GREENVILLE, N.C. — Coach Ruffin McNeill doesn’t care about impressing the committee that will decide if No. 18 East Carolina deserves a major bowl berth.

“We just want to win by one,” McNeill said, “and get up out of there.”

That’s not far from what happened Thursday night against Connecticut.

The Pirates needed a strong fourth quarter ”“ and another huge performance from Shane Carden ”“ to pull away from the pesky Huskies, 31-21.

Carden threw for a season-high 445 yards ”“ his seventh career 400-yard performance ”“ on 38-of-64 passing, and Breon Allen ran for two touchdowns.

They helped the Pirates (6-1, 3-0 American Athletic Conference) sidestep a major upset bid by four-touchdown-underdog UConn (1-6, 0-4) in East Carolina’s first prime-time, weeknight showcase game in its new league.

“We understand we’re going to take everybody’s best shot,” Carden said. “We want to win games, and that was a win.”

Warren Harvey kicked the go-ahead 31-yard field goal with 6:15 left, Carden threw touchdown passes of 13 yards to Justin Hardy and 10 yards to Bryce Williams, and Allen scored on runs of 1 and 9 yards.

Chandler Whitmer was 18 of 30 for a season-high 303 yards with two tying touchdown passes in the third quarter after rushing for a short score for the Huskies.

“There are no moral victories,” first-year UConn coach Bob Diaco said. “We didn’t come here to play well. We came here to win a football game, and we didn’t.”

Carden started the Pirates’ go-ahead drive with a 30-yard throw to Hardy one play before Allen’s 23-yard run to the 12. When that drive stalled, Harvey ”“ who earlier missed from 33 yards ”“ kicked his field goal to make it 24-21.