Marshall University Athletics
Herd Looks to Rebound Against Stephen F. Austin
11/20/2013 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 20, 2013
GAME 4: STEPHEN F. AUSTIN (2-1, 0-0 Southland) at MARSHALL (2-1, 0-0 C-USA)
Thursday, Nov. 21 -- 7 p.m.
Huntington, W.Va. | Cam Henderson Center
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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Coming off its first road game and defeat of the season, the Marshall Thundering Herd will look to get back on track against Stephen F. Austin at Cam Henderson Center, Thursday, Nov. 21, at 7 p.m.
General admission tickets are $10 and may be purchased by going to HerdZone.com or by calling 800-THE-HERD. The game can be viewed and heard online via Herd All-Access by going to HerdZone.com. A Herd All-Access subscription for the season is $9.95 per month or $79.95 for one year.
In-game Twitter updates @HerdMBB, results and a recap from the night's action will be available at HerdZone.com.
HAVE YOU HERD?
The 95th Marshall-Morehead State basketball game was one for the ages ââ'¬Â¦ and a lot of people aged quite a bit during it Sunday afternoon at Ellis Johnson Arena.
Eventually, the host Eagles outlasted the Herd, 102-94 in overtime, a 29-point swing from Marshall's 48-27 lead with 1:00 left in the first half.
Once again, senior forward Elijah Pittman (Covington, Ky.) led the Herd in scoring, this time pouring in 31 points in 38 minutes of playing time. Freshman guard Kareem Canty (Harlem, N.Y.) added 19 points of his own along with nine assists for Marshall. Also scoring in double figures for the Herd was freshman Ryan Taylor (Indianapolis) with 12 and junior Shawn Smith (Sacramento, Calif.) with 10.
ROUNDBALL SHOWCASE
The Herd will kick off a three-game homestand against the Lumberjacks on Thursday. The three-game span is a part of the Roundball Showcase, which is a round-robin event run by bd Global, LLC. Participating in the showcase along with Marshall is Campbellsville, East Tennessee State, Samford, Stephen F. Austin, UNC Wilmington and Western Kentucky. The Herd also will host UNC Wilmington (Nov. 23) and Western Kentucky (Nov. 26) as part of the event, then go to ETSU on Nov. 30.
HIGH-POWERED OFFENSE
Having played two regulation contests and one that went into overtime, Marshall is averaging 99.3 points per game and has a scoring margin of plus-16.7. Helping the Herd score has been Pittman (30.3 ppg), Canty (17.3 ppg) and Taylor (14.7 ppg). The trio are the only three Marshall players that are averaging double figures in scoring entering Thursday's contest.
The Herd's 99.3 points per game ranks sixth in the nation through games played Tuesday, Nov. 19 and first in Conference USA.
A FEW GOOD MEN
Through three games, Pittman is averaging 30.3 points per game and is one of the top scorers in the nation, checking in tied for second as of the games played Tuesday night. Near the top of the list in assists is Canty who has averaged 8.33 per game which is fourth in the country, according to daily statistical ranking updates from StatSheet.com.
In terms of C-USA ranks, Pittman's points average is tops in the league, as is Canty's assist average.
FEELING FOUL
Against Morehead State on Sunday, Marshall got its first look at how the new rules that are designed to increase scoring and bring offensive flow back to college basketball will influence the game flow.
The Herd and Eagles combined for 76 personal fouls and 108 free-throw attempts. The 44 fouls called against Marshall marked the most whistles against a team in the NCAA this season -- second most is 37. Morehead's 64 free throws attempted were the most in the NCAA this season, and nine more than the previous high. The Herd ran past its school record for fouls - 41 against Ohio in December 1991.
SCOUTING THE LUMBERJACKS
Stephen F. Austin enters the contest with a record of 2-1 after easy wins over Texas-Tyler (Nov. 8) and Texas State (Nov. 12), before falling at Texas (Nov. 15), 72-62.
With a balanced offensive attack through the first three games of the season, senior guard Desmond Haymon is the leading scorer (14.0 ppg) for Stephen F. Austin. Second to Haymon is another senior guard, Deshaunt Walker, who is averaging 13.3 points per game with an average of 20.7 minutes per game.
The 'Jacks are coming off a stellar 2012-13 season in which they finished 27-5 overall and 16-2 in Southland Conference play. Stephen F. Austin's season was cut short in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament at Stanford, 58-57, after having lost in the Southland Conference Tournament title game with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament up for grabs.
Thursday will mark the first meeting between Marshall and Stephen F. Austin.
UP NEXT
Marshall will continue its three-game home stretch as part of the Roundball Showcase when the Herd hosts UNC Wilmington, Saturday, Nov. 23, at noon.
---HerdZone.com---
