— By Bill Cornwell
Marshall fell short in its quest to hand what is now college basketball’s last remaining unbeaten team its first loss, falling 90-74 on Saturday against Miami (Ohio).
The Thundering Herd must now refocus after putting a lot into a game that could’ve provided plenty of positive national attention, but instead amounted to a ninth loss.
A stretch of four road contests over five games and 11 days begins at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday with a matchup at Old Dominion that will be carried by ESPN+.
For Marshall (15-9, 7-4 Sun Belt), the road trip continues Saturday with a nationally-televised game at Georgia Southern, followed by a makeup home game with South Alabama on Monday.
“This is a gauntlet,” Herd head coach Cornelius Jackson said. “We’re playing on the road Wednesday and Saturday, but we won’t get home until early Sunday, and we have to get ready for a Monday home game.
“We have to keep guys fresh with seven games in 17 days leading to the conference tournament. We have to be locked in mentally and be physically ready as well.”
ODU (8-17, 4-8) has struggled, but gained confidence with a 78-72 win over Ohio on Saturday in the Mid-American Conference/Sun Belt Challenge.
Despite having Sun Belt Preseason Player of the Year Robert Davis Jr., Mike Jones’ Monarchs’ squad has found success tough to come by.
The Monarchs entered league play on a five-game skid and have endured another four-game losing streak since. Sun Belt wins have come over James Madison, Coastal Carolina and Appalachian State and Arkansas State.
Surprisingly, Davis isn’t averaging double figure scoring for Old Dominion, although he isn’t far off at 9.5 points. Last season, he averaged 15.6 points.
KC Shaw leads the Monarchs in scoring at 16.6 points, while Coastal Carolina transfer Jordan Battle averages 14.1 and Thomas follows at 11.
Noah Otshudi and Wyatt Fricks still lead Marshall in scoring at 14.5 points, closely followed by the 14.2 from guard Jalen Speer.
Matt Van Komen is the Herd’s top rebounder at 7.6 per game, but didn’t play last week due to a foot injury suffered in a win at Arkansas State on January 31.
The Herd and Monarchs have each won 16 times in the series.