Marshall moving on after Memphis

HUNTINGTON -- It's all about keeping things in perspective.

Memphis drilled Marshall by 23 points Wednesday night (80-57) in a Conference USA men's basketball game played before a FedExForum crowd of 17,606.

But, it was one game in a lengthy C-USA race.

"It's the first conference game and that's it," Marshall freshman guard Damier Pitts said before the game. "I'm not going into the game to beat Memphis and think the season is over."

Memphis (11-3, 1-0) also dealt Marshall a 23-point defeat last season when the teams met in Huntington.

Marshall was just the first of eight conference home games for the Tigers, who have won their last 33 C-USA home games. The Tigers have won 43 consecutive conference games overall.

UAB, Rice, Houston, Tulsa, SMU, Southern Miss and Tulane visit Memphis later.

Marshall (7-7, 0-1) plays its first C-USA home game at 3 p.m. Saturday against East Carolina (9-5, 1-0), which held on at home Wednesday to beat Tulane, 69-66.

There's still a lot of basketball to be played, Marshall head coach Donnie Jones said.

Marshall had a good defensive game plan, but its offense didn't come through.

The Thundering Herd played mostly zone defense, clogging the lane and forcing Memphis to rely on outside shooting, which isn't their strong suit.

"We came out and really wanted to try and mix up defenses; zone, man," Jones said. "We wanted to try and keep them off balance, just try to force them to make jump shots, like everybody's tried to do to them.

"We knew we had to rebound and come out and take care of the ball and get shots. We got shots, but we just didn't capitalize on making shots."

Marshall had a season-low shooting percentage of 28.6 percent, which tailed off to 21.2 percent in the second half against C-USA's best defensive team.

Chris Lutz is a guard Marshall depends on to make shots, and he was 0-for-5. Lutz, who averages 9.8 points, didn't score. He was 1-for-7 with two points last week in a loss at San Diego.

"His confidence is rattled right now, but he has to find a way to come into games and make some shots," Jones said.

Forward Tirrell Baines and guard Dago Pena were also 0-for-5.

Marshall received a lift from Markel Humphrey with 14 points and six rebounds when it wasn't known if the forward would even play because of a foot injury. Forward Tyler Wilkerson and Pitts both scored 11.

The Tigers seized momentum late in the first half and carried it through the break.

Antonio Anderson, who led Memphis with 17 points, scored on a layup and made a foul shot that put the Tigers ahead, 32-28, with 1:38 left in the half. Marshall guard Shaq Johnson followed by missing two foul shots with 1:16 left, then committed a costly turnover.

Johnson had the ball in his hands close to the sideline and lost it out of bounds. Only 21 seconds remained, but it was enough time for Anderson to make a 3-point shot and give Memphis a 35-28 halftime edge.

Memphis pulled away by 29 in the second half.