MCGILL: Herd women enter C-USA tourney with different vibe
3/9/2021 10:25:00 PM | Women's Basketball, Word on the Herd
Marshall plays Louisiana Tech in Wednesday's 3 p.m. game on ESPN+
By Chuck McGill
HerdZone.com
At this time a year ago, as the coronavirus pandemic began to take foothold in the United States, the Marshall University women's basketball team entered the Conference USA tournament as the No. 8 seed. The Thundering Herd had lost four of five games entering postseason play, needed overtime to survive its first round matchup and then was rewarded with a matchup against No. 1 Rice.
That quarterfinal meeting never happened, and nearly one year later to the day the Marshall women are back inside the Ford Center at the Star in Frisco, Texas, but the circumstances are slightly different this time around. Yes, the coronavirus is still around, but there doesn't seem to be the looming threat of a collegiate sports stoppage – knock on hardwood. That's good, for a number of reasons, but from a performance standpoint this is different for the Herd because it is entering the 14-team event with a whole lot of reasons to believe.
Last season, Marshall defeated two C-USA teams with winning overall records at season's end and only one of those teams had a winning league mark. This season, the Herd enters the C-USA tournament having split six consecutive back-to-back matchups in league play – vs. WKU, FIU, ODU, Rice, North Texas and Middle Tennessee. Five of those six teams – all but the rival Hilltoppers – had winning overall records this season.
Marshall took one game each from C-USA East Division champion Middle Tennessee and West Division winner Rice in the final few weeks of the season, as well as North Texas, which finished third in the West.
Yes, things are a tad different this time around.
"It's cool to be back here," Marshall head coach Tony Kemper said. "I like seeing the signs for the conference tournament knowing the change in all of our lives a year ago when we were down here. We were getting ready to play and it kind of stopped on us. We're in a good place. It's on."
Marshall, the No. 5 seed from the East, will face the West No. 4 seed, Louisiana Tech, on Wednesday at 3 p.m. (Eastern) on ESPN+. The teams will play for a spot in the quarterfinals, where the aforementioned Middle Tennessee awaits.
The Herd and LA Tech have faced off this season in the Friday-Saturday matchups that were customary in 2020-21's reshaped schedule. Marshall lost the Friday matchup, 61-51, in overtime, but won the Saturday meeting, 61-57, to split the series. Those games – played Jan. 1 and Jan. 2 – were the first of seven series splits for the Herd in eight 2-game weekend matchups.
"When I look back on it," Kemper said, "that feels like so many games ago that we played them."
Here's what should still be relevant as the teams prepare for Round 3. LA Tech shot 28.9 percent in its win, including 18.8 percent in the first half as the Herd built a double-digit halftime lead. The Lady Techsters rallied in that game with a strong fourth quarter performance, and then hit 4 of 7 shots in overtime.
Even so, Marshall replicated the defensive effort in the second meeting, holding LA Tech to 29.2 percent shooting to get the win. The Lady Techsters shot 39.8 percent from the field for the season, but did not break 30 percent in either matchup with the Herd, which finished No. 3 in C-USA in field goal percentage defense.
Kemper said his team is "a lot different in a good way" from two months ago when these teams faced off. He has a deeper playbook. He has a healthier, deeper team. His team has outrebounded the opposition in four consecutive games. There was a stretch early in the season in which Marshall was outrebounded in seven consecutive games, including both matchups with Wednesday's tournament opponent.
"I like where we're at," Kemper said. "If we get beat, we'll get beat because they were a little bit better than us.
"We're in a good place, but we have to lace them up on Wednesday and get after it for 40 minutes. It's going to take all 40."
Chuck McGill is the Assistant Athletic Director for Fan/Donor Engagement and Communications at Marshall University and a nine-time winner of the National Sports Media Association West Virginia Sportswriter of the Year award. In addition to HerdZone.com's Word on the Herd, McGill is the editor of Thundering Herd Illustrated, Marshall's official athletics publication. Follow him on Twitter (@chuckmcgill) and Instagram (wordontheherd).