— By David Walsh
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Marshall University men’s basketball coach Dan D’Antoni didn’t sound like a coach who just watched his team lose by 26 points.
Toledo put on a shooting clinic, especially from 3-point range, and gunned its way past the Thundering Herd, 96-70, Sunday afternoon in front of 5,645 stunned Marshall fans inside Cam Henderson Center.
“They’re awfully good,” D’Antoni said of the Rockets, a member of the Mid-American Conference like Marshall was until it left for Conference USA in 2005. “They shot the tar out of it early. We had chances to stay with them, we didn’t. They’re up 12 or 14 early and I didn’t like the look we had on our faces. I told them we can’t act like that.”
Toledo led from start to finish. Spencer Littleson’s first basket, a 3-pointer, at 19:42 proved to be a sign of things to come. The Rockets made 11 of 18 from behind the arc in the first half (14-of-25 for game) and raced to a 55-34 lead at intermission.
Toledo had 77 total points in the season-opening 79-77 loss Tuesday at Valparaiso University, and a 78-57 lead with 8:27 left in the game Sunday.
“I really didn’t expect to win by 26,” Toledo coach Ted Kowalczyk said. “On the road. We had one of those nights. We’re not 26 points better than that team. I’ve been there. You have some young guys, that happens.”
Toledo had six players in double figures led by Littleson’s 27. He made 6 of 8 three-pointers. Dylan Alderson followed with 17 (7 of 10 from the floor), Luke Knapke had 15, Marreon Jackson and Keshaun Saunders 12 each and Willie Jackson 10. Anderson and Jackson each had 10 rebounds double-doubles.
“He’s a really good shooter,” Kowalczyk said of Littleson. “When you have 4 or 5 guys shoot well, that opens things up for Spencer. We’re a very unselfish team.”
Marshall is back in action Friday night at Notre Dame. Tip is 7 p.m. As D’Antoni put it, the Herd has plenty to clean up by Friday. That game, like Sunday’s, is part of the Men Against Breast Cancer series.
“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” D’Antoni said. “Can’t do that against a good ball club. Assists (19-6 edge in Toledo’s favor). Remember we played last year on Jon’s (Jon Elmore, now playing in Europe) motor. Things won’t happen right away. I’m not worried. We’ve got some new faces. I see things to work on and get better. The young guys we have, they’ll season up.”
Toledo’s largest lead was 26 points (the final score). The Herd got within 14 at 63-49 on Jarrod West’s layup with 12:48 left. That’s as close as the home side would come.
West and Taevion Kinsey each had 20 points to lead the Herd.
“We gave them open shots and they made them,” West said. “They’ve got unselfish shooters. They have good mechanics, good form and good ball movement. They ran us out of our gym. It’s the first time we’ve been in a situation like this. Got it down to 14, thought we had a chance. Anything little we could do to get over the hump we didn’t.”
Kinsey agreed.
“Really no excuse,” he said. “Got to get in the gym and put up shots. Don’t fall then, won’t fall in a game. Coach said we panicked a little bit. Can’t make mistakes as bad as we did out of the gate. Put this behind us and go to the next game.”
Notre Dame is 1-1. The Irish lost at North Carolina in their opener (76-65), then knocked off Robert Morris on Saturday, 92-57. They face Howard at home Tuesday.