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SPORTS
Hot Memphis awaits cold Marshall
Marshall head coach Tom Herrion disagrees with a call by the officials as the Herd takes on UAB during the C-USA basketball game on Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2012, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington. UAB won 56-49.
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HUNTINGTON -- Marshall's Thundering Herd and the Memphis Tigers are moving in different directions.
Marshall lost its last three games and is 4-5 since opening the men's basketball season 9-2. The Herd is 13-7 overall and 4-2 in Conference USA. Memphis won its last two and eight of its last nine while getting to a 14-6 overall record and 5-1 in the conference.
The teams collide at 9 p.m., Saturday, for a game in FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., that will be televised on WSAZ and Charter Sports Southeast (Huntington cable Ch. 68).
Both coaching staffs are participating in Coaches vs. Cancer Weekend, wearing sneakers instead of dress shoes.
At the end of the night Marshall could be possibly tied for first place, tied for fifth or somewhere in between. That's how tight the C-USA standings are. Memphis and Southern Miss are tied in first place followed by UCF and Tulsa with 5-2 league records and Marshall.
"We've got to play at a high level and have some fun," Marshall head coach Tom Herrion said.
The deciding factor might be shooting the basketball.
Marshall has struggled to make any shots and is ranked ninth in C-USA field goal percentage (42.7), 12th (last) in 3-point percentage (29.9) and last in free throw percentage (59.4).
Herrion said defense and rebounding were good enough to win Wednesday's game against UAB, but Marshall fell to the Blazers, 56-49, when the Herd made only 35 percent of its shots and missed 10 of 17 free throws.
Memphis is not only leading the conference in scoring (74.7) and field goal percentage (48.1), the Tigers are preventing other teams from making shots. Memphis has the league's best field goal percentage defense at 37.9.
The Tigers have an 11-0 record when opponents shot less than 40 percent.
Herd players such as Dre Kane (42.9 percent), Damier Pitts (38.1), Shaq Johnson (38.3) and Dago Pena (36.4) don't need to start making all their shots, just some of them.
"Shoot 45 percent and make some free throws," Herrion said.
Memphis opened the season as a Top 25 team in The Associated Press rankings. Losses to Michigan, Georgetown (two), Murray State and Louisville left the Tigers unranked.
But, head coach Josh Pastner's club is getting back in the picture.
"Part of the season is how you finish," Pastner said Wednesday after Memphis defeated Rice, 73-51. "It's about improvement. It's about are you getting better. You don't want to peak in the early part, you want to make sure you're playing your basketball in the later part.
"We've still got a ways to go. We're not a finished product, but we are getting better and that's the most important thing."
Two of C-USA's top scorers will be on the court, and both players are sophomores.
Memphis guard Will Barton is tops in C-USA at 18.3 points per game, followed by East Carolina guard Miguel Paul (16.5) and Marshall guard Dre Kane (16.2).
Barton, at 6-foot-6, averages 8.7 rebounds which is sixth in the conference.
Next on the Memphis scoring list is sophomore guard Joe Jackson with a 10.1 average.
Kane is also seventh on the conference list for assists (3.8) and steals (1.4). The 6-foot-4 perimeter player ranks 16th with 5.7 rebounds a game.
Pitts averages 12.9 points and 4.5 assists for the Herd.
The marquee players inside are 6-8 sophomore Tarik Black of the Tigers and 6-8 junior Dennis Tinnon for the Herd. Black's statistics include 9.4 scoring and 4.9 rebound averages, 64.5 percent shooting and 39 blocked shots. Tinnon is scoring 9.8 points while shooting 54.2 percent from the floor and 80.4 percent at the foul line. Tinnon is 14th nationally with 10.5 rebounds per game.
Marshall is fourth in the nation in rebound margin at plus-9.5 and was out-rebounded in only one game.
Memphis has average attendance of 16,547 in 18,400-seat FedExForum where the Tigers have an all-time record of 137-16.
The Herd trails in the series, 8-2, and is winless in five games at FedExForum, which is hosting the C-USA tournament.
