— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The final week of the college basketball regular season for many teams also marks Rivalry Week in Conference USA.
Marshall and Western Kentucky play twice over a four-day stretch, the first of which comes at 7 p.m. Wednesday when the teams clash at Cam Henderson Center in a nationally televised affair on ESPNU.
Wednesday’s game is the final home game for the Herd, before it begins play in the C-USA Tournament next week in Frisco, Texas
Forward Darius George, Marshall’s lone senior, will be honored before Wednesday’s game, although other players could be playing their final game in a Thundering Herd uniform.
Marshall (11-18, 4-12 C-USA) and WKU (17-12, 9-7) share a common last opponent — Middle Tennessee State. The Herd lost to the Blue Raiders 74-65 on February 24, while the Hilltoppers lost to MTSU 69-52, a result that clinched the C-USA East Division title for the Blue Raiders.
Prior to Saturday’s loss, WKU had won seven straight games.
WKU is led by veteran head coach Rick Stansbury, who is in his sixth season with the Hilltoppers and 20th season overall as a head coach. Stansbury has a 120-72 record at WKU and he’s 7-4 all-time against Marshall.
The Hilltoppers can clinch the No. 2 seed in Conference USA’s East Division with a win over Marshall on Wednesday and a Florida Atlantic loss at Florida International on Thursday. A sweep of the Herd this week would also give WKU the No. 2 seed and a bye to begin the conference tournament.
Marshall head coach D’Antoni knows a couple tough challenges are in store for his team this week, but he believes there are things the Herd can exploit as they try to gain momentum down the stretch.
“They’re a good team, but have some outside defensive issues and they’re not very deep,” D’Antoni said. “The message for us is the same as always — don’t quit, keep plugging, keep getting better and eliminate mental mistakes.”
The Hilltoppers have four double-figure scorers, led by sophomore guard Dayvion McKnight, who averages 15.8 points. He’s joined by graduate guard Camron Justice (14.5 ppg), senior forward and Maryland transfer Jairus Hamilton (13 ppg) and fifth-year guard Josh Anderson (12.2 ppg) as the team’s top scorers.
Seven-foot-5 junior center Jamarion Sharp leads the Hilltoppers in rebounds at 7.2 per game. Sharp is also among the nation’s leaders in blocked shots as he’s swatted 130 shots. McKnight and Hamilton are also primary rebounders at 5.6 per game.
It remains to be seen if this is the final home game at Marshall for junior guard Taevion Kinsey, who leads the team with an 18.7 scoring average in his fourth season in Huntington.
MU’s other double-figure scorers are sophomore guard Andrew Taylor (14.3 ppg) and freshman forward Obinna Anochili-Killen (11.9 ppg). All three players are also MU’s top rebounders, with Anochili-Killen leading the way with 6.3 per game. He also has 80 blocks this season.
The Herd are seventh among seven teams in C-USA’s East Division, but could still rise to a sixth-place finish as FIU has a 5-11 mark in conference play.
WKU and Marshall have met 32 previous times and the Hilltoppers have won 20 of the matchups.
The teams meet again Saturday at 3 p.m. at Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Kentucky.