Kelly had a boil lanced on his shooting arm. Probably plays if a "real" game.
Danny scheduled Newberry for a reason - because they play the same style he wants to play, and they play it better right now because they have five seniors who have been with Coach Davis since he got there. Those seniors had half the points and 2/3 of the rebounds.
Both halves, the Herd got it to five with 2 mins to play, only to have Newberry blow it back up to double figures. Coach Davis, when asked why by me, said the main reason was five seniors who have been there, done that before versus Marshall's relative inexperience.
No. 2 for Newberry, Brandon Taylor, is from up in Ohio and had a big crowd there (40+) from Coshocton to cheer him on, going 6-for-6. They had a real nice following for a school from South Carolina, and that's why the crowd was 4,700 for women's game and over 5,000 again for men.
Look, it has been at least a decade since Marshall lost to an exhibition opponent. In that time, we have had - what - two or three really good years. So what does beating exhibition opponents mean - nothing!
Austin Loop said it best, "We learned a lesson about underestimating opponents." Danny said, "We have film now of us playing a team who plays like we eventually hope these guys can play." Coach also will not name a win total for this season, because he is more interested in the growth of his team with only two seniors into the kind of team he is trying to mold.
I think there will be a lot of ups and downs like this weekend's Bluefield rout and Newberry upset, but once Elmore comes in mid-December, Browning returns from a "minor" (Danny's word, not mine) mistake (and mistakes like this - being late, missing class or study hall, not doing what is expected of a Marshall player - are two-games with no exception he said, not just because there were two exhibition games).
They are not a great team, but they will be a fun team that, like last night, that will occasionally frustrate D'Antoni, you and me.