DeAndre Kane was not supposed to run the point for Marshall this season. The plan was to utilize Kane along the wing and have freshman Kareem Canty dishing to Kane.
But when Canty was ruled ineligible by the NCAA, Kane transitioned to point guard and did so smoothly. Kane led Conference USA with 7.1 assists per game, which is good enough for eighth nationally. He’s also 10th in the league in scoring (14.9 points per game) and third in steals per game (1.8).
That effort caught the attention of the coaches around the league as Kane was named second-team all-conference.
The Pittsburgh native earned third-team honors as a freshman and was a named to the second-team last season.
While Kane’s individual numbers may be worthy of a first-team honor, The Herd’s collective body of work may have prevented that. Marshall heads into the C-USA tournament just 6-10 in the league and 13-18 overall after expectations were soaring coming into the year.
It’s also hard to argue with the first-team all-conference selections. Dwayne Davis of Southern Miss rained a career-high 35 points against Marshall this season. Tulane’s Josh Davis registered a league best 16 double-doubles and is the only player in C-USA to average a double-double. Joe Jackson of Memphis leads the Tigers scoring (13.8 ppg), assists (153) and steals (54) and is the only guard among the league’s top 10 in field-goal percentage. Isaiah Sykes of UCF recorded two triple-doubles this season, and Houston’s TaShawn Thomas averages 15.5 points per game.
Marshall will open play in the C-USA tournament Wednesday night at 9:30 against Tulane.