MU, USM meet in C-USA opener

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Conference play is different.

Teams study each other?s strengths and weaknesses, and games are usually closer because of it. The intensity level rises with a heightened sense of urgency.

What a team has done outside the conference doesn?t matter much.

?When conference play starts everything changes,? said Marshall University sophomore guard Shaq Johnson. ?They scout you and they know what you are going to do, so you have to be ready.?

Marshall puts its 11-2 non-conference record aside for a Conference USA men?s basketball contest at 7 p.m., Tuesday, against Southern Miss (9-4) in Cam Henderson Center. It?s the tip-off game on this season?s C-USA schedule.

Thundering Herd head coach Donnie Jones made a reference to conference play as the real season.

To make his point Jones mentioned Old Dominion, which beat both Marshall and No. 12 Georgtown in the preseason, then lost its Colonial Athletic Association opener at George Mason.

He also brought up Ohio State, which was once in the Top 25, beginning Big Ten play with losses to Wisconsin and Michigan.

?Your league games are always the toughest of the season,? Jones said. ?We can?t live off those 11 wins.?

Marshall?s early-season schedule, which included a loss at No. 9 North Carolina and two one-sided victories against lower-division schools, was set up to give the Herd?s young players a chance to grow.

Jones said the team has played hard for the most part and is starting to figure out its identity.

?Now, the real season begins and you hope this non-conference schedule has prepared you for what you expect to be very tough conference play,? he said.

In comparison to last season when Marshall finished 15-17 overall and 7-9 in C-USA, this team enters conference play with more depth, more experienced and in better health.

Johnson and Damier Pitts were starting players as freshmen. Senior guard Chris Lutz missed various parts of last season injured. Senior forward Tyler Wilkerson (broken jaw) and sophomore guard Dago Pena (shoulder injury) didn?t finish last season.

And, freshman 7-footer Hassan Whiteside has played well.

The Herd has a 10-player rotation with each one getting at least 10 minutes a game.

?In our style of play we?ve always wanted to play eight, nine guys,? Jones said. ?We?ve gotten better, but we?re not where we want to be. The good news is our guys have gotten experience and if you do have an injury you get to play guys not for the first time.?

Marshall is scoring 82.4 points per game, second only to Houston (85.1) in C-USA. Wilkerson leads the team with a 13.2 average with Whiteside (12.6), Johnson (11.8) and Pitts (9.6) not far behind.

Whiteside has a 9.5 rebounding average while the 6-8 Wilkerson averages 7.4.

The Herd?s 48.6 field goal percentage leads the league.

Defensively, Marshall is allowing 64.9 points a game and its 37.7 percent field goal percentage defense is first in the conference. The defense is bolstered by Whiteside averaging five blocked shots a game, which ranks third in the nation.

Southern Miss, which has wins against four NAIA teams, is led by 6-8 junior college transfer Gary Flowers averaging 14.8 points and 8.8 rebounds. Maurice Bolden, a 6-10 sophomore who sat out last season, is scoring 12.4 points and getting 7.1 rebounds.

Junior guard R.L. Horton (8.7 ppg) was a starter last season when the Golden Eagles also went 15-17, but finished 4-12 in the conference.

Four new starting players are joined in the lineup by 6-6 junior Sai?Quon Stone (3.8 ppg, 3.1 reb) who missed the 2008-09 season because of a broken foot.

Southern Cal transfer Angelo Johnson is a 6-foot sophomore guard scoring 9.3 points a game and leading the team with 41 assists.

A lot of the names changed, but Southern Miss coach Larry Eustachy?s teams play the same, Jones said.

?They?re tough and physical, a typical Larry Eustachy team,? he said.

Southern Miss averages 70.1 points and is allowing an average of 61.9.

The Golden Eagles are a 70.8 percent free throw shooting team while the Herd is last in C-USA at 66.2 percent.

 

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Eagles need to step up to be competitive



THERE WERE BOUND to be ebbs and flows to the season for the Southern Miss men?s basketball team, but the Eagles are slumping badly headed into league play.

The inexperienced Golden Eagles took a step back with back-to-back losses to Canisius and North Florida, but Saturday?s 82-46 loss at Vanderbilt was a total thrashing.

Make no mistake about it, Vanderbilt is a very good team. It has versatility fitting of an NBA roster with good size, athleticism and shooting ability.

Five-star freshman John Jenkins lived up to his reputation, hitting all six of his 3-point attempts and totaled 20 points while A.J. Ogilvy and Festus Ezeli dominated in the frontcourt.

Southern Miss was out-classed at pretty much every position on the court.
Forward Gary Flowers tried to keep the Golden Eagles in the game with 17 points, and USM appeared ready to put up a challenge when it led 12-7 at the 13:58 mark in the first half.

But the Commodores absolutely steamrolled the Eagles the rest of the way.
Can't buy a basket

The Golden Eagles reverted back to the shooting troubles that cost them the unexpected losses to Canisius and North Florida. They hit on only 18 of 64 attempts in the game, missing almost 20 shots around the basket.

It all goes back to the backcourt again as USM guards combined to hit just 8 of 37 attempts.

R.L. Horton continued his early-season struggles, unable to hit on all three of his shots. His inability to contribute earned him only 10 minutes of playing time, the fewest of any of the Eagles who played Saturday.

The only backcourt player who showed any real confidence or energy for USM was true freshman Kenneth Ortiz. He always brings a boost to the team when Eustachy brings him off the bench.

Ortiz almost single-handedly brought the Eagles back in the 53-46 loss to North Florida, and his playing time has to continue to grow.
Let Ortiz play

The Eagles start the Conference USA schedule at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Marshall, a tough site to start league action.

Ortiz has been the only USM guard willing and capable of going at the opponent with aggression recently, and a road environment doesn?t intimidate him. While Angelo Johnson, Buchi Awaji and Horton struggle with their outside shots, Ortiz goes right at the defense and finds open teammates near the basket.

The Golden Eagles settled for too many jump shots Saturday, but Ortiz doesn?t feel the need to take those unwise attempts. He?s more concerned about cutting through the zone defense and getting his teammates easy shots.

Eustachy hopes that Horton can take over at point guard, but right now it seems that Ortiz is the one willing to do the dirty work that comes with the position.

Some of his moves look straight out of a Harlem Globetrotters game, and it?s apparent the tough New Jersey kid has what it takes to lead the way.