Big indication: No Miracle on Glory Road this basketball season. It will, indeed, be a step-at-a-time for Coach Tim Floyd's "FroshSophs" who are now 7-8 after some games ending in Miner smiles.
In this Conference USA opener, Marshall took UTEP's life-blood Xs and Os strategy and slammed a fist on the Floyd chalkboard. Marshall just plain chest-bumped UTEP away, taking a 5-point halftime lead into a 76-60 win.
On Wednesday it was like a scene on an elementary school playground. The older guys just beat the holy living daylights out of the first graders, who were playing five freshmen and a football player fill-in as the educational poleaxing was coming to an end in Huntington, W. Va.
It was a bad night, statistically, for the Miners. In fact, en route to just a 5-point halftime lead, the Marshall team did have a rebounding run of 12-1 in those first 20 minutes. Rebounding is Marshall's forte, and the Thundering Herd moved the Miners' Xs and Os around like dumping over the tic-tac-do board.
This will happen again. And good nights will happen again this season. Marshall was a decent-to-good team, more so a good physical team that shot better than its average. And UTEP won't beat teams on nights like these this season.
1st 15 minutes of the game were good but the big men inside gave it away at the end of the half. Just watch Bohannon on that last jump shot before half. He just stands there (doesn't try to box anybody out) while the Marshall player flys in and slams it home. Miners lost any momentum going into the second half and were blown out. Lang and McCulley are aggressive but with lack of depth foul trouble is killer inside (especially against a strong rebounding team). I really liked Streeter in the 1st half. I wish Perez would find some ways to score between the rim and the 3 point line. I would love to see Washburn reveal some of that athleticism for a spark during the games. He missed of few big dunks early in the year and we haven't seen anything since. Let's hope that Chris Washburn is a big rebounder and that January sticks with his commitment.
Posted by: David | January 04, 2012 at 09:56 PM
CUSA Basketball is only getting better each year; It looks like there are about 7-8 teams that can beat anybody on their home court; UTEP really needs to beat UH at home who barely beat Tulsa on their home court by one point......Its a long season and the teams that develop later in the year seem to do the best going into the CUSA tournament and post season play....
Posted by: ScoutWest | January 05, 2012 at 09:17 AM
I agree with most of David's takes. The 1st half was decent and the 2nd half was bad. We were no longer penetrating and settling for jumpers. I saw Perez open on the perimater and calling for the ball but no one looked his direction. I think he was 1 for 1 or 2 at the half. How do you allow your leading scorer to only get 5 shots in a game. The defence was not that great. I saw a missed opportunity for a perez dunk but Bo stepped in the way. I beleive Floyd through the towel in with 8 minutes left. I think that is bad for this young teams confidence to not allow them to try and come back. We shot a very good percentage in the 1st half but got killed on the boards.
Posted by: Tony | January 05, 2012 at 08:14 PM
I think the Miners have a great shot at being a top team in CUSA this year. CUSA is weaker than it has been in a while, providing the Miners with an opportunity.
There are still a good number of games to play yet. The Miners might yet surprise you.
Posted by: a fan | January 06, 2012 at 12:50 AM