— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Although Marshall nearly broke a month-long losing streak on Thursday night, the Herd struggled to score down the stretch against defending Conference USA champion North Texas, which walked away with a 69-65 win.
The Herd has now lost six straight games and hopes to end its extended streak of setbacks when welcoming Rice for a 7 p.m. contest Saturday that can be seen on ESPN+.
Marshall (7-9, 0-3) had one of its better recent shooting performances against the Mean Green (45.3 percent), but still struggled on 3-pointers (23.5 percent). The Herd’s biggest problem in the loss was its rebounding woes, with North Texas dominating the glass to the tune of a 41-26 advantage, including 15-7 on offensive boards.
Rice (9-6, 2-2) lost at Western Kentucky on Thursday, 80-66. The Owls led the Hilltoppers by two points at halftime, but were outscored 40-24 in the second half. Freshman forward Mylyjael Poteat led Rice with 15 points.
Even as the losses mount, Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni saw positives in the loss to North Texas.
“We’ve got to get better,” D’Antoni said. “We looked a little bit more like ourselves, but we’ve still got a long way to go.”
Junior Guard Taevion Kinsey, who scored 29 points in the loss to the Mean Green, said he and his teammates have to make a fast emotional turnaround to be ready to face the Owls.
“This game, the way it ended, is definitely not sitting with me the right way, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to get over it,” Kinsey said.
Rice has C-USA wins over Middle Tennessee and UAB and losses to Western Kentucky and North Texas. The Owls’ best non-conference wins came against Pepperdine and Evansville.
Sophomore guard Travis Evee is the Owls’ top scorer at 14.8 points per game, followed closely by graduate guard Carl Pierre at 14.3 points. Sophomore forward Max Fiedler is Rice’s top rebounder at 8.4 per game.
Rice shoots 46.2 percent from the field, 37.9 percent from the 3-point line and 70.9 percent from the free throw line.
Rice is 20th in the nation in 3-pointers made per game (9.9) and 22nd in 3-point field goal percentage.
D’Antoni says he wants his team to quicken the pace and effort will be crucial against the Owls.
“The toughest thing this year has been trying to figure out what this team will do next,” D’Antoni said. “We’ve just had a hard time getting all of our people to compete well at the same time.”
Scott Pera is in his fifth season as the Rice head coach with a record of 59-79.
Marshall and Rice have met 18 previous times and the Herd has won 13 of those contests.
The Owls knocked Marshall out of the Conference USA Tournament last March as Rice picked up a 72-68 win. The teams did not meet in the regular season last year.
After Saturday’s game, Marshall is on the road next week for conference games at Florida International on January 20 and Florida Atlantic on January 22. Florida Atlantic defeated Marshall in Huntington last Saturday, 90-77.