— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — The road has been kind to Marshall over the last two weeks.
The Thundering Herd won three games away from Huntington, those wins coming in consecutive fashion over Coastal Carolina, Georgia State and most recently, Georgia Southern.
Winners of five of its last six, Marshall (13-9, 6-3) hopes to stretch the win streak to four come 7 p.m. Thursday in its second regular season matchup with Georgia State (7-14, 3-6) at the Cam Henderson Center.
The game can be seen on ESPN+.
Marshall defeated the Panthers 92-79 last Thursday in Atlanta.
Thursday’s game is the first of three straight at the Henderson Center for the Herd.
“It’s important for the fans to show up and support these guys,” first-year Herd head coach Cornelius Jackson said. “They’re working really hard and laying it on the line to represent Marshall in a first class manner on-and-off the court.”
The Panthers have struggled much of this season and followed last Thursday’s loss to Marshall with an 86-79 home setback against James Madison.
Georgia State is led by the strong inside play led of senior forward Nick McMullen, who is second in the Sun Belt Conference and ranks 14th nationally with 10 rebounds per game. The Panthers’ 38.7 rebounds on average ranks fourth in the Sun Belt.
McMullen is second in the Sun Belt in several rebounding categories, including total rebounds (211, No. 8 nationally), defensive rebounds per game (6.43, No. 29 nationally) and offensive rebounds (3.62, No. 13 nationally).
McMullen is one of four Georgia State players averaging double-figure scoring with 10 points per game. The others are senior center Cesare Edwards (14.9), senior guard Toneari Lane (14.8) and senior forward Zarique Nutter (14.4).
The Herd currently leads the Sun Belt with 57 blocks through nine league games thanks to Obinna Anochili-Killen’s league-leading 36 rejections over eight of those contests.
Additionally, Sun Belt Player of the Week and graduate guard Jalen Speer leads the Sun Belt in three-point field goal percentage (.533) and three-pointers (32) and ranks second in field goal percentage (.541) in conference play.
Anochili-Killen (13.1) and Speer (10.9) are among four Marshall players averaging double-figure scoring. The others are Mikal Dawson (13.9) and Dezayne Mingo (10.7).
Nate Martin continues to lead the Herd in rebounding with an average of eight, while Anochili-Killen grabs six boards on average.
“Those are team-first guys,” Jackson said. “They don’t complain when they don’t get their number called, but they just stay ready.”
After facing Georgia State for the second time in Janiuary, Marshall will play host to Coastal Carolina at 4 p.m. Saturday and Sun Belt Conference preseason favorite Arkansas State next Wednesday at 9 p.m. The Arkansas State game has been elevated to a national telecast on ESPNU.