Marshall University Athletics
Herd Men Open C-USA Championship Wednesday Versus Tulane
3/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2008
Marshall Game Notes: vs Tulane (C-USA Qtrs.) 
MEMPHIS - The Marshall University men's basketball team will open the 2008 Conference USA Championship on Wednesday with a first-round tilt versus Tulane. The No. 8 Thundering Herd and the No. 9 Green Wave will tip-off at 7 p.m. ET from FedExForum.
Marshall (16-13, 8-8 C-USA) defeated Tulane (16-14, 6-10) twice this season and as recently as last Wednesday in New Orleans. The Herd's pair of wins over the Wave knotted the all-time series at 3-3.
Wednesday's game will mark the second time in three years that Marshall and Tulane will meet in the first round of the C-USA Championship. Also an 8-vs-9 game, the No. 8 Wave upended the No. 9 Herd, 64-58, in 2006.
Marshall, which secured its first winning season since 2001, is coming off a hard-fought loss at home to Southern Miss in the regular-season finale. Playing on Senior Night, senior Mark Dorris scored a team-high 16 points, but went just 4-for-18 from the floor with 18 field goal attempts a new career-high.
Overall, Marshall shot just 36 percent against the Golden Eagles while getting out-rebounded 39-34. Despite committing a season-low seven turnovers against USM, the Herd dropped just its fourth home game of the season (13-4).
Dorris finished the regular season as the C-USA steals leader, swiping 2.0 steals per C-USA game. The guard is also just nine points shy of joining the 1,000-point club at Marshall, a club in which junior Markel Humphrey became the 44th member of on Saturday.
Humphrey, a 2008 C-USA Third Team selection, and forward Tirrell Baines scored 20 points apiece against Tulane last week at Fogelman Arena in the Herd's two-point win. Forward Tyler Wilkerson tallied his second double-double of the year against TU, scoring 10 points with 10 rebounds.
In two games this season versus Tulane, Wilkerson averaged 12.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while Baines, a freshman, posted a team-best 16.5 ppg in his first two career games against the Wave.
Tulane snapped its eight-game losing streak with its 77-75 win over East Carolina on Saturday, which clinched the nine seed for the Wave. All-conference second team member David Gomez, a forward, averages team-bests in points (14.5 ppg) and rebounds (6.1 rpg). The senior shoots 53.2 percent from the floor and 73.3 percent from the free-throw line.
Wave sophomore Kevin Sims, TU's other double-digit scorer (12.2 ppg), dishes out 3.7 assists per game. Sims netted 13 points in each game against the Herd this season.
Marshall is 1-3 all-time at FedExForum and 1-2 in the C-USA Championship. The Herd defeated UAB in last season's first round before falling to host Memphis. The winner of the Marshall-Tulane contest will move on to the quarterfinals where it will face the No. 2/3 nationally-ranked Tigers on Thursday.
All C-USA Championship games, except for Saturday's final, will be video streamed live online by Conference USA as part of the All-Access package. All of the Herd's contests can be heard live on the Thundering Herd/ISP Sports Network with Steve Cotton and Woody Woodrum.
