Marshall University Athletics
Men's Basketball Hosts High Point Tuesday Evening
12/20/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Men's Basketball Hosts High Point Tuesday Evening
12/20/2004
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Marshall will look to end a five game skid Tuesday evening when the High Point Panthers come calling to the Henderson Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
The Herd enters the contest with a 1-6 record, while High Point comes into the game with a 3-7 record.
High Point enters tonight?s game with a 3-7 record, and most recently broke a three game losing streak with a win over Mount St. Mary?s, 78-61, on December 18th. The Panthers, picked to finish second in the Big South Conference preseason poll, are led by Mark Wilson, who paces three players in double-figures with 14.0 points a game. The 2003-04 Big South Player of the Year Danny Gathings is next at 13.7 per contest, while Zione White adds 11.5 points per game. Gathings leads HPU on the boards, averaging 7.0 caroms per game.
In Marshall's last time out, the Herd dropped their fifth straight decision to Western Kentucky Saturday night, 70-54, at E.A. Diddle Arena in Bowling Green, Ky. The Herd never led in the game. Freshman Joe Miles (Forestville, Md.) led MU in scoring with 13 points, while junior post man Mark Patton (Barboursville, W.Va.) added ten points and nine rebounds.
The Herd has played a competitive early season schedule, and barely came up short in three of the team?s first seven games. Marshall opened the season with a one-point loss at UNC Wilmington (57-58), then lost a two-point game at Eastern Michigan (88-90) and a three-point contest against UAB in the Henderson Center (78-81). Marshall defeated East Tennessee State on November 23rd, lost a 20 point decision vs. Oregon in Charleston, lost to Illinois State, 79-67, and most recently dropped a 70-54 decision at Western Kentucky. The 1-6 start marks the Herd?s worst start since the 1964-65 season.
Marshall leads the career series, 2-0, but the two teams have not met since the 1937-38 season, when the Herd came away with two wins (55-37, 73-54). All-time versus the Big South Conference, Marshall is 47-17, with a bulk of those games coming against former Southern Conference rival VMI (32-15), who now resides in the Big South. The Herd is 8-1 vs. Radford, 3-1 vs. UNC-Asheville, and 2-0 vs. Winthrop.
The Herd boasts a record of 89-21 at home since 1996 and during that time has posted a record of 30-5 in non-conference contests, including wins over Wake Forest, Georgia, and UMass. Marshall has not played in the friendly confines of the Henderson Center since December 4th against UAB.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m., and can be heard on the ISP/Thundering Herd Sports Network.
