GAME NOTES: New American Athletic Conference foes meet on Saturday evening, as the East Carolina Pirates pay a visit to the Bulls of South Florida.

East Carolina opened its inaugural run in the AAC on New Year's Eve at home versus Tulane, and came up short in a 67-59 final. The loss stopped what had been a modest two-game win streak for the Pirates, and dropped their record on the season to an even 7-7. ECU is 0-3 in true road games this season, and 1-5 away from home all told when factoring in its 1-2 ledger in neutral-site affairs.

South Florida opened its league slate on Wednesday as well, and it too suffered a defeat in an 83-49 pasting at the hands of the SMU Mustangs in Dallas. The setback was the second straight and seventh in the last eight games for a squad that began the campaign at 5-1. The Bulls are 5-3 at home.

This bout marks the eighth all-time meeting between these two schools in men's basketball, East Carolina won the first three, and South Florida the last four, the most recent of which being an 81-67 final back on Nov. 24, 2007.

Paris Campbell scored 14 points off the bench for East Carolina in its recent loss to Tulane, outscoring each of the team's starters. Terry Whisnant and Caleb White tallied 12 and 11 points, respectively for the Pirates, who drained 10-of-19 3-point attempts en route to a 47.6 percent overall shooting effort. Unfortunately, the Green Wave were rolling along as they made good on 54.2 percent of their total shots, which included an 8-of-13 showing from beyond the arc. ECU committed 11 turnovers to only seven for Tulane.

East Carolina is averaging 70.0 ppg while allowing 67.5 ppg, and the team is being narrowly outshot (.443 to .442), but does a nice job defending the 3- pointer (.292). The Pirates boast three double-digit scorers and three others who net between 7.3 and 9.3 ppg, with White leading the way with his 13.5 ppg. B.J. Tyson and Whisnant turn in 13.1 ppg apiece. ECU is nearly dead even in both rebounding (+0.3) and turnover (+0.9) margin.

Poor play at both ends of the court has haunted South Florida recently, and such was the case in its AAC opener against SMU. The Bulls shot just 36.5 percent from the floor, missing 14 of their 16 3-point tries along the way, while permitting the Mustangs to convert 52 percent of their total shots, including 5-of-9 on 3-point launches. USF was outworked on the glass (37-28) and they were guilty of 17 turnovers. A 26-9 deficit at the free-throw line also played an integral role in the disappointing outcome for the Bulls, who got 12 points and eight rebounds from Chris Perry, and 11 points from reserve Bo Zeigler.

South Florida is scoring 68.2 ppg while surrendering 71.8 ppg, this despite outshooting its enemies .464 to .425. One of the main issues for the Bulls is the fact that they're knocking down only 28 percent of their 3-point tries. Additionally, they turn the ball over nearly 15 times per outing. Corey Allen, Jr. paces the team in scoring with 16.2 ppg, and he also leads the way with 25 steals. Perry is the only other double-digit scorer for USF, as he checks in with 12.8 ppg thanks to an impressive 51.8 percent shooting effort. Perry also spearheads the club's rebounding effort with 7.6 rpg, and he is the leading shot blocker with 19. Two others net at least 9.2 ppg, and Anthony Collins has dished out 83 assists.

Despite getting this game at home, the Bulls are struggling in a big way and they will be hard-pressed to put it all together against a decent East Carolina squad seeking to notch its first AAC win.