For old-school Marshall basketball fans, Tuesday night represents a considerable dose of nostalgia.
The Thundering Herd travels to Tennessee-Chattanooga, that old Southern Conference rival of decades ago. The school prefers ?Chattanooga? these days, even using a ?C? for the logo.
This is the same Moc program that won 69-68 in Huntington in November 2010. The Herd will play in McKenzie Arena, but don?t be fooled. It?s still affectionately called ?The Roundhouse,? and this is MU?s 17th visit, first in 19 years.
A few things haven?t changed at all: The Mocs still play in the Southern Conference, and they?re contenders. Last season, they were better than that.
After winning their 11th regular season league championship, first-year coach Matt McCall?s Mocs won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAAs. They finished 29-6, with the number of wins a school record.
Starting 6-2 with a win over Tennessee, they have the weapons to do it again. Marshall (5-2) faces a stern challenge in the 7 p.m. contest.
?This team might be the best team we?ve faced,? said Herd coach Dan D?Antoni. ?Their team is one who went all the way to the NCAAs last year, they returned almost everybody. They?re senior-laden and their style of play, we?re almost playing a mirror of ourselves, offensively and defensively.?
Indeed the four Mocs who have started all eight games are seniors: Justin Tuoyo, Greg Pryor, Tre? McLean and Johnathan Burroughs-Cook. McLean (12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds) is the SoCon?s preseason player of the year, and Tuoyo (14.8 points, 7.9 rebounds) is a two-time defensive player of the year.
The 6-foot-10 Tuoyo is shooting 63.2 percent from the floor, and he already has 29 blocks, extending his school record to 210.
He?s going to get his share against smaller Herd players. The key is to deny him the ball offensively and get him away from the basket defensively.
?We?ll have to deny him, push him up, get him out of his comfort zone a little bit,? D?Antoni said. ?He does hang around the rim and block a lot of shots.?
Chattanooga is on a three-game winning streak, the latest 79-52 Saturday over Louisiana-Monroe. The Mocs forced 23 turnovers.
Conversely, the Herd is coming off an 89-80 loss at Eastern Kentucky, its second setback in as many road games. It took the shine off the Herd?s solid win at home over Ohio.
?This team didn?t come out with enough energy,? D?Antoni said. ?This team?s got to learn that just because you win one game doesn?t mean you win the next one, that they?re going to roll over. We haven?t played well away from home yet.?
The biggest positive? Perhaps knowing the Herd can play with four guards, if need be, at least for a few minutes. Ky?re Allison, who finished with 14 points and a steal, played the extra guard role.
The Herd cut a 16-point lead to three in the final minutes, but don?t expect that to be a full-game strategy.
?The reason that the four-guard worked is I waited until it got down to the 4:00 mark, when they would start playing the clock, and not attack until maybe 12, 13 seconds,? D?Antoni said. ?So they got a little reluctant with the ball, just trying to hold out, which allowed us to pressure more. They turned the ball over and we went down and scored.
?That?s a little misleading; if they kept on attacking, it might not have been the same.?
Terrence Thompson will miss the game, his second in a row, with an abdominal injury. He has been considered day-to-day.
BRIEFLY: Marshall trails the all-time series 28-19, and is 6-16 in Chattanooga. The Mocs won that 2010 game in Huntington when DeAndre Kane was whistled for a charging foul on what would have been the game-winning basket. ? MU games still account for sixth- and seventh-largest crowds at The Roundhouse ? 10,491 in 1984 and 10,727 in 1987. ? Jon Elmore leads the Herd in points (21.4), assists (5.9) and steals (12). He ranks second, third and third, respectively in Conference USA. Austin Loop is first in 3-pointers made (24, 3.4 average) and third in percentage (.471).
The Thundering Herd travels to Tennessee-Chattanooga, that old Southern Conference rival of decades ago. The school prefers ?Chattanooga? these days, even using a ?C? for the logo.
This is the same Moc program that won 69-68 in Huntington in November 2010. The Herd will play in McKenzie Arena, but don?t be fooled. It?s still affectionately called ?The Roundhouse,? and this is MU?s 17th visit, first in 19 years.
A few things haven?t changed at all: The Mocs still play in the Southern Conference, and they?re contenders. Last season, they were better than that.
After winning their 11th regular season league championship, first-year coach Matt McCall?s Mocs won the conference tournament and advanced to the NCAAs. They finished 29-6, with the number of wins a school record.
Starting 6-2 with a win over Tennessee, they have the weapons to do it again. Marshall (5-2) faces a stern challenge in the 7 p.m. contest.
?This team might be the best team we?ve faced,? said Herd coach Dan D?Antoni. ?Their team is one who went all the way to the NCAAs last year, they returned almost everybody. They?re senior-laden and their style of play, we?re almost playing a mirror of ourselves, offensively and defensively.?
Indeed the four Mocs who have started all eight games are seniors: Justin Tuoyo, Greg Pryor, Tre? McLean and Johnathan Burroughs-Cook. McLean (12.3 points, 4.9 rebounds) is the SoCon?s preseason player of the year, and Tuoyo (14.8 points, 7.9 rebounds) is a two-time defensive player of the year.
The 6-foot-10 Tuoyo is shooting 63.2 percent from the floor, and he already has 29 blocks, extending his school record to 210.
He?s going to get his share against smaller Herd players. The key is to deny him the ball offensively and get him away from the basket defensively.
?We?ll have to deny him, push him up, get him out of his comfort zone a little bit,? D?Antoni said. ?He does hang around the rim and block a lot of shots.?
Chattanooga is on a three-game winning streak, the latest 79-52 Saturday over Louisiana-Monroe. The Mocs forced 23 turnovers.
Conversely, the Herd is coming off an 89-80 loss at Eastern Kentucky, its second setback in as many road games. It took the shine off the Herd?s solid win at home over Ohio.
?This team didn?t come out with enough energy,? D?Antoni said. ?This team?s got to learn that just because you win one game doesn?t mean you win the next one, that they?re going to roll over. We haven?t played well away from home yet.?
The biggest positive? Perhaps knowing the Herd can play with four guards, if need be, at least for a few minutes. Ky?re Allison, who finished with 14 points and a steal, played the extra guard role.
The Herd cut a 16-point lead to three in the final minutes, but don?t expect that to be a full-game strategy.
?The reason that the four-guard worked is I waited until it got down to the 4:00 mark, when they would start playing the clock, and not attack until maybe 12, 13 seconds,? D?Antoni said. ?So they got a little reluctant with the ball, just trying to hold out, which allowed us to pressure more. They turned the ball over and we went down and scored.
?That?s a little misleading; if they kept on attacking, it might not have been the same.?
Terrence Thompson will miss the game, his second in a row, with an abdominal injury. He has been considered day-to-day.
BRIEFLY: Marshall trails the all-time series 28-19, and is 6-16 in Chattanooga. The Mocs won that 2010 game in Huntington when DeAndre Kane was whistled for a charging foul on what would have been the game-winning basket. ? MU games still account for sixth- and seventh-largest crowds at The Roundhouse ? 10,491 in 1984 and 10,727 in 1987. ? Jon Elmore leads the Herd in points (21.4), assists (5.9) and steals (12). He ranks second, third and third, respectively in Conference USA. Austin Loop is first in 3-pointers made (24, 3.4 average) and third in percentage (.471).
