Herd hits road for second to last time

Hitting the road for the next to last time in the regular season, the Marshall men's basketball team heads to Dallas for a Saturday showdown with Southern Methodist University.

The Thundering Herd is coming off one of its hottest shooting performances of the season in a victory over East Carolina University and looks to carry that momentum into Dallas.

"We've had a good stretch where we've taken good shots, and we've had some guys, who I think are good shooters not make them," Marshall head coach Tom Herrion said. "I thought we had good ball movement and great shot selection against East Carolina."

Marshall hasn't seen the court since that game a week ago, and got to enjoy an off week to rest up mentally and physically.

"We needed to exhale, and kind of regroup and get our bodies back together, and our minds as well," Herrion said. "We've been in a tough stretch lately so we've got to take advantage of the off week."

The stretch has resulted in Marshall sitting fifth in the Conference USA with a record of 15-10 (6-5).

When it takes the court at SMU, the Herd should be at full strength with leading scorer DeAndre Kane returning after missing last weekend's outing against ECU while he attended the funeral of his father.

"He's just a really good player, and we're obviously a better team with him," Herrion said of Kane.

The Mustangs of SMU come into the contest as the bottom feeder in C-USA at 11-15 (2-9) and have lost nine of their last 11 games.

Regardless of the Mustangs' record, Herrion said he knows the challenges that face the Herd when it goes into Moody Coliseum.

"They're an unconventional team in some regards because they run a Princeton-type offense," Herrion said. "They really spread you out with cutting and spacing. It's a system that takes a lot of time to prepare for."

The Mustangs are lead in scoring and rebounding by senior forward Robert Nyakundi with 15 points and 4.9 rebounds a game.

Nyakundi will be expected to lead the way for SMU, as the Mustangs only other scorer averaging double-figures is junior guard London Giles with 10.4 points per game.

"They're a unique team to play against and we are going to have to really be locked in as we go down to Dallas because every game now gains more significance coming down the stretch," Herrion said.

With only five games remaining in the regular season, Herrion said the Herd must now look at every game as a "must win" as it attempts to climb into fourth in C-USA, which would give Marshall a first round bye in the conference tournament.

"I think every team in the country might be saying that at this time of year because everybody is trying to get their next win, and we're no different," Herrion said. "Everyone is starting to jockey for different positioning in seeding and in post-season play, so there's a lot of things on the table still."

In the final few game of the season Herrion said the teams success will depend on the leadership of its three seniors: Damier Pitts, Shaq Johnson and Dago Pena.

The three only have six guaranteed games remaining in a Marshall uniform, and Herrion said it needs to click with them that they have the chance to do something special while still at Marshall.

"It should, if it doesn't click, it better. The reality is it's the end of the line for them and they need to realize that and we need to play that way as a team," Herrion said.

Tip off between the Thundering Herd and Mustangs is slated to being at 3 p.m. Saturday inside Moody Coliseum.

Jarrod Clay can be contacted at clay105@live.marshall.edu.