— By Bill Cornwell
Marshall’s season-long struggle for a road victory ended on South Carolina’s Grand Strand last Saturday.
The Thundering Herd (11-9, 4-3) brought an end to a two-month wait for a road win courtesy of a 77-64 victory at Coastal Carolina. Four Marshall players scored in double figures in the Sun Belt Conference victory, led by 23 points from senior forward Obinna Anochili-Killen.
The second half of a four-game league road trip comes this week starting Thursday at 7 p.m. with a matchup against Georgia State at the CSU Convocation Center.
The contest can be seen on ESPN+.
“They’re 6-4 at home, so we have to bring our hard hats and our focus and be ready to go,” first-year Herd head coach Corny Jackson said.
The Panthers (7-12, 3-4) suffered a lopsided 85-59 loss to Sun Belt preseason favorite Arkansas State last Saturday. Georgia State has suffered two straight setbacks since winning three straight.
Jonas Hayes is in his third season as the Panthers’ head coach and has a 31-50 record at GSU.
Three Panthers average double-figure scoring, led by senior guard Toneari Lane and senior forward Zarique Nutter at 14.4 points apiece. Senior center Cesare Edwards is directly behind with a 14.3 scoring average.
Senior forward Nick McMullen tops the Panthers’ rebounders with 10 boards per game, leaving him in the top 20 nationally in that category. McMullen’s rebound total of 190 is second in the Sun Belt and 11th nationally.
As a team, GSU is third in rebounds in the Sun Belt with 39.2 on average.
Marshall’s top scorers are senior guard Mikal Dawson (13.3), senior forward Anochili-Killen (13) and junior guard Dezayne Mingo (11.1). Senior forward Nate Martin averages 9.9 points and is the team’s leading rebounder at 8.2.
Ahead of Wednesday’s Sun Belt action, Marshall and Georgia State are two of nine teams in the league with a conference record of 4-3 or 3-4. Two — James Madison (3-4 in league play) and Old Dominion (4-3 in league play) clash Wednesday night.
Georgia Southern, the Herd’s opponent Saturday, is another, and enters Thursday’s matchup against Coastal Carolina looking to improve to 4-4 in Sun Belt play.
South Alabama is in sole possession of first place in the Sun Belt at 6-1, followed by the 5-2 marks of Arkansas State and Appalachian State.
Only UL Monroe, at 0-7, is without a Sun Belt victory.
The Herd will be seeking a season sweep of Georgia Southern come Saturday after defeating the Eagles 81-69 in Huntington back on January 11.