Marshall basketball: Herd men face first SBC road test at Georgia Southern

The Herd enters the contest 12-3 overall with a 1-1 record in league play after suffering a 72-66 loss to James Madison at home its last time out. Taevion Kinsey, Andrew Taylor and Kamdyn Curfman are each averaging double-digit points per game, Kinsey leading the way with 20.5 points per game.

Georgia Southern ranks fourth in the league in turnover margin, forcing its opponents into an average of three turnovers more than it is giving up. The Eagles will face a tough task against the Herd defense, which has three players with at least 20 steals this year and freshman Micah Handlogten leading the team with 37 blocks.

Georgia Southern and Marshall find themselves as league mates once again after competing against each other 11 times as members of the Southern Conference from 1993-97, accounting for all but one of their clashes on the hardcourt, and the Thundering Herd won nine of those contests and holds a 10-2 lead in the all-time series.

The Eagles’ offense is paced by Andrei Savrasov (12.8 ppg) and Jalen Finch (10.5 ppg), but they are just two of seven players on the roster averaging at least seven points per contest.

Georgia Southern is one of four teams to escape the first weekend of Sun Belt play with a 2-0 conference record, joining James Madison, Southern Miss and Louisiana-Monroe.

Savrasov and Carlos Curry are tied for fifth in the Sun Belt in double-doubles (3). Elsewhere in the league’s per-game statistical rankings, Curry ranks seventh in rebounds (7.7) and Savrasov ranks 14th (6.6). Savrasov also ranks eighth in field goal percentage (.493), and Finch is seventh in steals per game (1.7) and ninth in assists (3.5).