Marshall University Athletics
Herd Men Await Showdown with No. 2 Memphis
1/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2008
Memphis at Marshall Game Notes 
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Saturday's Conference USA home-opener for the Marshall University men's basketball team features the highest-ranked team to ever play in Huntington as the No. 2 Memphis Tigers visit the Cam Henderson Center. Tip-off is scheduled for 8 p.m. EST.
Marshall (9-4, 1-0 C-USA) is on a three-game win streak following its 66-47 win at Rice on Wednesday, which snapped a five-game road losing skid. Senior Mark Dorris (Cincinnati, Ohio) posted a game-high 17 points, helping MU to a 26-4 second-half run that erased a four-point halftime deficit.
The Thundering Herd's 9-4 start under first-year head coach Donnie Jones is its best since the 2000-01 season. Marshall is 8-1 at home and looks to move to 2-0 in C-USA play for the first time ever.
Junior guard/forward Markel Humphrey (Atlanta, Ga.) scores a team-high 14.8 points per game for the Herd, followed by 13.3 ppg from Dorris. Freshman Tirrell Baines (Laurens, S.C) nets 13.2 ppg, second among freshmen scoring to Memphis guard Derrick Rose (14.4 ppg).
Memphis, ranked No. 2 in both major national polls, is one of five of the nation's remaining undefeated teams, coming into Saturday's showdown with a perfect 14-0 record, 1-0 in Conference USA play. The Tigers have outscored their opponents by an average of 21.4 points per game, scoring 83.7 points per game and holding opponents to 62.4 ppg. Memphis easily dispatched of East Carolina at FedExForum on Wednesday, 99-58, in its C-USA opener.
The Tigers, on an 11-game road win streak, have not played away from their home arena since Dec. 19. They ended a five-game homestand that extended the nation's longest home court win streak to 41 games with a 41-point thumping of the Pirates. Preseason C-USA Player of the Year Chris Douglas-Roberts, a junior, nets a team-best 16.9 points per game. The guard from Detroit, Mich., is a 51.4 percent 3-point shooter, tops in C-USA. Rose dishes out 4.5 assists per game, third in the league, and pulls down 4.2 rebounds.
U of M forward Joey Dorsey ranks 14th in the nation in blocked shots, swatting away 2.7 per game. The senior ranks first in C-USA in rebounding with 9.8 boards per game while scoring 8.1 points per game and shooting 71.9 percent from the floor.
Marshall and Memphis will face off for the sixth time in history, with the Tigers holding a 4-1 edge heading into Saturday's contest. The Tigers will play in Huntington for the third time ever and first since grabbing a 91-81 victory at the Henderson Center in the school's first meeting as C-USA foes. Memphis is on a four-game win streak versus Marshall after the Herd opened the series with a win in 1952.
The game will be televised live on CSS and video streamed on Herd All-Access, via HerdZone.com. The Thundering Herd/ISP Sports Network will carry a live radio broadcast.
