GREENVILLE, NC – Friday served as an outlier for North Carolina A&T men's basketball seven games into the 2024-25 season. The Aggies have been competitive in every game this season, have proven they score the basketball with the best of them and have clamped down on defense in crucial moments.
None of that happened at East Carolina University's (ECU) Minges Coliseum on Friday as the ECU Pirates defeated A&T 93-69. It marked the largest margin of defeat for the Aggies this season as the Pirates shot 52.4 percent during the game, including 56.3 percent in the first half to improve to 7-1.
Meanwhile, the Aggies failed to score 80 points for the first time in four games, shooting 38.8 percent as they dropped to 3-4 on the season.
"When you are playing a team that strong, that athletic, and that experienced, a premium has to be placed on playing together and moving the basketball," said A&T head coach Monté Ross. "That's what we didn't do a great job of tonight in terms of just moving the basketball and making the defense move before you attack. We tried to attack before we got the movement."
Despite ECU's hot shooting, the Aggies stayed close to the Pirates throughout the first half. After falling behind 26-12 over the game's first 11 minutes, the Aggies outscored the Pirates 16-7 over the next five minutes as a Ryan Forrest 3-pointer cut the Pirates lead to 33-28 with 3:44 remaining in the first half.
However, the Pirates ended the half on an 11-5 run that included a 3-pointer at the buzzer by RJ Felton to send the Pirates into the locker room leading 44-33 at halftime.
"It was their athleticism and strength that got us and took us out of some things," said Ross.
A&T got to within eight, 47-39, over the first two minutes of the second half on a Landon Glasper 3-pointer. The Pirates scored the next four points before the Aggies got to the free throw line for the first time, 23 ½ minutes into the game. Forrest made one of two free throws to make it a 51-40 ballgame in favor of ECU.
ECU had a response as Felton drove to the basket and scored, appearing to use his off-arm to do so. That led to a technical foul on the Aggies bench, giving the Pirates two free throws. Cam Hayes hit both free throws from the tech, and CJ Walker made two more free throws coming out of the media timeout to give ECU a 57-40 advantage.
The Aggies never recovered. The Pirates led by as many as 33 before the game ended. Walker led ECU with 23 points on 9-for-13 shooting.
Forrest posted 25 points on 8-for-10 shooting from the foul line. Glasper had 16 points, six rebounds, and five assists. Nikolaos Chitikoudis had eight points and nine rebounds. The Aggies will enter Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play for a brief moment as they travel to Hampton, Va., to face traditional HBCU rival Hampton at 7 p.m., Tuesday, December 3, from the Convocation Center.
"We are seven games in, and that was the first time all season where we got punched in the mouth, and we sort of splintered. We didn't stay together in the way that we needed to," said Ross. "I have to do a better job of making sure we do that. We are okay when things are going well. But we got hit with some adversity tonight, and I didn't like our response."
