HUNTINGTON - The good news for Mack McCarthy, the most frequent visiting coach in Cam Henderson Center history: He will be able to find his way from the visitors' locker room to the floor.

The bad news for the East Carolina coach as he makes his 15th visit as a head coach? Potentially, just about everything else.

A quick background: In another era, McCarthy was the 12-year coach at Marshall's old Southern Conference archrival, Tennessee-Chattanooga, which meant an annual journey to Huntington in the 1980s and '90s.

After his subsequent stint at Virginia Commonwealth, he left coaching to serve as radio host and television analyst - including several MU games one season - and returned to coaching on the Georgia Tech women's staff in 2004-05. The next season, he took an assistant coaching job under Ricky Stokes at ECU - and with the Thundering Herd entering Conference USA, he returned to the opposite bench at the Henderson Center.

And the visitors' locker room, which eventually moved to MU's former digs in adjacent Gullickson Hall. McCarthy often joked about getting lost on the long, twisted route to the Henderson Center floor.

With impressive new quarters built for the Herd under the south stands, the visitors have been moved to the Herd's old room, constructed under the north stands in the 1990s. McCarthy is happy for the improvements, and not just for his own reasons.

"I'm glad they're investing in the program," he said this week.

McCarthy, in his third year at the Pirates' helm, isn't quite as glad for the timing of tonight's game, with tips off at 7. For one, ECU (7-15, 1-7) already has been spanked by Marshall at home en route to a tie for last place in C-USA.

For another, the Herd (15-7, 4-4) is smarting from its five-game losing streak, which includes last-minute losses to Alabama-Birmingham, Memphis and Tulsa.

"There's no question we're going to run into a hornet's nest," McCarthy said. "At the same time, we've lost a couple at home that we're really disappointed about, too. But it's always tough to play at the Henderson Center. I know they've lost some games, and even the ones they lost I know they've played really, really well."

Yes, the Herd did, at times.

Wednesday, the Herd put league co-leader Tulsa on the ropes, taking a 29-14 lead on the Golden Hurricane's home floor. Marshall led as late as the 1:25 mark in the game, 69-67, before yielding the final six points.

Against Memphis, it was a simple matter of free throws that did in the Herd. In the UAB game, it was an agonizing combination of factors, including a tough-angle runner by the Blazers' Aaron Johnson.

A play here, a play there ...

"I don't know if that one [at Tulsa] hurts any more than the others," said MU coach Donnie Jones. "Every loss gets harder, when you're right there and you don't close them."

The Herd hasn't won since Jan. 16, 89-79 over Tulane. The Pirates' lone league win also came over the Green Wave, 61-46 on Jan. 24, but since then, they have lost at home to fellow cellar-dweller Rice, 69-58, and to Central Florida, 67-56.

From the stat sheets, it's not hard to figure out the Pirates' most glaring symptom. For starters, they shot 31.1 percent against Rice a week ago.

Against UCF on Wednesday, Jamar Abrams scored 28, exactly half of the Pirates' points. Take out his 11-of-17 shooting performance and ECU didn't hit 30 percent.

Brock Young, the 5-foot-11 junior who has led Conference USA in assists for the last season and a half, shot a combined 7-of-33 in those contests. He leads the team in scoring, but his average has fallen to 14.6 points per game, and his turnover count of 101 already exceeds by eight his entire total in 30 games last season.

"It starts with him. He's the quarterback of the team," Jones said. "We really couldn't contain him down there; he had a career high in points [26]. We've really got to contain him and keep him under wraps, because he makes them go. He makes it easier for the other guys."

Young became the school's all-time assists leader Jan. 16 against Houston, and now has 440. But McCarthy is looking for him to spark an offensive turnaround.

"He had been scoring more, and he began to distribute the ball more and shoot less," McCarthy said. "Last game, he shot very poorly, and that's a concern - but we've all shot the ball poorly. We've faced some good defensive teams, but we haven't executed very well."

Jones wouldn't mind if his team reprised its 83-65 win Jan. 9 in Greenville, N.C. Chris Lutz, Damier Pitts and reserves Dago Pena and Cam Miller combined to go 11-of-19 from 3-point range, as the Herd kept the lead in double digits most of the second half.

Pitts will return after his second one-game suspension of the season, though Darryl Merthie will start again at point guard. Miller will miss at least two more weeks with his toe injury.

Tyler Wilkerson was held out of practice to rest his sprained ankle, but returned Friday and will play. Same goes for Shaquille Johnson, who is destined to wear a soft cast for the dislocated thumb on his non-shooting hand for the rest of the season.

It will be the second game back for Tirrell Baines, who played 12 minutes Wednesday, scoring three points and pulling down two rebounds.

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.