BOCA RATON, Fla. – This season was going to be a learning experience for the Thundering Herd. Part of that process involved learning to put teams away in the second half.
It’s something Marshall is yet to master.
“Just can’t finish them. We can’t find people at the right place at the right times,” said coach Dan D’Antoni after the Herd lost their sixth straight game 76-62 at FAU.
Marshall (4-14, 0-5) built an 11-point advantage but FAU used a strong second half to pull away.
It’s the second straight game Marshall has lost a double-digit lead.
“We don’t feel sorry for ourselves,” D’Antoni said. “We’ve just got to come out and keep working hard and make sure we’re ready for the next game.”
Aleksa Nikcolic’s jumper at the 8:18 mark gave Marshall a 59-53 advantage. However, Marshall’s offense went stone cold again, converting just one field goal and a free throw for the remainder of the game.
“It’s our inability to score at the other end,” said D’Antoni. “We’re going to give up some, they have great shooters. So if you’re going to stay on the perimeter and keep their 3s down, which we were trying to do, we’re going to give up a little bit. We had to play a little bit one-on-one on the inside.”
D’Antoni said FAU wanted to limit Marshall’s outside chances by keeping Austin Loop closely guarded. That in turn, opened the door for Ryan Taylor to have a big night. Taylor finished with 24 points, one shy of his career high.
“He was getting the basket with them staying on the perimeter, once he got around his man there was nobody there,” explained D’Antoni. “That’s when they starting dropping the big guy down to help with Ryan Taylor. Jay missed about three three’s right in the same spot, wide open, because the big guy went down to stop Ryan.”
FAU’s Marquan Botley finished with 23 points, including 17 in the second half. Solomon Poole had 18, C.J. Turman notched 13 points and Kelvin Penn had 12.
Poole had the hot hand in the first half for the Owls, netting 11 points on three 3-pointers.
Marshall returns to the Henderson Center for a Thursday-Saturday homestand against Texas-San Antonio and UTEP.