Marshall University Athletics
Marshall University
Florida International
BOGACZYK: Herd Hoops Movin' on Up with Efficiency
2/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. - Even when the season was unraveling back in December and the first half of January, Marshall men's basketball was playing more than respectably on defense.
The difference in the last month is the Thundering Herd offense. Coach Dan D'Antoni's team has been getting the kind of tempo it wanted all along. It's ranked in the top 15 nationally in possessions per game all season. Now, there's an efficiency to go with it.
That was on display again Thursday night, as Marshall sealed a berth in the upcoming Conference USA Tournament with a convincing 87-69 triumph over FIU at the Henderson Center. It was the Herd's fifth consecutive home win, and with a Senior Night home finale coming up Saturday at 7 p.m. against last-place Florida Atlantic (8-18, 1-14), it sets the table with some intriguing potential.
It wasn't so long ago when the Herd (10-18, 6-9) and D'Antoni were talking about somehow just squeezing into the 12-team bracket in 14-team C-USA. The dire straits of a 0-6 league start lessened somewhat when Southern Miss decided to sit itself for the postseason as the NCAA probes the program.
Since then, however, Marshall is 6-3 in league play and with Thursday's win not only clinched a berth, but also moved past Charlotte (12-16, 5-10) and tied FIU for 10th place - just one game in the standings behind Rice and UTSA (both 7-8) and two behind Middle Tennessee and North Texas (both 8-7).
The tournament is scheduled March 11-14 at Legacy Arena in Birmingham, Ala.
"I told `em in the locker room, by hook or crook, we're going to get into this tournament," D'Antoni said after his Herd shot 50 percent for only the fourth time this season and had five double-figure scorers. "I don't know how we're going to do it, but we're going to do it.
"It turned out we got in pretty easy. We can easily be seventh (seed) and if we can pick one off on the road next week, possibly sixth. Maybe that's about as high as we can get."
FAU's only league win came over the Herd in Boca Raton on Jan. 17. Since then, the Owls are 0-10. The Herd goes to Old Dominion (21-6, 10-5) next Thursday, then closes the regular season on March 7 at Charlotte, which has lost eight of its last 12 games.
The Monarchs and 49ers won at "The Cam" in early January, but ...
"I mean, if we can do what we're supposed to do Saturday -- and we really need to do that for the seniors, finish out here strong - we can move up and go on the road," said sophomore Austin Loop, who led Marshall with 20 points. "Those are two pretty good teams, tough places to play, but we're capable of beating them.
"I'm excited to play ODU because we played them early, and I feel like we're not same team. I'm excited to get another shot at Charlotte, too."
The difference against the visiting Panthers was while FIU was throwing the ball into the paint and not getting much in return, Marshall not only hit a flurry of 3-pointers in one late first-half stretch, but also had only seven turnovers in the game's first 28 minutes.
A snapshot of the season shows how the Herd has been finding its legs offensively.
Marshall entered Thursday's game averaging 71.4 possessions per game - ranking No. 12 among 351 Division I teams. However, D'Antoni's team was getting only 0.94 points per possession ... ranking 316th.
What didn't help is the Herd is averaging 15.4 turnovers per game - in the bottom 15 nationally in giveaways and in 13 of 18 losses has failed to shoot 39 percent. It's been D'Antoni's contention that if the Herd can just "shoot 40 percent and keep our turnovers reasonable, we can win because our defense has been so good."
The win over FIU provided the kind of numbers Marshall has been producing more often of late.
"We had the kind of tempo we wanted until toward the end," D'Antoni said of the final 12 minutes, at which point the Herd lead had ballooned to 67-39. "We're getting a little bit better. When we shoot the ball and don't turn it over, we're hard to beat because I'll tell you that defense its pretty good. It's just a matter of we've got lot of young guys; we are who are we are. I don't want to stand here and say we've turned the corner. We've got to play the next game and the next game and so on. But we're better."
And against the Panthers in those first 28 minutes before the game deteriorated somewhat into a fouling and turnover battle, the Herd scored 67 points and converted on 29 of 48 possessions. That's efficiency. On 47 possessions in that same span, FIU scored on 20 for its 39 points. That's defense.
It was 29-23 Herd when Marshall strung together six straight hoops that were three-pointers - two each by Loop, Ryan Taylor and Justin Edmonds - he had 19 points for the Herd, one off his career high.
Those hoops were the last five MU goals of the first half and the opening bucket of the second half.
"We were struggling with turnovers early in the season and missed shots we're making now," Loop said. "A lot of it was getting into the flow of the offense and finding the energy. And really, I think that starts at the defensive end for us.
"That's been probably the most consistent thing for us, where the energy starts. Getting stops ... pushing the ball. You can definitely see the ball moving now. We've got unselfish play, and it's been fun."
Asked when he felt the Herd fortunes were turning, Loop mentioned the 78-71 home win over UTEP back on Jan. 24, with a caveat.
"Even down the stretch of the long losing streak, I still felt like we were going to turn it, to get hot," said Loop, who was 9-for-9 at the foul stripe. "The games we lost, we weren't getting blown out for the most part. A lot of times we were right there and with our own mistakes, we beat ourselves most of the time.
"Even then, we could see it coming together. Coach said it would be a process, and it has been, and it's great to see it come together, getting hot at the right time. If we can finish up these next three and go into the conference tournament with the confidence we have now, we can maybe shake things up a little bit down there."
