— By Bill Cornwell
An extended break ahead of Sun Belt Conference Tournament play ends Sunday for Marshall.
The Thundering Herd wrapped up the 2025-26 regular season February 27 with a 99-82 home loss to Georgia Southern.
Despite the result, a six-way tie for second place in the Sun Belt worked out quite favorably for Marshall, which is the No. 2 seed with an automatic bye into a semifinal.
The Herd will get another crack at the Eagles at 8:30 p.m. Sunday with a spot in the Sun Belt title game at stake.
With nine days between contests, Marshall had a chance to rest and work on fine-tuning its performance before it takes the court at Pensacola Bay Center for its third matchup this season with Georgia Southern.
The Eagles (20-15) have won four games over the last four days, defeating Old Dominion, Arkansas State, South Alabama and Coastal Carolina to reach this point. Combined with its February win in Huntington, the Eagles have been victorious in five straight.
Georgia Southern also defeated Marshall at home this season, 101-87, with the Eagles having amassed 200 points over two games against the Herd.
“Huge opportunity for us,” Herd head coach Cornelius Jackson said. “We were fortunate to get the number 2 seed, so we have a few days off to get ourselves right after the loss to Georgia Southern. It’s a two-game season for us — one possession and one game at a time.”
Jackson hasn’t noticed discouragement from his squad after losing two of its last three regular season games.
He’s more concerned about Marshall controlling the narrative in Pensacola — regardless of opponent.
“We controlled our own destiny,” Jackson said. “We still do. We gave the guys a couple of days off to regroup mentally since we don’t play until Sunday. I thought we had a good practice on Monday.
“We are upbeat and we’re locked in on winning on Sunday.”
Top seed Troy takes on Southern Miss in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. Sunday.