— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — A disappointing road trip is in the rearview mirror for Marshall, which hopes to recapture its winning ways on its home floor when a two-game home stand starts Saturday night against Duquesne at the Cam Henderson Center. The game tips off at 7 p.m. can be seen on ESPN+.
Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni was not happy with the play of his squad in Wednesday night’s 88-86 loss at Akron in which the Herd were outscored 5-0 by the Zips over the final 25 seconds.
Herd junior guard Taevion Kinsey led Marshall (4-3) with 30 points, followed by junior guard Andrew Taylor’s 26.
The road trip began with a 90-79 loss last Saturday at Indiana.
D’Antoni says he’s disappointed in his team’s lack of fight.
“That game wasn’t won or lost at the end of the game,” D’Antoni said. “That game was won or lost in the beginning of the game. We came out and we played sluggish, we played slow and we played soft. We can’t have those types of moments.”
D’Antoni’s postgame remarks were echoed by Kinsey.
“You’ve got to play with a fire from the beginning,” Kinsey said. “You’ve got to come out ready to play. We did not come out ready.
“Some energy has to change. Everybody needs to look at themselves in the mirror and figure out if they want to play this game. There’s got to be a fire.”
Duquesne is 3-5 on the season, losing at home on Wednesday to Bowling Green 78-70. The Dukes’ three wins came against Rider, Bradley and American. Besides Bowling Green, the Dukes suffered losses to Colorado, Weber State, Northeastern and Hofstra.
Keith Dambrot is in his fifth season leading the Dukes and has a 68-52 record in Pittsburgh. Dambrot has an 8-1 record against Marshall, going 7-0 against the Herd when he coached at Akron. He is 1-1 against the Thundering Herd at Duquesne.
The Dukes lead the all-time series with Marshall, 4-2. The teams last met in December 2019 in the Cleveland Classic, with the Herd coming away with an 83-61 victory.
Duquesne has four players who average double figure scoring, led by sophomore forward Kevin Easley Jr. (13.5 ppg). He’s joined in double figures by junior guard Leon Ayres (13.4 ppg), sophomore forward/center Tre Williams (12.1 ppg) and freshman guard Amir Spears (11.8 ppg). Williams and Easley are the Dukes’ top rebounders, each averaging nearly seven.
Duquesne shoots 40.5 percent from the field, 32.2 percent from the 3-point line and a respectable 71.5 percent from the free throw line.
Kinsey leads Marshall in scoring at 21.3 points per game. Other double figure scorers for Marshall include Taylor (14.1 ppg), freshman forward Obinna Anochili-Killen (12.3 ppg) and senior forward Darius George (12 ppg). Anochili-Killen leads Marshall in rebounding with 7.4 per game.
The Herd is outsourcing opponents by six points per game and shooting 46.7 percent from the field, but just 29.8 percent from the 3-point line.