Saturday, November 29th, 11:30 a.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Cam Henderson Center, (9,600) -- Huntington, West Virginia. Television: None. Home Record: ODU 0-1, Marshall 1-0. Away Record: ODU 1-1, Marshall 0-0. Neutral Record: ODU 0-0, Marshall 0-3. Conference Record: ODU 0-0, Marshall 0-0. Series Record: Series is tied, 3-3.

GAME NOTES: The Old Dominion Monarchs have traveled to Huntington, West Virginia to take on the Marshall Thundering Herd at the Cam Henderson Center. ODU will be playing its second consecutive road game and is coming off a heartbreaking 83-82 loss to Bucknell in double-overtime on Tuesday. After opening the season with a one-point victory on the road at Charlotte, the Monarchs lost by 15 to the UAB Blazers on their home floor. After today's game, the Monarchs play six of their next seven games at home. After opening its season with a blow-out win over West Virginal Tech, 110-57, Marshall participated in the Glenn Wilkes Classic and did not fare well. The Thundering Herd played three games in the span of three days and dropped all three by a total of 15 points. The Herd did play their best game of the classic their last time out as the team lost by four to Ole Miss, 82-78. This will be the first of two straight home games for Marshall which will play five of its next six at the Cam Henderson Center. The all-time series between these two schools is tied at three games a piece, but this is the first meeting in more than three decades.

In its last game, ODU shot just 37 percent from the floor in the double- overtime loss at Bucknell and made only 3-of-11 shots in the two overtimes as all three were three pointers. Poor shooting has been the Monarchs' Achilles' heel early on this season as they are connecting on only 36 percent of their total shots. ODU is averaging more rebounds than its opponents at seven per game, but was outrebounded by Bucknell, 45-42. Frank Hassell posted a double- double with a career-high 20 points and a game-high 11 rebounds against the Bison. Gerald Lee also notched a career-high with 26 points and pulled down seven boards. Lee leads the team in scoring with 16.7 ppg while shooting almost 57 percent from the field this season. He is second with six rpg. Marsharee Neely has been the Monarchs' best long-range threat, connecting on 54 percent from beyond the arc and he is averaging 8.7 ppg, tied for third- best on the team. Ben Finney paces the club in rebounding with seven per game, and he had nine boards in the loss to Bucknell.

Marshall had a four-point lead at halftime versus Ole Miss and was leading the Rebels for much of the second half until the wheels fell off. The Herd, perhaps feeling a bit tired from playing their third game in as many days, got a little careless with the ball as they committed 11 second-half turnovers and shot a poor 29.6 percent after the break. Marshall made just three field goals in the game's final 11 minutes while the Rebels shot 52 percent in the second half, outscoring the Herd by eight to end the game. Tyler Wilkerson had a double-double in the loss with 12 points on 4-of-9 shooting from the floor and he added a game-high 14 boards. Markel Humphrey was one rebound shy of a double-double as he scored 11 points. Shaquille Johnson led the Herd with 15 points and Marcus Goode played an excellent game off the bench, tallying 14 points and six rebounds in only 15 minutes of action. Marshall is averaging over 80 ppg, outscoring its opponents by 9.5 ppg and grabbing 11.8 more rebounds per game, however, those numbers are skewed due to the season-opening rout of West Virginia Tech. The Herd do have three players averaging double figures in scoring, with Shaquille Johnson leading the way with his 15.5 ppg, followed by Humphrey at 13.3 ppg and Chris Lutz with 10 ppg.

Having not played in almost a week, look for the Herd to come out running against an ODU squad that may be a little sluggish and dejected from its last outing.

Predicted Outcome

Marshall 79, Old Dominion 74