— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Dan D’Antoni says he’s seeing signs of progress in his team even with the Thundering Herd in the midst of a nine-game losing streak.
D’Antoni, Marshall’s head coach, hopes his optimism pays off in the form of his team’s first Conference USA win at 7 p.m. Thursday when the Herd plays host to Middle Tennessee State in the first of two weekend games at Cam Henderson Center. The 7 p.m. contest will be shown on ESPN+.
Marshall (7-12, 0-6) is coming off a Florida road trip in which it dropped games at Florida International, 70-66, and Florida Atlantic, 71-60. Middle Tennessee (12-6, 3-2) is on a three-game win streak, which includes a 74-60 victory over Southern Mississippi last Saturday in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
D’Antoni said earlier this week that a few areas of improvement could bring a bigger turnaround, nothing more so than improved shooting.
“We’re not making shots, obviously,” D’Antoni said. “Still, we’re within five to ten points of teams still shooting that poorly. Four years ago, with our best team, if we’d have shot that, we’d get blown away.
“We’ve got something that we’re doing right in that we’re able to compete shooting that poorly.”
The Herd’s shooting percentage is hovering just above 43 percent, including 40.1 percent in C-USA games. Marshall’s 3-point shooting percentage has dropped to a frigid 26.5 percent, including just 22.8 percent in league play.
D’Antoni is hopeful some defensive changes can also charge up the Herd’s offensive attack.
“We’ve really looked in at what we can do to better our defense, which we might not have seen if we were scoring,” D’Antoni said. “We’re looking at how we’re defending pick-and-rolls, technique and spacing — much more careful because we’re not making shots.
“If we can correct those problems, and all of a sudden we start making shots, it could be a blessing that we had a hard time for awhile, although it doesn’t feel like that right now.”
Junior guard Taevion Kinsey continues to lead Marshall and Conference USA in scoring at 20.8 points per game. Freshman center Obinna Anochili-Killen (12.6 ppg) and junior guard Andrew Taylor (12.2 ppg) are also double-figure scorers.
Anochili-Killen (6.3 rpg) leads a MU quartet averaging at least five rebounds per contest, which also includes Taylor (5.7), Kinsey (5.5) and senior forward Darius George (5).
Nick McDevitt is in his fourth year as the Blue Raiders’ head coach and he has a 36-65 mark at MTSU.
Three Blue Raiders average scoring in double figures, led by graduate guard Josh Jefferson’s 12.9 points per game. Sophomore guard Eli Lawrence (10.1 ppg) and graduate guard Donovan Sims (10.1 ppg) are key scorers.
MTSU’s top rebounder is redshirt junior DeAndre Dishman with 4.7 on average.
The Blue Raiders shoot 43.9 pecent from the field, 29.1 percent from behind the 3-point line and 72.5 percent from the free-throw line.
Middle Tennessee and Marshall have played 20 times in the past and the Blue Raiders have an 11-9 series lead. The Herd swept two games in the 2020-2021 season by scores of 107-79 and 96-85.
After Thursday’s game, Marshall stays home to play UAB, with tip-off Saturday set for 7 p.m.