Dylan Johnson / ESPN Greenville
The ECU men’s basketball lost 72-55 at Wichita State on Tuesday night. ECU falls to 10-19 and 3-14 in AAC play. Wichita State has finished the season on an impressive run, going 8-2 in its last 10 games. The Shockers are now 16-13, 9-8 in the AAC, and only has a road game against Tulane remaining. It is the opposite of how ECU has played down the stretch, with the 3-14 conference record after going 7-5 in non-conference. Wichita State handled ECU this season, winning by 17 and 16 and by 33 points combined.
- Senior night: Tuesday night’s game was senior night for the Shockers and fittingly Wichita State’s senior guard Markus McDuffie carried the load. McDuffie scored 16 points and grabbed five rebounds.
- Rico Quinton: The freshman big man has not contributed much all season after dealing with an injury at the beginning of the year. Quinton played well against Wichita State, however, recording his first career double-double with a career-high 11 points and 10 rebounds in 27 minutes of play.
- End of the road: Mercifully ECU is done playing on the road this season. Well, almost. ECU finished the season 1-11 on the road this year, which dragged down the success of a team that actually is over .500 at Minges Coliseum. The reason for almost though, is that ECU will have to travel to Memphis for the first round of the AAC tournament on March 14.
- Isaac Fleming: Fleming continued his outstanding play of late, scoring 17 points and recording seven rebounds and four assists as well. Fleming has been playing aggressively, like someone who doesn’t have many games left. Fitting as Fleming’s last game will be ECU’s senior night on Sunday.
- Jayden Gardner: The star freshman was nowhere to be seen Tuesday night. While reigning AAC freshman-of-the-year Shawn Williams scored 12 points to continue his improved play down the stretch of the season, the presumptive winner of the award this year logged just five points in 35 minutes. Gardner is still the only player in the conference in the top 10 of points and rebounds but hasn’t been close to his play earlier in the season.
Now ECU’s senior day game will be on Sunday against UConn at 2 p.m. in Minges. It will be the last game for Fleming, as well as Addison Hill and Justice Obasohan, both who have gotten various amounts of playing time throughout the year.