Marshall's Obinna Anochili-Killen (25) dribbles during an NCAA men's basketball game against West Virginia Wesleyan on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Huntington.
Marshall’s Dezayne Mingo (3) drives during a Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball game against Arkansas State on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
Marshall's Obinna Anochili-Killen (25) dribbles during an NCAA men's basketball game against West Virginia Wesleyan on Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Huntington.
Marshall’s Dezayne Mingo (3) drives during a Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball game against Arkansas State on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025, at the Cam Henderson Center in Huntington.
Corny Jackson might feel as if he just passed an algebra test and now must take one in trigonometry.
Jackson, Marshall University men’s basketball’s first-year coach, saw the Thundering Herd defeat Old Dominion 81-77 on Thursday in Norfolk, Virginia, to improve to 16-12, including 9-6 in Sun Belt Conference play.
Since then, his attention has turned to Saturday’s 1 p.m. contest in Boone, North Carolina.
“We have another tough opponent in Appalachian State,†Jackson said. “They’re playing really well. They have talented guards and bigs.â€
The Mountaineers (17-10, 10-5 Sun Belt) are tied with Arkansas State and Troy for third in the league behind South Alabama and James Madison. The Thundering Herd is sixth, one game out of third.
Jackson said the celebrating of the victory over Old Dominion (11-17, 7-8) is behind him. Jackson’s attention is finishing the current road trip 2-2 after starting it with losses at South Alabama and Louisiana.
“The trip isn’t over,†Jackson said. “It’s halfway done. Winning is hard. It’s a lot of preparation. A lot of things have to go your way to win, whether you’re at home or on the road.â€
Myles Tate, a 6-foot senior guard, leads a veteran Appalachian State squad in scoring at 16.8 points per game. He’s a 42% shooter and nearly as good from 3-point range, where he hits at a 37.1% clip. C.J. Hunley, a 6-11 graduate student, backs Tate at 15.1 points a game and a team-best 7.7 rebounds.
The Mountaineers’ scoring, though, isn’t what concerns Jackson so much. Appalachian State leads the Sun Belt in scoring defense at 63.11 points per game, six fewer than it scores. At 75.68 points per outing, Marshall is second in the league in point production.
Jackson said the Herd must play as it did in building a 68-50 lead over Old Dominion before a late-game slump.
“We have to be that team,†Jackson said. “We have to come out and play hard, play physical and play tough. I thought we got that done. These guys really responded, because we really scaled back in our preparation, so they’d have more legs.â€
Senior Obinna Anochili-Killen, a former Chapmanville High School all-stater, leads Marshall in scoring at 14.2 points per contest. He scored 24 points on 11-for-14 shooting against the Monarchs. His 11 field goals tied a career high set on Nov. 24, 2023, in a 118-82 loss at Kentucky.
Former Huntington High standout Mikal Dawson averages 13.1 points. Dezayne Mingo scores 11.6 and Jalen Speer chips in 10.7. Nate Martin is on the edge of double figures at 9.9 points a game. Martin leads the Herd in rebounding at 8.5 per contest.
