One for the road

After coming off an emotional week featuring a triple-overtime win and the last home game for seniors, the Marshall men's basketball team can end the season on a high note.

The Herd visits Conference USA rival SMU on Saturday in the season finale for both teams. If the Herd wins, it is guaranteed a first-round bye in the C-USA Tournament.

Assistant coach Shawn Finney said there is a difference between playing four days in a row than playing three.

"That's a big advantage for team's who get byes," Finney said. "Hopefully we go out on Saturday and we take care of business."

Standing in the way of Marshall's second round hopes is a very long and defensive minded team in the Mustangs.

On defense, SMU is holding C-USA opponents to more than 12 points below the teams' scoring average.

Also a problem for the Herd is the Mustangs' grind-it-out offense. SMU head coach Matt Doherty runs a version of the Princeton offense, which takes up a lot of the shot clock.

The key for the Herd is to stay out of the Mustangs' slow tempo and push the ball to speed up the game the way the Herd likes it.

"We just got to keep them off the glass and get the defensive rebound and push it," said senior guard Chris Lutz. "They like to grind it out and take off some of the shot clock. So we're going to have to get down and guard, and off rebounds and turnovers and push it."

Leading SMU is 6-foot-9 forward Papa Dia. The junior from Senegal averages 12.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.

Dia is an example of something Marshall has had trouble with all season, defenders who are tall and long. But the Herd have a strategy to deal with the lanky defenders.

"You have to attack their length," Finney said. "You have to create contact. They change defenses and try to keep you off your game defensively and keep you off rhythm."

The Herd (22-8, 10-5, C-USA) will also have to deal with SMU leading scorer Derek Williams. The senior guard will be the outside presence that compliments Dia's inside game.

But the Jamaica, N.Y., native has struggled in the past few games including missing a layup with 10 seconds left against Tulsa that would have given the Mustangs the lead.

Yet SMU (14-15, 7-8) has played well over the month and the Herd knows that in C-USA if you take a night off, you can get beat.

"The tournament is going to be wide open," Finney said. "There are a lot of good teams that can put a good steak together. It's going to be exciting."

The Herd know the importance of this game though. Win and the road is a little easier, lose and you lose all momentum going into the tournament.

"Going into the conference tournament you want to bring momentum with you," Finney said. "Going in with a win will bring that momentum and bring us some confidence."

The Herd also know that with this year's C-USA tournament field, any team can get hot at any time.

"It's going to be tough," Lutz said. "They're a lot of good teams and the last half of the league have played really good. We have to grind it out. That's why getting that bye is really important."

The Herd look to clinch the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye against SMU at 7 p.m. Saturday night at the Moody Coliseum in Dallas Texas.

GAME NOTES: Marshall and SMU are playing for the fifth time with the Thundering Herd holding a 4-0 series advantage. All four games have been played since MU joined Conference USA in 2005…The last time the Herd and Mustangs met was in Huntington last year on Jan. 21 where Marshall's Markel Humphrey connected on a shot from 75-feet away with less than a second to play to lift the Thundering Herd to a dramatic 53-50 win over the Mustangs…Senior forward Tyler Wilkerson needs only Wilkerson is now 29 points away from scoring 1,000 in his career with 971.

Kyle Hobstetter can be contacted at hobstetter@marshall.edu.