2016–17 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team represented Marshall University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Thundering Herd, led by third-year head coach Dan D'Antoni, played their home games at the Cam Henderson Center and were members of Conference USA. They finished the season 20–15, 10–8 in C-USA play to finish in sixth place. They defeated Florida Atlantic, Old Dominion, and Louisiana Tech to advance to the championship game of the C-USA tournament. There they lost to top-seeded Middle Tennessee. Despite finishing with 20 wins, they did not participate in a postseason tournament.

2016–17 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball
Conference	Conference USA
Record	20–15 (10–8 C-USA)
Head coach	Dan D'Antoni (3rd season)
Assistant coaches	Mark Cline Scott Rigot
Home arena	Cam Henderson Center
Seasons ← 2015–16 2017–18 →

2016–17 Conference USA men's basketball standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
Middle Tennessee †	17	–	1		.944			31	–	5		.861
Louisiana Tech	14	–	4		.778			23	–	10		.697
Old Dominion	12	–	6		.667			19	–	12		.613
UTEP	12	–	6		.667			15	–	17		.469
Rice	11	–	7		.611			23	–	12		.657
Marshall	10	–	8		.556			20	–	15		.571
UAB	9	–	9		.500			17	–	16		.515
Western Kentucky	9	–	9		.500			15	–	17		.469
UTSA	8	–	10		.444			14	–	19		.424
Charlotte	7	–	11		.389			13	–	17		.433
Florida Atlantic	6	–	12		.333			10	–	20		.333
Southern Miss	6	–	12		.333			9	–	22		.290
FIU	3	–	15		.167			7	–	24		.226
North Texas	2	–	16		.111			8	–	22		.267
† 2017 C-USA Tournament winner

On January 24, 2017, assistant coach Chris Duhon resigned following an arrest for driving on a revoked license three days earlier.^[1]

Previous season

The Thundering Herd finished the 2015–16 season 17–16, 12–6 in C-USA play to finish in a three-way tie for third place. They defeated UTEP in the quarterfinals of the C-USA tournament before losing in the semifinals to Middle Tennessee.

Preseason

The Thundering Herd was picked to finish in fourth place in the preseason Conference USA poll.^[2] Jon Elmore and Ryan Taylor were selected to the preseason All-Conference USA team.^[2]

Offseason

Departures

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Notes
Brett Bowling	3	G	6'4"	192	Sophomore	Pineville, West Virginia	Walk-on; transferred to West Virginia Wesleyan
Justin Edmonds	23	G	6'4"	220	RS Senior	Albion, Michigan	Graduated
James Kelly	24	F	6'8"	259	Senior	Ann Arbor, Michigan	Graduated
Aleksandar Dozic	32	F	6'9"	220	Freshman	Podgorica, Montenegro	Transferred to Marist

Incoming Transfers

Name	Number	Pos.	Height	Weight	Year	Hometown	Previous School
Rondale Watson	23	G	6'3"	190	Junior	Lewisburg, West Virginia	Transferred from Wake Forest. Under NCAA transfer rules, Watson will have to sit out in the 2016–17 season. Will have two years of eligibility left.
Ot Elmore	24	G	6'3"	190	RS Junior	Charleston, West Virginia	Transferred from Texas–Rio Grande Valley. Will be eligible to play immediately since Elmore graduated from UTRGV.

Recruiting

College recruiting information

Name	Hometown	School	Height	Weight	Commit date
Phil Bledsoe #102 PF	Wheeling, West Virginia	Wheeling Park High School	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	212 lb (96 kg)	Sep 14, 2015
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    ESPN:
Jannson Williams PF	Newnan, Georgia	Newnan High School	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	Jun 18, 2015
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    (NR)
Ky're Allison PG	Portsmouth, Ohio	Portsmouth High School	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	Apr 7, 2016
	Recruit ratings: Scout:    Rivals:    (NR)
Overall recruit ranking:   Scout: NR    Rivals: NR    ESPN: NR
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, On3, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "Marshall Basketball Commitment List". Rivals. Retrieved August 4, 2016. "2016 Marshall Basketball Commits". Scout. Retrieved August 4, 2016. "ESPN". ESPN. Retrieved August 4, 2016. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout. Retrieved August 4, 2016. "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals. Retrieved August 4, 2016.

Roster

2016–17 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown F 0 Christian Thieneman 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 208 lb (94 kg) RS Fr Trinity Louisville, Kentucky F 1 Terrence Thompson 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 217 lb (98 kg) Jr Georgia Highlands Durham, North Carolina G 2 Stevie Browning 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 188 lb (85 kg) Sr Fairmont State Logan, West Virginia F 3 Jannson Williams 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 206 lb (93 kg) Fr Newnan Newnan, Georgia F 4 Jacob Kilgore (W) 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 191 lb (87 kg) So Spring Valley Huntington, West Virginia G 5 Ky're Allison 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 181 lb (82 kg) Fr Portsmouth Portsmouth, Ohio F 11 Ajdin Penava 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 222 lb (101 kg) So Fifth High School Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina G 14 C.J. Burks 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 203 lb (92 kg) RS So Hedgesville Martinsburg, West Virginia G 21 Aleksa Nikolić 6 ft 6.5 in (1.99 m) 221 lb (100 kg) RS So Electro-Tech School Pančevo, Serbia G 23 Rondale Watson (I)  6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 188 lb (85 kg) Jr Wake Forest Lewisburg, West Virginia G 24 Ot Elmore 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 197 lb (89 kg) RS Jr Texas–Rio Grande Valley Charleston, West Virginia F 25 Ryan Taylor 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 249 lb (113 kg) RS Sr Hargrave Military Academy Indianapolis, Indiana G/F 32 Phil Bledsoe 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 224 lb (102 kg) Fr Wheeling Park Wheeling, West Virginia G 33 Jon Elmore 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 189 lb (86 kg) Jr VMI Charleston, West Virginia G 35 Austin Loop 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS Sr South Webster South Webster, Ohio F 50 Milan Mijovic 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 245 lb (111 kg) Jr Secondary Vocational School Belgrade, Serbia	Head coach Dan D'Antoni (Marshall) Assistant coach(es) Mark Cline (Wake Forest) Scott Rigot (Buffalo) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt Roster

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank#	Opponent#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Exhibition
11/03/2016* 6:00 pm		West Virginia State	W 93–70		Cam Henderson Center (5,178) Huntington, WV
11/06/2016* 2:00 pm		Charleston (WV)	W 100–76		Cam Henderson Center (5,138) Huntington, WV
Non-conference regular season
11/12/2016* 12:00 pm		North Carolina Central Global Sports Invitational	W 81–69	1–0	Cam Henderson Center (5,375) Huntington, WV
11/16/2016* 7:00 pm		Morehead State	W 85–77	2–0	Cam Henderson Center (5,872) Huntington, WV
11/19/2016* 5:00 pm		Western Carolina Global Sports Invitational	W 98–63	3–0	Cam Henderson Center (5,741) Huntington, WV
11/21/2016* 7:00 pm		Jackson State Global Sports Invitational	W 71–61	4–0	Cam Henderson Center (4,785) Huntington, WV
11/25/2016* 7:00 pm, BTN		at Ohio State Global Sports Invitational	L 70–111	4–1	Value City Arena (14,355) Columbus, OH
11/30/2016* 7:00 pm		Ohio	W 98–88	5–1	Cam Henderson Center (6,031) Huntington, WV
12/03/2016* 4:00 pm		at Eastern Kentucky	L 80–89	5–2	McBrayer Arena (2,100) Richmond, KY
12/06/2016* 7:00 pm		at Chattanooga	L 85–96	5–3	McKenzie Arena (3,064) Chattanooga, TN
12/10/2016* 7:00 pm		Toledo	W 111–105 OT	6–3	Cam Henderson Center (5,696) Huntington, WV
12/17/2016* 7:30 pm		at Akron	L 88–99	6–4	James A. Rhodes Arena (3,598) Akron, OH
12/19/2016* 6:00 pm		West Virginia Wesleyan	W 81–65	7–4	Cam Henderson Center (5,196) Huntington, WV
12/22/2016* 7:00 pm, CBSSN		at No. 24 Cincinnati	L 91–93 OT	7–5	Fifth Third Arena (10,540) Cincinnati, OH
12/28/2016* 7:00 pm, ACCN Extra		at Pittsburgh	L 106–112	7–6	Peterson Events Center (8,028) Pittsburgh, PA
Conference USA regular season
12/31/2016 1:00 pm		at FIU	W 94–70	8–6 (1–0)	FIU Arena (598) Miami, FL
01/02/2017 7:00 pm		at Florida Atlantic	W 89–72	9–6 (2–0)	FAU Arena (1,009) Boca Raton, FL
01/05/2017 7:00 pm		Old Dominion	W 90–86 OT	10–6 (3–0)	Cam Henderson Center (4,573) Huntington, WV
01/07/2017 7:00 pm		Charlotte	W 110–93	11–6 (4–0)	Cam Henderson Center (6,617) Huntington, WV
01/12/2017 8:00 pm, beIN		at Middle Tennessee	L 57–69	11–7 (4–1)	Murphy Center (4,598) Murfreesboro, TN
01/14/2017 2:00 pm		at UAB	L 78–94	11–8 (4–2)	Bartow Arena (3,275) Birmingham, AL
01/21/2017 6:00 pm, ASN		WKU	W 94–80	12–8 (5–2)	Cam Henderson Center (6,813) Huntington, WV
01/26/2017 7:00 pm		UTSA	W 92–71	13–8 (6–2)	Cam Henderson Center (5,297) Huntington, WV
01/28/2017 7:00 pm		UTEP	L 68–91	13–9 (6–3)	Cam Henderson Center (6,781) Huntington, WV
02/02/2017 8:00 pm		at Southern Miss	L 76–91	13–10 (6–4)	Reed Green Coliseum (2,373) Hattiesburg, MS
02/04/2017 7:30 pm		at Louisiana Tech	L 90–94	13–11 (6–5)	Thomas Assembly Center (4,804) Ruston, LA
02/11/2017 6:00 pm, FCS		at WKU	W 84–79	14–11 (7–5)	E. A. Diddle Arena (4,742) Bowling Green, KY
02/16/2017 7:00 pm, CBSSN		UAB	W 74–59	15–11 (8–5)	Cam Henderson Center (5,637) Huntington, WV
02/18/2017 6:00 pm, ASN		Middle Tennessee	L 86–97	15–12 (8–6)	Cam Henderson Center (7,620) Huntington, WV
02/23/2017 8:00 pm, beIN		at Old Dominion	L 65–86	15–13 (8–7)	Ted Constant Convocation Center (6,248) Norfolk, VA
02/25/2017 6:00 pm, ASN		at Charlotte	W 93–89	16–13 (9–7)	Dale F. Halton Arena (7,040) Charlotte, NC
03/02/2017 7:00 pm		Rice	L 88–89	16–14 (9–8)	Cam Henderson Center (4,994) Huntington, WV
03/04/2017 7:00 pm		North Texas	W 106–104	17–14 (10–8)	Cam Henderson Center (6,017) Huntington, WV
Conference USA tournament
03/08/2017 9:00 pm, CI	(6)	vs. (11) Florida Atlantic First round	W 89–74	18–14	Legacy Arena (6,410) Birmingham, AL
03/09/2017 9:00 pm, ASN	(6)	vs. (3) Old Dominion Quarterfinals	W 64–63	19–14	Legacy Arena (4,005) Birmingham, AL
03/10/2017 3:00 pm, CBSSN	(6)	vs. (2) Louisiana Tech Semifinals	W 93–77	20–14	Legacy Arena (3,299) Birmingham, AL
03/11/2017 8:30 pm, CBSSN	(6)	vs. (1) Middle Tennessee Championship	L 72–83	20–15	Legacy Arena (3,956) Birmingham, AL
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Eastern Time.

^[3]