— By Bill Cornwell
Marshall has protected home court this season by winning 12 of its 13 games in Huntington. Now the Herd seeks to prove it can be just as effective on the road.
Marshall gets a chance to prove that point at 8 p.m. Thursday against Texas State, a first-time opponent for the Herd.
The contest at Strahan Arena will be shown on ESPN+.
Texas State (10-9, 3-3) is coming off of a 61-58 loss last Saturday at Louisiana-Monroe. Marshall wrapped up a perfect three-game home stand with a 73-65 win over Old Dominion at the Cam Henderson Center.
Marshall has split six road games this season. The wins came at Miami Ohio, Duquesne and Robert Morris and the losses at Queens, UNC-Greensboro and Georgia Southern.
The Bobcats are coached by Terrence Johnson, who is in his third season in San Marcos, Texas, where he has compiled a 49-24 record.
Along with league wins over James Madison, South Alabama and Arkansas State, Texas State picked up non-conference victories over California, Lamar, Rhode Island and Texas-Arlington. Non-league losses came to Hawaii, Washington State, UTSA, Rice and Sam Houston State.
The Bobcats are one of four Sun Belt Conference foes that the Herd is facing for the first time ever this season — the others being Coastal Carolina — which Marshall already defeated — Georgia State and Louisiana-Monroe.
Texas State has one player averaging double-figure scoring in fifth-year guard Mason Harrell (16.8 points). Four other players average at least 7.4 points per game.
Graduate forward Nighael Ceaser is the Bobcats’ top rebounder at 8.1 on average. Senior forward Tyrel Morgan follows closely with 6.1 boards per game.
Senior Taevion Kinsey, who won his third Sun Belt Conference Player of the Week honor this season earlier this week, still leads Marshall and the league in scoring at 21.2 points per game.
Junior Andrew Taylor follows closely at 18.8 and sophomore Kamdyn Curfman also scores in double figures at 11.5 points. Taylor is the Sun Belt’s third-ranked scorer.
Kinsey has 12 contests this season with 20 or more points while dishing out at least five assists in eight games. He is the only player in the country averaging 20 points and six assists and is the nation’s leader in made field goals this season with 165.
Freshman Micah Handlogten is still tops on the boards for Marshall at 11.4 rebounds per game, which also leads the Sun Belt. Handlogten also leads the league in blocked shots with 51.
Marshall’s 81.6 points per game ranks second in the Sun Belt, while the Bobcats’ scoring average of 64.8 is next to last in the league. Texas State is a respectable fourth in the Sun Belt in points allowed at 64.3, while Marshall gives up 68.8 points on average, good for 11th in the league.
After Thursday’s game, Marshall remains on the road for a 3 p.m. Saturday matchup at Arkansas State.