Marshall University Athletics
Men's Basketball Heads to Boston to Face America East Favorite BU on Saturday
12/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2008
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - The Marshall University men's basketball team will play its last game prior to a week-long break for final exams when it travels to Boston, Mass., to take on the America East Conference favorite Boston University Terriers on Saturday at Agganis Arena. Tip-off for the Thundering Herd's first road game of the season is set for 3 p.m. ET.
Marshall (2-4) will attempt to rebound from its narrow 76-72 loss to East Tennessee State on Tuesday at the Cam Henderson Center. Half of the Thundering Herd's 72 points came via the 3-point shot as Marshall went 12-for-27 (44.4 pct) from 3-point range. MU's 12 treys were its most in one game since sinking 14 from downtown at Ohio in 2006 (also a loss and also on Dec. 2). It also marked the first time that MU reached double figures in 3-pointers since dropping 10 treys in a loss at Louisville last December.
Senior guard/forward Markel Humphrey (Atlanta, Ga.) did not attempt a shot from inside the arc against the Bucs, tying his career-high with four 3-pointers (4-for-7) in the loss. Humphrey was also held without a rebound versus ETSU for just the fourth time of his career.
Freshman point guard Damier Pitts (Charlotte, N.C.), after a four-game start to is career in which he posted an assist/turnover ratio of 0.5 (6 assists, 12 turnovers) has protected the basketball much more effectively while creating scoring opportunities for his teammates in the Herd's last two games. Pitts dished out 11 assists to just one turnover (11.0 assist/turnover ratio) in the Herd's last two outings, which included a career-high seven assists in MU's victory over Old Dominion on Nov. 29.
Sophomore forward Tirrell Baines (Laurens, S.C.) led the Herd in scoring (12.5 ppg) and rebounding (9.5 rpg) during its 1-1 homestand versus ODU and ETSU. The 2008 Conference USA All-Freshman Team selection posted his first double-double of the season (10p, 10r) against ETSU and came up just one board shy of a double-double vs ODU (15p, 9r). Ten of his 19 rebounds in the two games were from the offensive glass. He shot 58.8 percent (10-for-17) from the floor in the stretch, but the 70.6 percent career free throw shooter uncharacteristically shot just 50 percent from the free-throw line (5-for-10) in the two contests.
Boston University (4-2) is coming off its biggest win of the season with Wednesday's 75-59 victory at Harvard. Three Terriers scored at least 17 points in the game (and all sank seven field goals), led by junior guard Corey Lowe's game-high 20 points. Lowe, a second team All-America East player, is averaging 17.7 points and 3.3 assists per game.
Guard/forward John Holland paces BU in scoring with 18.5 ppg. The sophomore netted 17 points at Harvard and contributed three of the Terriers' 13 3-point field goals against the Crimson. Lowe (4-for-6) and freshman forward Jake O'Brien (3-for-6) were the other two BU players to hit from the arc multiple times on Wednesday. As a team, BU averages 10.5 treys per contest, shooting 38.4 percent from beyond the arc.
BU's first two games of 2008-09 took longer than the allotted 40 minutes. The Terriers dropped a season-opening 63-58 home game versus George Washington before going on the road to defeat Bucknell (71-68) in a pair of overtime contests.
Marshall and Boston University will meet for just the second time in history when the two teams clash on Saturday. The first meeting came last season at the Henderson Center where the Herd dealt the Terriers a 23-point loss (70-47) on Nov. 25, 2007. Baines, a freshman at the time playing in just his third collegiate game, netted a game-high 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting while Humphrey scored 14 points with the help of a 6-for-10 night at the free-throw line.
Saturday's game will be video-streamed live on BU All-Access, via GoTerriers.com, on a pay-per-view basis. The contest can also be heard on the Thundering Herd/ISP Sports Network with Steve Cotton (PxP) and Woody Woodrum (color) and can also be heard via Herd All-Access.
