Marshall University Athletics
Marshall Men's Basketball Travels To Tulsa Wednesday
2/2/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 2, 2010
HUNTINGTON, W.Va.--Marshall University (15-6, 4-3 C-USA) travels to Tulsa University (17-4, 6-1 C-USA) Wednesday night. Marshall and Tulsa are playing for the eighth time with the Golden Hurricane leading the all-time series 5-2. Tulsa has won three in a row in the series dating back to Jan. 30, 2008 when Marshall defeated TU 72-65 in overtime in Huntington.
Tulsa is led by the 2009 Conference USA Preseason Player of the Year in 7-0 center Jerome Jordan. Jordan is second in Conference USA history in blocked shots and he is the only player in C-USA history who has recorded at least 800 rebounds and 300 blocks. He is averaging 14.4 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 2.7 blocks per game this season. Leading the Tulsa offensive attack is senior guard Ben Uzoh who is averging 16.3 points per game. Justin Hurtt is third on the squad in scoring as he is averaging 14.2 points per game.
The University of Houston defeated Marshall 81-66 in Conference USA men's basketball action in the Hofheinz Pavillion Jan. 30. Houston's Aubrey Coleman, Division I's leading scorer paced the Cougars with 37 points. Houston opened the game on a 10-2 run paced by a pair of Maurice McNeil baskets. A Chris Lutz (R-Sr., Bedford, N.H.) three-pointer put an end to the run and got the Herd to back to within five. Antonio Haymon (Jr., Washington, D.C.) scored the next four points to cut the Houston lead to 10-9. Led by Coleman (who recorded five points), the Cougars mounted a 12-2 run that pushed the advantage to 22-11 with 8:34 to play in the stanza. After a Herd timeout, a Tyler Wilkerson (Sr., Lexington, Ky.) putback and a Shaquille Johnson (So., Jacksonville, Fla.) fast break three-pointer, moved Marshall to within six. Houston increased the lead to nine, 29-20, when Kelvin Lewis connected on his second three of the half. Back-to-back three's from Lutz and Damier Pitts (So., Charlotte, N.C.) moved MU to within three, 29-26. The Cougars took a 32-27 advantage into halftime. McNeil scored four the first six points of the second half for Houston as the Cougars led 38-31 entering the first media timeout of the frame. For the third time in the game, Houston used a run, a 11-0 spurt, to take a 51-33 lead at the 12:55 mark.
The Cougars would lead by as much as 20 during the second half. Marshall reached the two-shot bonus midway through the second half. Getting to the charity stripe, MU chipped away at the Houston leading, cutting it to 59-46 on a Dago Pena basket with a little under nine to go. Houston would lead by as much as 20 during the second half. Marshall would get as close as 11 down the stretch. Lutz led the Herd with 13 points. Pitts scored 12 points and grabbed a career high nine rebounds to go along with six assists. Haymon scored 12 points and tied his season high with eight rebounds. Hassan Whiteside (Fr., Gastonia, N.C.) scored 10 points, posted eight rebounds and blocked four shots.
