— By Bill Cornwell
Marshall basketball has entered the homestretch of the regular season.
The Herd have a busy schedule for the foreseeable future, and are back in action at 8:30 p.m. Saturday with a nationally-televised contest at Georgia Southern. The clash between the Herd and Eagles will be shown on ESPNU.
It’s a fairly quick turnaround for Marshall (16-9, 8-4 Sun Belt) after the Herd came from behind to win 81-79 at Old Dominion on Wednesday.
It’s an even quicker turnaround for Marshall before its next matchup, which comes Monday in Huntington against South Alabama for a makeup contest that was postponed January 24.
With a win in Statesboro, Marshall stays in the thick of the race for a Sun Belt Conference regular season championship.
Appalachian State, which lost to the Herd in Huntington, is atop the league with a 10-4 mark, followed by Troy at 9-4. South Alabama and Marshall are in a two-way tie for third place entering the weekend.
Marshall leads its all-time series with Georgia Southern 14-4 and won both meetings last season.
Georgia Southern (14-12, 6-7) suffered an 81-65 loss to Appalachian State on Wednesday, extending the Eagles’ losing streak to three games.
Charlie Henry is in his third season as head coach of the Eagles and has a 40-52 record.
Guard Spudd Webb leads GSU with an average of 16 points, while guard Tyren Moore averages 13.9 points and forward Alden Applewhite is the third double-figure scorer at 12.5.
Applewhite tops the Eagles with 5.8 rebounds on average.
The Eagles average 8.2 steals and force opponents into 14 turnovers per game.
Wyatt Fricks is Marshall’s top scorer at 14.9 points after pouring in 24 at ODU. Fricks has 62 points across his last three contests and has scored in double figures 14 of the last 15 games.
Guards Noah Otshudi (14.6) and Jalen Speer (14.4) hardly trail Fricks’ team-high scoring mark.
Center Matt Van Komen has missed the last three games with a foot injury and remains Marshall’s top rebounder at 7.6, while Fricks averages just south of six boards.
An ability to share the ball and play for each other has often been on display from Marshall, which is averaging 17 assists, thanks in large part to Speer, who leads the Sun Belt with 146.
Marshall leads its all-time series with Georgia Southern 14-4 and won both meetings last season.