Medder allows for Jordan domination of Whiteside

TULSA, Okla. — At first, Jerome Jordan seemed hesitant.

With his defender tucked neatly on his hip and his position prime, within arm's length from the basket, the Tulsa big man caught an entry pass from Ben Uzoh and then passed it back out to him at the top of the key.

Uzoh, realizing a potentially wasted scoring opportunity, immediately tossed it right back to Jordan.

This time, the 7-footer wasn't so hesitant.

With one swift power dribble, Jordan went up and laid a soft hook over the outstretched reach of the Marshall player who tried to swat him.

That player was Hassan Whiteside. That bucket made it 66-58 Golden Hurricane with 6:43 to play.

Welcome to the theme of Thursday's Conference USA quarterfinal game at the BOK Center.

"I think it's a good matchup every time we go up against each other," Jordan said. "I just knew I had to produce offensively to kind of counteract his defensive presence."

In their two previous low block get-togethers, Jordan and Whiteside usually drew a crowd.

Double and triple teams were the norm when No. 23 in blue got the ball and vice-versa when No. 21 in green gathered the rock.

On Thursday night, it was no different.

When Whiteside assumed his post position, he got outside pressure from the Tulsa guards.

When Jordan did it, Chris Lutz usually crashed in for help — until Golden Hurricane coach Doug Wojcik sent in his weapon.

And freshman Donte Medder delivered with the game of his life.

"They bring in him and took (Bishop) Wheatley out and that makes it really hard for us to double in the post," said Marshall coach Donnie Jones.

Yes it does.

The Herd had success in its win 64-58 over Tulsa on Feb. 17 because it could lay off Wheatley, a non-threat to score on offense, and focus on tag teaming Jordan.

When Lutz tag teamed Jordan with Whiteside and with Wilkerson, the team performed that task almost flawlessly in their win.

They couldn't do it in their loss.

Medder, who scored all of four points in six minutes in that February matchup, gave Tulsa an outside threat that stretched the Marshall defense and allowed for Jordan to go one-on-one with Whiteside.

Medder, a 6-foot-1 guard with a silky smooth stroke, scored 11 points, all coming in the second half. Jordan scored 10 of his 21 points during a five-minute stretch where he had Marshall's big guy all to himself.

Thanks Donte.

"(Medder is) a difference maker," Jones said.

The difference between the Herd moving on and the Herd going home.

Andrew Ramspacher can be contacted at ramspacher@marshall.edu.