— By Bill Cornwell
With the end of the regular season approaching, Marshall plays its fourth game in eight days Thursday at Middle Tennessee State before going five straight days without a contest.
The 7 p.m. matchup at the Murphy Center can be seen on ESPN+, as Marshall (11-17, 4-11 Conference USA) goes for a fourth victory in five games.
The Thundering Herd enter off Monday’s 74-60 win at Southern Mississippi, a game in which the Herd never trailed and enjoyed several 20-point leads.
Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni was pleased with his team’s effort against the Golden Eagles with the exception of an 8-minute stretch of the second half in which MU didn’t made a field goal and the Golden Eagles trimmed their deficit to single digits.
“Do not take your foot off the pedal,” D’Antoni said. “Players have got to want to finish games and every time they go up and down the floor be as good as they can possibly be.
“We can’t play the same second half as we did at Southern Miss or we’re not going to beat that team (MTSU). We’ve just got to lock down and keep focused and stay fundamental.”
The Herd and Blue Raiders met on January 27 in Huntington, when Middle Tennessee came away with a narrow 81-79 victory. Sophomore guard Camryn Weston led four MTSU players who scored in double figures with 19 points.
Marshall sophomore guard Andrew Taylor had a game-high 22 points that day, but the Herd made crucial mistakes down the stretch and the Blue Raiders closed on a 6-0 run in the final minute to prevail. A Donovan Sims 3-pointer cut Marshall’s lead to 79-78, before two Watson free throws in the late stages put the Blue Raiders in front.
MTSU (20-7, 11-3) was in action on its home floor on Monday night and notched its sixth straight win by defeating UTEP, 77-59.
The Blue Raiders are the surprise story of Conference USA this season and one of the top surprises in all of Division I. MTSU was picked to finish last among 14 C-USA teams in the league’s preseason poll, while Marshall was chosen fourth.
MTSU head coach Nick McDevitt is in his fourth season in Murfreesboro and appears likely to win C-USA Coach of the Year.
Middle Tennessee now leads the league’s East Division with a three-game advantage in the loss column over Western Kentucky and Florida Atlantic. After facing the Thundering Herd, the Blue Raiders wrap up the regular season next week with games at Charlotte and Old Dominion.
McDevitt’s team has three players averaging double figure scoring —graduate guard Josh Jefferson (15 points per game), Sims (11 ppg) and sophomore guard Eli Lawrence (10.3 ppg). MTSU’s top rebounder is redshirt junior forward DeAndre Dishman, who shows 4.8 boards per game. Sims and Lawrence also average better than four rebounds.
The Blue Raiders are no stranger to shooting from beyond the arc and have made 228-of-678 3-pointers as a team. Jefferson, Lawrence and Sims all have at least 38 triples and have combined to make 148 shots from long range.
Junior guard Taevion Kinsey still leads Marshall scoring with 19 points per game and he’s joined in double figures by Taylor (14) and freshman forward Obinna Anochili-Killen (11.9). Anochili-Killey leads MU in rebounding with 6.2 per game, while Kinsey and Taylor contribute better than five rebounds per game.
Freshman guard David Early has given D’Antoni’s team a lift offensively over the last two games, making 8-of-9 3-pointers and scoring 25 points to go with five assists. Early now averages 5.4 points, good for sixth on the Herd.
The Herd lead the all-time series with the Blue Raiders, 12-9.
Marshall has this weekend off before wrapping up the regular season with back-to-back games next week against Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers play at the Cam Henderson Center on March 2, before the Herd head to E.A. Diddle Arena on March 5 for the regular season finale.