The Sun Belt Slant: Marshall, Louisiana eyeing top spot
Welcome, fellow college basketball fanatics. Each week, I’ll dive into one of my favorite mid-major leagues: the Sun Belt Conference. All opinions expressed in the following should be immediately adopted by you. This is The Sun Belt Slant weekly notebook.
Sun Belt Conference: Thunderstruck
A win going away against Coastal. Dominating Southern Miss on national television. A grind-it-out victory over ODU.
That’s how the Marshall Thundering Herd responded following their two-game losing streak. The Herd are now 4-2, tied atop the conference, and arguably look like the best team in the league.
The emergence of freshman center Micah Handlogten has been the biggest factor. Handlogten, son of former Utah Jazz player Ben, is the modern-day basketball player — long (he’s 7-foot-1) and athletic but has the skills of a guard (he ranks eighth in the league in steals).
Not only does Handlogten lead all freshmen in the country in blocks, but his offensive game has come alive down the stretch. The North Carolina native followed up a 16-16 game against Coastal with 17 points and 19 rebounds on national TV against Southern Miss.
This added to a Marshall team who already has the nation’s highest-scoring guard combo in Andrew Taylor and Taevion Kinsey is a scary sight for the opposition. Kinsey averages 21.2 points per game and leads the SBC in assists. Taylor gives MU 18.8 and paces the league in steals.
You can’t forget about Kam Curfman, the VMI transfer, either. The guard led the country in 3-pointers last year and is up to his sharpshooting ways again, leading the SBC in percentage and makes from long-distance.
Herd head coach Dan D’Antoni always used to joke “there’s no ‘D’ in D’Antoni” but this season, Marshall’s defense is no laughing matter. ODU coach Jeff Jones told me last week “they have a defensive identity like I’ve never seen under D’Antoni…and I’ve been here a decade.”
He’s right. The Herd dominates the interior (ninth nationally in blocks), they speed you up (30th in steals), they suffocate you on closeouts (88th in field goal defense).
These Herd have the pieces to go dancing, maybe even to be a second-weekend team in the NCAA Tournament. The only thing that could trip them up is their depth. Six players average over 20 minutes per game, while nobody else averages more than 11.5.
Log jam at the top of the Sun Belt Conference
We’re three full weeks into the conference season and the Sun Belt standings are, frankly, a mess.
Currently, six teams find themselves at the top with identical 4-2 records. However, not every 4-2 record is made equally.
Southern Miss was at one time in the driver’s seat, but after losses to Marshall and Louisiana, Jay Ladner’s Golden Eagles have ground to make up. They’ll get another crack at the Ragin’s Cajuns later in February.
Troy and Georgia Southern both entered Saturday with a chance to move a full game ahead of the pack. Troy and Georgia Southern both ended Saturday with losses, to App State and JMU, respectively.
The Trojans and Eagles are intriguing teams. Not many thought they’d be vying for the league lead six games in (they were picked to finish 10th and 11th in the preseason poll).
Georgia Southern seems to have more staying power than Troy, who lacks that signature win during league play which indicates they can keep up this pace. Their defense has been stout, second during conference play. Even in Saturday’s loss, they only surrendered 58 points; the problem is you still have to score, something they struggle doing (11th in the SBC in offense).
Meanwhile, Georgia Southern has a win against Marshall on their resume and the Eagles can score. Their problem? Defense. They’re coming off a game where they surrendered 83 points to a JMU team who hadn’t scored 75 all of conference play. The Dukes, who were a combined 9-57 from 3-point in the previous three games, shot 11-20.
Right now, Marshall and Louisiana are trending upward and look like the two mid-season favorites to win the league. That February 4 matchup in Lafayette will be appointment TV (is appointment streaming a thing?).
What can Brown do for you?
Apparently, a lot. At least, that’s what Louisiana and their coach Bob Marlin must be thinking.
After a surprising 0-2 start to conference play, Jordan Brown, the preseason Player of the Year in the SBC, has helped the Ragin’ Cajuns rattle off four-straight wins. Suddenly, Louisiana sits tied for first in the conference standings.
Over the last three games, Brown has turned in:
- a 23-point, 8-rebound, 6-assist performance vs. South Alabama
- 21 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists vs. ULM
- 16 points and 10 rebounds against Georgia State
When Brown had a rare off-night against then-league leaders Southern Miss (8 points and 8 boards), he got by with a little help from his friends. Kentrell Garnett and Themus Fulks combined for 37 points to help blow out the Golden Eagles.
Sure, the defense may need a little work (South Alabama did shoot 56 percent, after all), but good luck stopping ULL. The 25th-highest scoring offense in the nation is averaging 76.7 points per game during league play, second only to Marshall.
Last year, Louisiana made the Sun Belt title game as an No. 8 seed. This year, the preseason favorites aren’t sneaking up on anyone. The Ragin’ Cajuns don’t seem phased by that, though.
Brown and company look to have righted the ship, which will make everyone in Lafayette happy and everyone else in Sun Belt land sleep a little less a night.
A tip of the cap … to James Madison women’s basketball
Much like their football counterparts, the Dukes have taken the Sun Belt by storm in their inaugural season.
JMU head coach Sean O’Regan has done a masterful job at the helm this year, guiding the Dukes to a 16-2 record and a 6-0 conference mark for the first time since 2017.
JMU has also ripped off 13 straight wins, the nation’s fourth-longest win streak behind South Carolina, LSU and Ohio State. That’s elite company to occupy.
While their offense has been red-hot (88th nationally in scoring), JMU has bludgeoned teams with their defense. The Dukes rank 3rd in the Sun Belt in scoring defense since league play began, holding foes to 58.7 points per game. Moreover, during this win streak, they’ve only allowed two teams to shoot 40 percent or better from the field.
The duo of Kiki Jefferson and Middle Tennessee transfer Kseniia Kozlova has been a nightmare for teams to deal with. Jefferson leads the team in scoring, has piled up five double-doubles and eclipsed the 20-point mark eight times. Kozlova meanwhile has scored 128 points in her last eight games combined.
ESPN’s Charlie Creme has the Dukes projected as a 13-seed in his latest bracketology, clinching the SBC’s auto bid and heading to College Park to face Maryland.
One thing is certain: buy stock in these Dukes now.
Women of Troy
I talked with Troy women’s basketball head coach Chanda Rigby this week. Her Trojans are eyeing another SBC crown, a feat Rigby’s bunch have accomplished in five of the last seven years.
What Rigby has done at Troy is nothing short of incredible. The year prior to her hiring, Troy won two games and was ranked second-to-last in the now-defunct RPI rankings. Now, Troy has won 202 games under Rigby, made three NCAA Tournament appearances and has won 20 or more games seven times.
Rigby talked about turning the program around, why education is important to her and how milking cows got her into basketball.
You can hear the full conversation on this week’s episode of my Sun Belt podcast, ‘Under the Sun,’ on Apple and Spotify.