Marshall University Athletics
Thundering Herd Men Travels To Tulane To Face Green Wave
2/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2006
Marshall GameNotes
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Tulane GameNotes
Download Free Acrobat Reader
NEW ORLEANS - Marshall and Tulane will lock up in a Conference USA match up this Saturday at Fogelman Arena in New Orleans. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m. EST.
The Thundering Herd and Green Wave will meet for the first time on the hardwood, and the men's basketball team will be the first Marshall athletic team to play in New Orleans this season. Tulane's athletic programs were displaced in the fall of 2005 because of Hurricane Katrina's devastation to the New Orleans area in August, forcing Marshall to play its fall competitions with the Green Wave in College Station, Texas, and Mobile, Alabama.
Tulane, 7-12 overall and 3-4 in Conference USA play, enters Saturday evening's game riding a two-game C-USA winning streak after defeating SMU, 59-56, at Fogelman Arena on Wednesday night. The Green Wave knocked off Rice in Houston on January 28, 70-53, and defeated East Carolina January 21 at home, 60-52, for their other Conference USA victories. Quincy Davis leads Tulane, averaging 11.9 points per game, with David Gomez next at 11.8 points per game.
Marshall improved to 9-10 and 2-4 in Conference USA play with a 72-66 win over East Carolina February 1st at the Henderson Center in their last time out. After trailing early in the game, 5-0, the Herd went on a 19-4 run to take control of the contest. ECU tied the game early in the second half, but Marshall stayed ahead of the Pirates from that point on and clinched the win with clutch free throw shooting down the stretch. Mark Patton (Barboursville, W.Va.) led all scorers with 17 points, and Markel Humphrey (Ellenwood, Ga.) added 11 points for the Thundering Herd in the win.
Marshall head coach Ron Jirsa thinks his young team is getting a little more comfortable on the floor. Saturday's game with Tulane will mark the halfway mark in the Conference USA season.
"I think we got through the stage where we got comfortable with our rotation, and they know their roles now," said Jirsa. "I liked having Joe Miles (Forestville, Md.) and Mark Dorris (Cincinnati, Ohio) in the game together at the end. They did a good job together. And we were able to mix (Jean Francois) Bro Grebe in tonight. Right now we are pretty comfortable with what we have."
Bro Grebe (Abidjan, Ivory Coast), a 6'9 redshirt sophomore, made his Division I debut at Houston on January 28, playing only one minute. Bro Grebe, who sat out the first 18 games recovering from a knee injury, made a more considerable contribution in his first home game against East Carolina on February 1. He logged nine minutes and scored seven points on 3-of-4 shooting.
Marshall's 72-66 win over East Carolina ended a three-game losing streak in the Henderson Center. The Herd had dropped contests to then #20/19 George Washington (79-73, OT, January 7), UAB (76-64, January 14), and UTEP (53-51, January 21).
Tip-off time for Marshall-Tulane is set for 8:30 p.m. EST. The game can be heard live on the region on the ISP/Thundering Herd Network and on the Internet at www.HerdZone.com.
