— By Bill Cornwell
Marshall hopes to follow up a dominating win Thursday night at Coastal Carolina with another one Saturday when it concludes a four-game road trip at Georgia State.
The game in Atlanta tips off at 2 p.m. in the new GSU Convocation Center and can be seen on ESPN+.
The Thundering Herd (20-6, 9-4) never trailed in the 92-74 victory at Coastal Carolina on Thursday. Herd junior guard Andrew Taylor scored a career-high 33 points to go with 10 rebounds. Kamdyn Curfman added 20 points and Taevion Kinsey scored 17 for Marshall.
The game in Conway, South Carolina was also a homecoming for Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni, who manned the sidelines for three decades at Socastee High School in nearby Myrtle Beach.
D’Antoni says he’s pleased that his return to South Carolina was successful, but he’s warned his team to be just as focused on Saturday. The Herd and Panthers face each other just two weeks after Marshall dominated Georgia State 103-65 at the Henderson Center in Huntington in the first all-time meeting between the teams.
“I said when we came down here that we’re not coming down here for one win, let’s get two,” D’Antoni said. “Georgia State won’t be the same team we played at home two weeks ago because they’ll be a lot tougher there, so we’ve got to get on them and get the win.”
Marshall finds itself in solo third place in the Sun Belt Conference standings, two games behind league leader Southern Miss and a game behind second-place Louisiana. Southern Miss defeated Louisiana 82-71 Thursday in a meeting of teams that entered tied atop the league.
James Madison is in fourth place and one game behind the Thundering Herd.
Georgia State (10-15, 3-10) lost at home to Old Dominion on Thursday, 63-60. Sophomore forward Ja’Heim Hudson and sophomore guard Dwon Odom led the Panthers in scoring with 15 points each.
The Panthers have lost nine of their last 11 games.
Georgia State has five players averaging double-figure scoring, led by Odom (13.3). Other double-figure scorers include: Junior guard Brenden Tucker (12.5), Hudson (10.7), sophomore guard Jamaine Mann (10.7) and sophomore guard Collin Moore (10.3).
Hudson is the Panthers’ top rebounder at 7.3 per game.
After Saturday’s game in Atlanta, Marshall returns to Huntington to play its final two home games of the season as Georgia Southern visits the Henderson Center for a Thursday matchup and Troy comes to Huntington next Saturday night.