What makes the loss even tougher for the Pirates (10-12, 1-8 American Athletic Conference) is that they led in some key statistics. They had a season-low nine turnovers, compared to the 18 committed by Tulsa (8-14, 4-5 AAC), and gathered 17 offensive rebounds, six more than the Golden Hurricane. The Pirates even made more shots, 33 to Tulsa’s 31, although they shot only 39.8 percent compared to the Golden Hurricane’s 50.8 percent. What swung the game in Tulsa’s favor was its free-throw advantage; Tulsa went 34-for-48 from the line, while ECU shot 19-for-30.
“When you get 20 more shots than your opponent gets, you expect good things to happen,” ECU head coach Heather Macy said.