OVERCOMING

It’s not the way any team wants to enter conference play.

Lopsided losses at SEC member Texas A&M and ACC power Virginia in its final two non-conference contests reinforces the fact the Marshall University men’s basketball team has several areas of concern to correct if it hopes to repeat as Conference USA champion.

The biggest problem has been the play inside following the loss to 6-foot-10 Ajdin Penava, who opted for the NBA Draft last season after he led the nation in blocked shots (134), averaged 15.6 points and 8.5 rebounds a game and won C-USA’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Marshall won the C-USA tournament title and beat Wichita State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Redshirt freshman Iran Bennett (6-9) and transfers Mikel Beyers (6-9) and Ante Sustic (6-10) have yet to emerge from the big shadow created by Penava’s departure.

“The biggest thing we’re missing is Penava. That was an unexpected loss and we haven’t filled that gap like we have to,” Marshall coach Dan D’Antoni stressed to the media again after a 100-64 loss at No. 4/1 Virginia on Dec. 31. “Some of the little things in the second half I kind of liked. We started being a little more aggressive; right now we’re soft and we don’t make the plays that you’ve got to make. That’s where we are and I’ve been doing this a long time. It can flip in a heartbeat, so hopefully we’ll be around at the end of the year. Old Hillbilly Ball will come back.”

In the preseason Conference USA poll, Western Kentucky got the nod to win the championship. The Herd was picked second and Old Dominion third.

Herd basketball D’Antoni style has to switch gears quickly as Marshall, which went 7-6 in non-conference action, faced a tough opening stretch in C-USA.

After home dates against FAU and FIU, it’s a trip to Western Kentucky on Jan. 21.

Adam Gue

Prior to the Virginia game, Texas A&M thumped the Herd, 92-68, in College Station, Texas. In addition to big deficits in points in the paint and rebounds, Marshall had off days from senior guards Jon Elmore and C.J. Burks. That’s a combination for disaster. On the flip side, follow the designed plan and the Herd’s up to the challenge whether it’s playing small or not.

ODU coach Jeff Jones, perhaps surprisingly, got to witness how things go down when the Herd’s up-tempo, bombs away style pans out. Marshall connected on seven 3-pointers in the second half, the biggest a trey by Jarrod West just before the buzzer to propel the Herd to a 70-67 win. Elmore finished with 20 points and 10 assists, No. 10 the one to set up West, for his first double-double of the season.

“The bottom line is we didn’t play well enough to beat a Marshall team that I think played at a high level,” Jones said. “From the film I’ve seen, that was about as good as I’ve seen them play, and obviously they shot the ball well. They made big shots.”

D’Antoni has always been confident Elmore would hit his stride.

“He’s been struggling the last three weeks of the season,” D’Antoni said of Elmore. “I’m looking for ways that we can get… we don’t have a rhythm. It’s a little bit that we had a couple big guys that we thought could take Penava’s place. The way they got open last year is that we flowed into everything. Early in the year we had those three big guys that were slowing us down a little bit and we were trying to manipulate our team and how we played last year to fit how they played. “Big boy (Bennett) got hurt, Mikel Beyers prior to this time hadn’t stepped up, the other big kid (Sustic) hadn’t really stepped up, so we’re going back to more of a flow offense. We still have to have a four or five, it’s important in our offense, that can put it on the floor and make plays. We’ve had that in the last three years and we don’t have that this year… If I can get Mikel Beyers at 6-9 to be able to do a little bit off dribble, which he’s capable of, then maybe we can get our flow back, and that flow creates the angles for Jon to get up in there and for C.J. to get up in there. Right now we’re just not very good.”

Beyers played 12 minutes against ODU. He was one eight players to see action as D’Antoni appears to have settled on a rotation. Byers would then come through with his biggest moment to date against Charlotte. Burks scored 25 points, the biggest being a layup with 31 seconds to give the Herd an 85-84 lead. Charlotte had one last chance, but Beyers blocked a three-point attempt by Jon Davis to seal the win. And freshman guard Taevion Kinsey tied a career-high with 14 points.

The team’s home C-USA opener was against Western Kentucky, which Marshall beat in the C-USA Tournament finale last March. The Herd came from behind to beat the Hilltoppers 70-69 in front of over 76-hundred fans at the Henderson Center. Marshall’s winning points came on a late 3-pointer by sophomore Jannson Williams.

“We have a lot of young kids playing,” D’Antoni told Rick McCann of the The Herald-Dispatch. “We’re kind of blank in that junior class. We go from our three seniors really down to freshman and sophomores. It’s a challenge, but it’s a fun challenge. It’s fun to watch these kids develop. Hopefully by the end of the year I won’t call them freshmen, I’ll call them champions.”

In the Virginia game, Kyle Guy set career-highs in points (30), rebounds (8) and three pointers (7 of 9) to spark the Cavaliers (12-0 in non-conference play). D’Antoni praised Guy’s performance, but also longs for the effort from Herd defenders to keep that from happening again.

“You know, as good as he is, that makes me mad. I’m going to get on him,” D’Antoni said. “He isn’t going to play against me like that. We haven’t gotten there; we’re soft. He’s a really good player and I’m not taking anything away from him, but I’m telling you, I’m going to compete. Last year we competed and this year we’re not there.”

In addition, whatever Herd players did a year ago, that’s history. The 2018-19 season is a new chapter and players need to treat it that way.

Western Kentucky went 7-6 in non-conference play after its Dec. 29 win at home over No. 15/16 Wisconsin. The Badgers (10-3) were the highest ranked team the Hilltoppers have beaten at home since toppling No. 6 Providence in 1973. Their other big wins came over West Virginia in tournament play and at Arkansas. Old Dominion won at nationally-ranked Syracuse on Dec. 15. nother team to watch is North Texas. The Mean Green won its C-USA opener to reach 13-1 for the first time since 1952-53. Marshall visits North Texas on Feb. 7.

Here’s how other C-USA teams fared in non-conference play.Louisiana Tech 10-3, FIU 9-4, FAU 9-4, Southern Miss 8-5, UAB 8-5, UTEP 5-6, UTSA 5-7, Rice 5-8, Charlotte 3-8 and Middle Tennessee 3-10 (nine-game losing streak going into C-USA play).

C-USA has altered its late-season schedule in hopes of moving past being an NCAA one-bid league. The conventional league schedule is gone in favor of a more radical one based on results. C-USA’s 14 teams won’t know who they’ll be playing during the final two weeks of the regular season until mid-February, when the standings will determine the final matchups. The move is to ensure the league’s best teams are playing each other in hopes of improving their tournament profiles.