— By Bill Cornwell
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. — Frustration from Cornelius Jackson was easy to sense following Marshall’s 70-63 loss at Troy back on December 20 in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.
The Thundering Herd head coach was not pleased with a lack of scrappiness from his team against the Trojans, including the inability to keep Troy off the offensive glass.
The effort improved significantly, albeit against entirely different competition, last Tuesday in a 102-52 home win over NAIA member WVU Tech.
Now a more pressing challenge awaits as the Herd strives for a Sun Belt victory.
Georgia State (4-10, 1-1) will be at the Cam Henderson Center for Wednesday’s 4 p.m. affair that can be seen on ESPN+.
Jackson hopes the Herd (8-5, 0-1) is focused and mentally prepared for its New Year’s Eve contest.
“We told our guys before the Troy game that it all counts now and it’s such a small margin for error,” Jackson said. “These guys (Georgia State) are a talented bunch. They have transfers from Iowa State, Seton Hall, Oregon and Indiana, so they’re much better than their record. They’re feeling confident. We have to be ready to roll come Wednesday.”
Herd graduate guard Jalen Speer agrees with the sentiment.
“It’s conference play,” Speer said. “It’s time to bring out the big dogs and show what you really are.”
The Panthers last played Sunday against Columbia College (SC) and rolled to a 110-72 win in Atlanta. Their other three victories are against Fort Valley State, Jacksonville State and Appalachian State, while GSU has won three of four overall.
Jonas Hayes is in his fourth season as GSU’s head coach and has a 42-66 record.
Iowa State transfer guard Jelani Hamilton tops the Panthers in scoring at 17.2 points, while freshman guard Micah Tucker also averages double figures at 12.
Keeping Hamilton and Tucker off the free-throw line will be vital. Hamilton is 58 for 62 on foul shots while Tucker has made 48-of-56 attempts from the charity stripe.
Three other Panthers average at least eight points to provide more balance. Sophomore forward Joah Chappelle is among that trio and leads the Panthers in rebounding with an average of 6.8.
Georgia State is struggling with its shooting and has made 37.2 percent of field-goal attempts and 30.5 percent of its triples.
Thanks in large part to Hamilton and Tucker, the Panthers are second in the Sun Belt in free-throw percentage at just south of 77.
Wyatt Fricks and Noah Otshudi lead Marshall in scoring at 13.8 points apiece, while Speer averages 13.5.
Matt Van Komen leads Marshall with 106 rebounds and 40 blocked shots.
The teams have faced each other eight previous times and Marshall has a 6-2 series lead.
After Wednesday’s matchup, Marshall remains home to host Appalachian State on Saturday.