Marshall University Athletics
Thundering Herd Men's Basketball Travels To UCF Wednesday Night
1/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.--Marshall University (13-2, 2-0 C-USA) travels to UCF (9-6, 1-0 C-USA) for a Jan. 13 matchup in Orlando, Fla. Wednesday night's game will be televised nationally on CBS College Sports beginning at 8 p.m. Tom McCarthy will handle the play-by-play while Pete Gillen will serve as the analyst.
The Thundering Herd and the Knights have played eight times with each team winning 4. The teams split the series last season with teach team winning on their home court. Marshall is 1-3 at UCF since the series began in 2005 when the Herd joined Conference USA.
The Knights began C-USA play with a 77-58 victory over Rice Jan. 9 at home. UCF is led by Isaac Sosa who is leading the team in scoring (11.9 ppg). A.J. Tyler is second on the team in scoring (10.1) and third in rebounding (4.2). Keith Clanton is the Knights' leading rebounder (7.2) and is third on the squad in scoring (9.3). UCF head coach Kirk Speraw is in his 16th season in Orlando and the University of Iowa alum has compiled a 273-222 record. In his 20th overall season, Speraw is 355-243 on the collegiate sidelines.
Marshall defeated East Carolina 83-65 Jan. 9 in Williams Arena at Minges Coliseum. With the victory, the Thundering Herd are 2-0 in Conference USA play for the first time since joining the league in 2005 and are 2-0 in conference play since the 2003-04 season when MU went 2-0 in the Mid-American Conference..
The Herd took a 10-7 lead into the first media timeout as Damier Pitts (So., Charlotte, N.C.) sank a pair of three's while Hassan Whiteside (Fr., Gastonia, N.C.) posted a pair of field goals. The Herd came out of the media timeout on a 6-2 run. Brock Young ended the spurt with a layup to make it 16-11. With the score 16-13, Cam Miller (So., Wheelersburg, Ohio) hit back-to-back three-pointers to extend the MU advantage to nine. Marshall used Pitts' third three-pointer of the night to push the lead to 28-15 as the third media timeout occurred at the 7:35 mark.
Brock Young paced a Pirates' 8-2 spurt that got East Carolina to within seven, 34-27 with 1:39 to go, but Dago Pena's three pushed lead back into double digits. Miller's third three of the half made it 40-29, but Jontae Sherrod's three-pointer at the buzzer made it 40-32 heading into recess.
Chris Lutz (R-Sr., Bedford, N.H.) scored eight of the first 10 Marshall points of the second half, edging Young who charted five of the first eight for the Pirates. The Herd and Pirates exchanged baskets, keeping the MU advantage between 10 and 11 points through the next two timeouts on the floor. A Shaquille Johnson three-point play with 3:11 remaining gave the Herd its biggest lead of the game, 75-59. Four Young free throws got it down to 12 in the final three minutes, but that would be as close as East Carolina would get.
Pitts led the Herd with 17 points. The 5-10 point guard tied his career high with five rebounds. Lutz scored a season high 13 points while Whiteside and Tyler Wilkerson (Sr., Lexington, Ky.) each posted 10 points. Whiteside rejected five shots. Wilkerson led MU with eight rebounds. Young led all scorers with 26 points.
Marshall will look to go 3-0 in league play for the first time since the 2002-03 campaign when the Herd were 3-0 in the MAC. Marshall off to the program's best start since the 1999-00 season when the Thundering Herd opened the year by winning the first 10 games of the season and were 13-2 at one point of the season. Marshall went 21-9 during the 1999-00 campaign.
The 13-2 start also matches the 1971-72 team which also started 13-2. The 1971-72 squad reached the NCAA Tournament, finished 23-4, and was ranked 12th in the final AP poll of thet season.
