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MARSHALL SPORTS
Herd in Dallas to play SMU
Marshall's Shaquille Johnson drives against Bishop Wheatley of Tulsa during the C-USA mens basketball game on Wednesday, Feb. 17, 2010, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
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HUNTINGTON -- One more stop on the road to Tulsa, Okla.
Marshall University plays its final regular season men's basketball game at 8 p.m., Saturday, against SMU at Moody Coliseum in Dallas, Texas, before heading out to the Conference USA tournament that begins Wednesday in the Sooner State.
The Thundering Herd will be either the No. 4 or No. 5 seed in the tournament.
But, the prize for a Marshall victory over SMU could be a top-four regular season finish and a bye into the tournament quarterfinals as long as Memphis wins its home game with Tulsa or some other scenarios come into play.
"We don't need it, but we need it," Marshall guard Shaq Johnson said.
C-USA tournament scenarios involving Marshall are:
If Marshall or Tulsa win and the other one loses, the winner is seeded No. 4.
If there is a three-way tie because UAB loses while Marshall and Tulsa win, it goes No. 3 UAB, No. 4 Marshall and No. 5 Tulsa.
If UAB, Marshall and Tulsa all win, or Marshall and Tulsa both lose, the tie-breaker is No. 4 Tulsa and No. 5 Marshall based on Tulsa's win over Houston and Marshall's loss to Houston.
Getting a bye is an advantage because the top four teams have an extra preparation day and a shorter tournament.
"Finishing fourth, instead of playing four games you're playing three games," Johnson said.
SMU can finish as the sixth, seventh or eighth seed and will be playing on the first day.
Marshall coach Donnie Jones was out Thursday because of strep throat, but traveled Friday with the team and said he was feeling a lot better.
Jones said attaining a bye is important, but the Herd is also playing to enhance its postseason tournament prospects. C-USA's champion receives automatic entry to the NCAA tournament. Other tournament possibilities are the National Invitation Tournament (NIT), the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) and the CollegeInsider.com Tournament (CIT).
SMU has the same outlook.
"We talk about madness in March," Mustangs' coach Matt Doherty said. "Why not us? Yes, it's going to be tough. It's hard to win. But why can't we win?"
Marshall favors an uptempo game in the 80s. SMU will run with the basketball, but normally runs a Princeton-style offense that tends to keep scores down.
Forward Tyler Wilkerson's 13.6 scoring average leads the Herd and is followed by center Hassan Whiteside (13.5), point guard Damier Pitts (10.5), Johnson (10.0) and guard Chris Lutz (9.4).
SMU point guard Derek Williams, the league's fourth-leading scorer at 16.9 per game, has an ankle injury and his availability was in question. Williams' status was is 50-50, the Dallas Morning News newspaper reported Friday. Forwards Papa Dia (12.3) and Mouhammad Faye (10.8) are also in double figures.
The 7-foot Whiteside and 6-foot-9 Dia are two of the league's top rebounders with 9.2 and 8.6 per game respectively. Wilkerson averages 7.1 rebounds and Faye gets 5.4 a game.
Whiteside leads the nation with 165 blocked shots.
Marshall also wants to get back to playing good defense after allowing 115 (triple-overtime) and 80 points in the last two games.
"We have to get our edge back," Johnson said.
Marshall has seven wins away from home, its most since the 1986-87 season.
The Herd has a 4-0 series lead on SMU, but the games were decided by three, one, three and one point. Markel Humphrey's 75-foot shot at the buzzer beat SMU last season in Huntington.
It's Senior Night at Moody Coliseum for Williams and Faye in their final home game.
NBA scouts from 15 teams requested seats.
