West Virginia Basketball: Mountaineers face Marshall in second-round action

In state rivals, Marshall and West Virginia meet up in the second round after Marshall notched its first tournament victory in school history.

The Thundering Herd was 0-5 in its first five tournament appearances until besting Wichita State 81-75 in the opening round.

Marshall will look to advance to their first-ever Sweet Sixteen, where they would join fellow double-digit seed Loyola Chicago.

West Virginia’s pressure caused sixteen Murray State turnovers in its first-round game that the Mountaineers controlled a majority of the way.

A win for the Mountaineers would mean its third Sweet Sixteen appearance in the past four years.

Key Stats

The Thundering Herd plays at one of the fastest paces of any team in the nation ranking seventh in the country in possessions per game.

As a result of that, Marshall turns the ball over at an alarming rate. The Herd rank 182nd in the nation turning the ball over thirteen times a contest.

The Mountaineers can play at a quick as well, but it will be interesting to see if they try to slow the game down to attempt to stifle the Marshall offense that is averaging 83.5 points per game.

Marshall averages ten made three-pointers per game, and they will have to make at least that many to beat the Mountaineers, which could be a possibility if they are able to break the West Virginia press.

Jon Elmore must have a monster game for Marshall; they will need the 22.9 points per game he is averaging this season and then some.

That is a tall task to ask out of the first team Conference USA guard who will likely be guarded Jevon Carter, two time Big 12 defensive player of the year.

Next: Impact of UMBC's historic upset win

Prediction

The gap in talent might not be as big as expected here, but it will be enough along with the Mountaineers style of play that should slow Marshall down and not allow their offense to get into a rhythm.

West Virginia – 80     Marshall – 64