HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – Playing the final game of the Sun Belt regular-season schedule, The App State Men's Basketball team (17-12, 10-7 SBC) will look to rebound off of two consecutive losses on Friday when it travels to Huntington, W. Va., to take on the Marshall Thundering Herd (18-12, 11-6 SBC) at the Cam Henderson Center in a nationally televised bout. Friday's game between the Mountaineers and Herd will be the second meeting in the past six days between the two squads. Tipoff from Huntington is set for 9 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.
App State is set to play in its fifth nationally televised contest since the start of last season on Friday, with two of those coming this season. The Mountaineers have been selected to appear in exactly half (4-of-8) of the Sun Belt's nationally televised wildcard appearances since the start of the 2023-24 season. In the previous four games that App State has appeared on national TV, the Mountaineers are 3-1, which includes a victory over Auburn at the Holmes Center last December.
App State is looking to win its sixth true road game of the season on Friday in Huntington. If it beats Marshall, it will secure its fourth consecutive six-win season in true road games and the fifth six-win road season in the
Dustin Kerns era. App State didn't claim a win in a true road game until Jan. 16 at Old Dominion but enter Friday's game having won five of its last eight road tests.
App State will look to build upon a 7-4 record against teams from Sun Belt East schools this season when it squares off with Marshall on Friday. Entering the game, the Mountaineers have claimed victories in 20 of their last 24 contests against Sun Belt East foes. The Mountaineers are outscoring their Sun Belt East opponents by 79 points so far this season (7.2 points a game).
The Matchup
- Who: App State at Marshall
- Where: Cam Henderson Center // Huntington, W. Va.
- When: Friday, Feb. 28 // 9 p.m.
Tune In
- Watch: Watch (ESPNU) | Brock Bowling (PxP), Dean Keener (Color)
- Listen: FLAGSHIP 97.3 (North Wilkesboro), 96.3 (Winston-Salem/Greensboro), 1350/96.1 (Asheville), 1250/103.9 (Marion), 790/93.7 (Johnson City) | Matt Present (PxP)
- Live Stats: appstatesports.com
Last Time Out
In the team's first trip to the Jack and Ruth Ann Hill Convocation Center, the Mountaineers started hot by nailing 10 of their first 16 shots in the opening half, but a strong run to close the half by Georgia Southern helped it take a lead into halftime, which ended up being enough for it to claim a 61-59 win on its home floor. App State had a chance late to win it after a missed free throw, but a three-quarter court heave fell short at the buzzer.
The Mountaineers endured several long scoring droughts against the Eagles on Tuesday, which included a 7:35 period in the first half where the Mountaineers didn't score. App State, which led by 10 at the point of the drought, struggled to find an answer against Georgia Southern's 2-3 zone defense that it switched to and went on a 15-0 run to take a 30-25 lead with two minutes left to play in the first half. App State took a lead again in the second half but again endured a long four-minute drought from the field, which helped the Eagles take the lead late and win.
For the third consecutive game,
CJ Huntley tallied a 20-point game as he finished with 23 points while also recording his ninth double-double of the season as he grabbed 10 rebounds.
Myles Tate scored 14 points to mark his 23rd game scoring in double figures this season, and
Dior Conners scored nine points, which included his 1,000th career collegiate point early in the first half. Conners became the third Mountaineer this season to eclipse 1,000 career collegiate points (Huntley and Tate).
Scouting the Mountaineers
Despite dropping their last two contests, App State enters play on Friday in Huntington five games above .500 and is 10-7 in league games. The Mountaineers are one of just six teams in the conference with 10 conference wins entering Friday. The Mountaineers started their league schedule with two consecutive losses to Troy and Louisiana, but enter Friday having won 10 of its last 15 conference games. Over those last 15 games, the Mountaineers are outscoring their opponents by 89 points.
Although App State has struggled to score in games played away from Boone (averaging 62.7 points a game in 15 games played away from home), the Mountaineer defense has helped them win five of its last eight games on the road. App State has kept its opponents to just 56.5 points a game over the last eight road games and has kept three of its last five road opponents to 60 points or fewer. The Mountaineers have scored over 70 points just twice away from home, but their defense has helped them win games in hostile territory.
The Mountaineers' 3-point defense has been among the best in the country as of Friday as they keep their opponents to just a 29.1 percent mark from behind the arc (198-681). App State boasts the seventh-best 3-point defense in the country as of Friday, bested only by No. 5 Tennessee, No. 8 Michigan State, San Francisco, Liberty, New Mexico State and Southeast Missouri State. The Mountaineers have let only six opponents shoot over 40 percent from behind the arc against them this season and have held 15 opponents below 30 percent from the long line entering Friday.
Tate and Huntley enter the final week of the regular season both in the top five in the league in scoring average (Tate is second and Huntley is fifth). The Mountaineers haven't seen two players both crack the top 10 in the league in scoring in the Sun Belt era. Additionally, both players enter the final week of regular-season play averaging greater than 15 points a game, which hasn't been done by a Mountaineer duo since Ronshad Shabazz and Justin Forrest tallied 18.3 and 16.2 points a game in 2018-19. Tate sits just 0.5 points away from the No. 1 spot in scoring average. He is looking to become App State's first scoring champion since Donald Sims in the 2009-10 season.
Scouting the Thundering Herd
Marshall has been one of the hottest teams in the Sun Belt Conference since the calendar flipped to 2025 as it enters Friday's game with an 11-5 record in the 2025 calendar year. The Herd have won two straight games coming into Friday, topping App State and Old Dominion with both coming by double digits.
The Herd score at one of the best clips in the league entering Friday as they average greater than 75 points a game under first-year head coach Cornelius Jackson. Marshall sees five different players who score at least 10 points a game. Marshall is one of just three teams in the Sun Belt to average better than 75 points a game entering Friday.
Defensively, Marshall boasts one of the best shot-blocking bigs in the country in Obinna Anochili-Killen who swats three a game. As of Friday, he is second in the country in blocks (86) and blocks per game (2.97). Anochili-Killen has blocked at least two shots in 21 games this season.
Series History
The Mountaineers and Thundering Herd are scheduled to meet for the second and final time of the regular season in what will be a rematch from six days ago in Boone. Additionally, the nationally televised contest in Huntington marks the second straight season that App State and Marshall have played on national TV (Feb. 24, 2024, on ESPN2).
Friday will be the 56th meeting all time between the two teams with the Herd holding the advantage in the series at 35-20. App State swept last season's series against Marshall, which included the Mountaineers' first win in Huntington since 2010. Tate scored 25 points in the nationally televised game last year, helping lead a second-half comeback to get the win.
App State saw three players eclipse double figures against the Herd in last Saturday's matchup at the Holmes Center in Huntley, Tate and
Jalil Beaubrun. Huntley, who was recognized before the game as part of senior day, matched his career high in scoring with 27 points. 17 of those 27 points came in the opening half. Tate and Beaubrun, who were also recognized pregame, poured in 10 points and 13 points respectively against Marshall.
Next Up
The Sun Belt Tournament, which starts on Tuesday, March 4, awaits the Mountaineers next. App State has clinched either a five or a six seed in the bracket and will play either the 6 p.m. ET game or the 8:30 p.m. ET game on March 7. Due to the new tournament format, the Mountaineers will not know their opponent until the conclusion of Thursday's games. Every game until the tournament championship game on Monday, March 10 will be streamed on ESPN+.
The 2024-25 men's basketball season is presented by Foscoe Companies.
