HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Surprising the Cam Henderson Center crowd by taking the floor in black uniforms, the Herd also stunned Western Kentucky, blasting the Hilltoppers 94-76 Sunday afternoon.
It was the most complete game Marshall has played all season as WKU struggled to defend the Herd’s pick and roll and prevent the Herd from connecting from behind the three-point line. Marshall made 11 three-pointers in the game while taking advantage of WKU mistakes. Marshall scored 39 points off 20 Hilltopper turnovers on the afternoon.
“It’s one game; you can’t get too excited,” Coach Dan D’Antoni said. “But we played well, and defensively we got after it. Hopefully we can build on this. But when you move the ball and you make shots, it all works together.”
James Kelly registered a double-double, registering 27 points and 11 rebounds.
“No question, our offense is set up with spreading the floor, ball movement and pace,” D’Antoni said. “And once that starts happening, the ball movement, then what we preach is take a shot that you make whenever, wherever, and I thought we did a nice job.
“James Kelly rolling down the middle, you better honor that and if you don’t, there are four lobs early. And once you start doing that then the defense starts going down and then you shoot threes. And then they adjust to threes, and you go back in so pick your poison.”
Entering the game, Marshall had struggled shooting outside, shooting just 28.2 percent from three-point range. Sunday, Marshall made 11-of-30 and was able to work the ball inside, shooting nearly 64 percent on two-point field goals.
“Going in, we knew Western Kentucky was a good team,” Elmore said. “They’ve got a great program, great history (23 NCAA Tournament berths, with 19 wins). But the past couple of days (in practice) we just nailed it ourselves on defense.”
Marshall’s next two games are at home against Florida Atlantic on Thursday and FIU on Saturday before facing four contests on the road at North Texas, Rice, Charlotte and Old Dominion.