— By David Walsh
Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni expressed a concern going into Thursday night’s Sun Belt Conference game against Coastal Carolina at The HTC Center in Conway, S.C.
“When you come back home you don’t want to lay an egg,” D’Antoni said. “Sounds funny now. As a coach, as a human being. I don’t have anything to do with it. But as a coach, you think you do, everybody else thinks you do. The worse thing you want to do is lay an egg. I want to thank my players for going out and finishing my homecoming where I got to see a lot of people I love and had lot of great times with. My players made it special for me by coming out and winning the ball game.”
D’Antoni, who played guard at Marshall, spent 30 years as coach at Socastee High School located in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The high school’s court is now named in his honor — ‘Coach D Court.’ Coastal Carolina’s home court is not far from there and D’Antoni viewed this time as old home week. And the Thundering Herd had plenty of fans among the 1,923 inside The HTC Center.
Once the game started, the Herd dominated from start to finish and breezed to victory, 92-74. It was unlike last Saturday when Louisiana started fast and defeated Marshall, 77-67, in Lafayette, La.
“We didn’t do well in Louisiana,” Herd guard Kamdyn Curfman said. “After the first eight minutes, we pretty much flustered them on defense. Put pressure on the ball. Make the man with the ball uncomfortable. We were able to push the ball. They want to play that way with us fine. That’s all we do. I feel confident we can beat anyone if we play like that.”
Marshall (20-6, 9-4 SBC) jumped out to a 17-3 lead with 13:52 left in the first half. The Herd expanded the margin to 45-28 at intermission. The Chanticleers (10-15, 4-9 SBC) never got within 10 in the second half. To highlight the night, the Herd made 5 of its last 7 shots compared to 1-of-7 for the Chanticleers.
Guard Andy Taylor led Marshall with a career-high 33 points and had 10 rebounds for a double-double. Curfman finished with 20 thanks to a big second half (5-of-9 on threes after 1-of-6 in the first half). Taevion Kinsey netted 17 points and six rebounds.
“Pace. That’s what we want to do,” Taylor said. “They try to get fast and it plays in our favor. The faster we play the better we play. Louisiana was bad. Took a step back, got everyone else involved and that helps me.”
“Andy plays hard,” D’Antoni said. “He had a point to prove. He wanted to redeem himself and he did. At Louisiana we walked into an environment where they were sitting and waiting on us with the intent to win. We were determined to play this game. Make sure we came to win, not just come to play. Get two and go. We want to be the same team at Georgia State.”
Marshall’s next game is Saturday against Georgia State in Atlanta. Tip is 2 p.m. The Herd routed the Panthers, 103-65, on Jan. 28 in Huntington.
“They embarrassed themselves,” D’Antoni said. “That last one was not real. I’ll remind them they’ll give it an extra shot.”
Jomaru Brown came off the bench and led Coastal Carolina with 16 points. Josh Uduje, Essam Mostafa and Kylan Blackmon had 11 each and Jimmy Nichols Jr. 10.
D’Antoni knew Curfman had a tough first half shooting, but never the mind as the transfer from VMI who leads the SBC in three-pointers came alive in the second.
“I knew he was 1-of-6, couldn’t get one down,” the coach said. “It’s make sure he keeps shooting. Don’t know why I said that. I know he’s not going to stop. He’s a shooter. That’s what he does. He gets hot, the lead goes from 10 to 20, game over.”
D’Antoni knows big leads can be dangerous to hold, but this night no home-team comebacks were in the works. Much like the first meeting the Herd won, 81-66, Jan. 7 in Huntington and led by as much as 17 in the second half.
“We were able to get into a rhythm we’re used to,” D’Antoni said. “Go up and down.”
Marshall led in points off turnovers, 25-2; points off turnovers, 17-9; and assists, 21-13. The Chanticleers did lead in bench points, 36-14.
“Our confidence is down, and right now that’s a big problem for us,” Chanticleers coach Cliff Ellis said. “We missed three-point shots and that was the difference. We have played so much better this year, but we’re just not seeing our shots go in right now. But, to their credit, Marshall’s starting five is as good an any in the league.”
Marshall has won eight of its last 10 games. The Herd came in No. 2 in the league in scoring (81.5) and Coastal Carolina ranked 14th in defense (71.9).