83.9.
That is the points per game averaged by Marshall Women’s Basketball so far. But that number is overly inflated by 121 and 115 outputs against lower level opponents from the non-conference schedule, right?
Weeeeeellllll. . .
An Offensive Outpouring
Through its first five Sun Belt Conference games, Marshall is averaging 81.4 points. Both of those numbers are tops in the SBC by a good margin–Georgia Southern is second with 79.0 points per game overall–but the surprising stat is how much higher the scoring is over last year’s team. That would be 20.2, as the 2022-23 squad put up 63.7 points per game. As an aside, last year’s team gave up 59.8 points per game defensively and we all knew that number would rise along with the offensive numbers due to the faster pace.
Well so far, the Herd has given up just 11.1 more points, currently sitting at 70.8 on the year. Maybe a more eye-opening stat is that aside from the outlier of a 104 point effort against Division II Davis & Elkins, last year’s Marshall team never scored more than 80. That’s right, this year the average point total is higher than last year’s season high.
Coach Kim Caldwell has definitely changed the gameplan for the Herd, bringing her high octane, never-let-up style to Huntington. KD at The ThunderCast coined the phrase, “The Most Relentless 40 Minutes in Basketball” to describe it. And though it is very early in her tenure and years of recruiting cycles are not yet in place, her players seem to have bought in and are seeing great success already. Let’s look at a couple of starters from last year’s team and compare their stats in this new system.
Abby Beeman
Mahogany Matthews
Summation? More points. More rebounds. More assists. More (or the same) steals. More blocks. And surprising to some, less minutes.
Most Importantly, More Wins
Stats are great but the best of them lies in the win column. The 2022-23 team picked up its 11th victory in its 20th game. This year, The Herd is 11-5 overall. And while this year’s team is a perfect 5-0 in the Sun Belt, Marshall was 5-5 when it matched that number of victories. Look no further for a good indicator that the style of play is effective.
Last year’s 17-14 team had eight losses of five points or less, so they were this close to having a much better record. Many of those losses were late game comebacks that fell short, though, and this team seems to try putting the games out of reach early. There were also five victories in that similar five point scoring margin as well, so last season could have looked drastically different either way with a few baskets going this way or that way.
But putting up point totals your opponent is not used to reaching or even built to reach helps stack those wins.
And Don’t Forget the Defense!
One of the many stats that Marshall leads in the Sun Belt is steals per game. They are actually 4th nationally with 13.4. They force 23.94 turnovers per game (5th nationally). How does The Herd do this? Like we said, they are relentless. This squad presses after every made basket and this frantic but not necessarily frenetic pace is very disruptive. The bench is deep and there is a constant stream of subs coming in, sometimes five at a time. You just will not tire this team out and you are likely to see them pull away from you if you’re trying to keep up with them.
And that is the key difference between this style and some other up-tempo offenses in sports. Remember the 2012 Marshall Football team that put up all those points and did it quicker than just about anyone? The defense struggled and needed longer recovery times so they could catch their wind. This basketball team just swaps in fresh legs and keeps up the pressure. Truly “relentless.”
Get. To. The. Cam!
So what can you do to help this team? You can do yourself a favor and go enjoy a game. This team deserves a packed crowd to help them be even more intimidating and bring the energy, but you deserve to be there to appreciate it. You have seven more home games to be at The Cam to cheer on The Herd, and three of those are before the end of January. This Thursday at 6pm, Old Dominion (12-3, 4-1) comes to town. They just happen to be second in the Sun Belt and have a low-scoring, tough defense approach. Saturday at 1pm brings Coastal Carolina (7-11, 1-4) to face this relentless pace. On January 31, App State (8-8, 2-3) is the foe on Greek Night, a promotion that should have a full student section.
Tickets are cheap! How cheap? Adults are $5 and kids are $3. Groups of 10 or more are only $2 each! What else can the entire family do for such a little price?
Having been present for the 91-88 defeat of the SEC Florida Gators earlier this season, I can tell you that the crowd can be electric and it can make a difference. I can also tell you that if you have watched this team play in person, you’ve been missing out. Don’t miss out anymore. Get your butt to The Cam and watch the Marshall Women’s Basketball team continue its relentless and undefeated conference run!
