Pirates’ point guard in the spirit of giving

East Carolina’s men’s basketball team has the best set-up man in the game.

Sophomore point guard Brock Young took the NCAA Division I lead in total assists (59) and assists per game (8.4) after dishing out a career-high 12 helpers in ECU’s 99-85 victory at UNC Wilmington Wednesday night. The 5-foot-11 Raleigh Broughton product was tied with North Carolina’s Ty Lawson for most assists heading into Wednesday night’s games with 47 each. Lawson had eight assists in UNC’s 98-63 win over Michigan State.

“Brock is really growing up,” second-year Pirate head coach Mack McCarthy said after ECU’s second consecutive road victory pushed its record to 6-1 this season. “Last year was perfect for Brock. He got to play in games, but if he wasn’t playing well, we could take him out because we had a senior (Darrell Jenkins) at that spot. He had the perfect freshman year to set him up to take over the team. He’s starting to recognize when to force the action and when not to.”

Young’s emergence as a genuine floor leader, along with strong starts by leading scorers Sam Hinnant (18.3 points per game) and James Legan (16 ppg), has helped the Pirates rise to the top of the Conference USA standings in several offensive categories.

ECU leads the league in assists (19 per game), field goal percentage (47.3) and 3-point field goals made per game (8.7). The Pirates are also second in scoring (82.4 points per game) and assist to turnover ratio (1.56 assists for every giveaway) while holding the third spot in scoring margin (plus 12.3 points per game) and 3-point field goal percentage (35.9).

Coach or fan?

With both East Carolina and UNCW scoring on nearly every offensive possession early in the first half of Wednesday’s game, McCarthy said being a spectator would have suited him just fine. At least some of the time.

“There were times when I wished I was a fan instead of a coach,” McCarthy said. “As a coach, I couldn’t keep up. As a fan, I would have just sat back and enjoyed it. It had to be great for television.”

Abrams’ emergence

After getting off to a slow start this season, sophomore swingman Jamar Abrams had one of his best games in a Pirate uniform against the Seahawks, tying a career high with 18 points in 32 minutes of play. Plagued by foul trouble in several games — he’s second on the team in fouls with 20 — and just not finding any type of groove in others, Abrams had been waiting for a breakout game.

McCarthy was waiting for it too.

“He’s capable of that kind of game,” McCarthy said. “He can become a complete player. It’s not going to happen overnight, but he’s a great kid and he continues to work really hard at his game. He probably works as hard as anybody on our team.”

Contact Tony Castleberry at tcastleberry@coxnc.com or (252) 329-9591.