Aaron Bacote, who is averaging 22 points per game over his last three contests. The Monarchs’ sophomore had 18 points and was a perfect 8-for-8 from the line the first time these teams matched up.

For the Pirates, much of the offensive burden will fall on 6-foot-7 forward Caleb White. White, one of the most coveted prospects to don the purple and gold in the last 10 years, has been playing like a four-year veteran of late. The freshman phenom is averaging 15.2 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in his last five outings.

Senior leader Akeem Richmond’s perimeter shooting percentage has been the X-factor for Lebo’s offense for most of the season. Richmond leads the Pirates in scoring, averaging 18.3 points per game, and is currently second only to Oakland’s Travis Bader in three-pointers made with 138.

On the other side of the floor, poor rebounding is to blame for the Pirates’ 5-10 conference record, and it’s an area Lebo will have to address heading into next week’s C-USA tournament. With so many teams tied in the C-USA, an ECU victory on Thursday could move them up in the standings and earn them a significantly higher seed, possibly even a bye, in the conference tournament.