6:00pm: Sportsline with Tony Caridi

West, Miladinovic honored by Conference USA

— By Bill Cornwell

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall’s men’s basketball team garnered Conference USA’s weekly honors to end 2019.

The Herd swept league honors following Sunday’s 83-61 win over Duquesne in the Cleveland Classic. Junior guard Jarrod West was named C-USA’s Player of the Week and center Goran Miladinovic was the league’s Freshman of the Week.

West had another impactful performance in the Duquesne game with 22 points, a game-high six assists and four rebounds in the win. He went 7-for-13 from the field and made 4-of-6 attempts from beyond the arc. The contest marked West’s third game of 20 or more points this season and fifth game with five or more assists in the current campaign.

Miladinovic had eight points and eight rebounds to help the Herd beat the Dukes. Miladinovic’s eight rebounds tied a career high and helped Marshall outrebound the Dukes 43-37.

Last week, point guard Andrew Taylor won  Conference USA Freshman of the Week honor after debuting in a win over Morehead State, his first game at MU after transferring from Furman. Taylor started all three games in his first week of action, averaging more than 30 minutes, 16 points and 4.3 rebounds, while dishing out 12 assists and recording 10 steals. 

The guard’s initial week was highlighted in a loss at Northern Iowa as he poured in 27 points, grabbed five rebounds, dished out four assists and recorded four steals. He began his collegiate career with a 13-point performance at Morehead State where he also had three steals.

— — — 

With the Duquesne win in Marshall’s rearview mirror, the Herd now prepares for Conference USA play for the remainder of the regular season.

Marshall opens the league season with a pair of home games — Thursday’s 7 p.m. matchup against Rice, followed by Saturday’s 2 p.m. contest against North Texas.

The Owls enter Thursday’s meeting 8-5 and off a 75-61 Sunday home loss to Sam Houston State.

Rice has had wins this year over Penn, Cal-Santa Barbara, Milwaukee and East Carolina and losses to rival Houston, Arkansas and highly-regarded Liberty.

Sophomore guard Trey Murphy III is the Owls’ leading scorer at 13.8 per game and sophomore guard/forward Drew Peterson is the top rebounder at seven per game.

Rice is coached by Scott Pera, who is in his third year with the Owls.

North Texas enters C-USA play with a record identical to Marshall’s at 6-7. The Mean Green’s best wins came against North Carolina A&T, Texas-Arlington and Little Rock, while losses have come to quality opponents such as Arkansas, Rhode Island, VCU, Eastern Michigan, Dayton, Oklahoma and Utah State.

The Mean Green is led in scoring by sophomore guard Umoja Gibson at 14.5 points per game and junior guard Javion Hamlet at 10 points per contest. Graduate student Deng Geu is the team’s top rebounder at 6.8 per game.

Head coach Grant McCasland is in his third year in Denton, Texas. Before coming to lead the Mean Green, he was the head coach at Arkansas State and an assistant to Scott Drew at Baylor.





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