Marshall University’s men’s basketball team opens the regular season Thursday against the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee.
While it is the first game of the season for the Herd, the Volunteers are 1-1 after a 69-67 loss to Georgia Tech Monday.
Marshall head coach Dan D’Antoni said he thinks Tennessee is still in the process of learning its new system under first-year head coach Rick Barnes.
Marshall enters the game coming off a 101-89 loss Sunday to Newberry College, a Division II school, in its final exhibition game of the season.
Marshall sophomore forward Terrence Thompson, who scored eight points and grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds against Newberry, said the loss taught the Herd a valuable lesson.
“This was a learning experience for our team and will mentally prepare us for Tennessee,” Thompson said.
Marshall shot 25.6 percent on 39 attempts from the three-point line, including 3-20 in the second half.
Thursday’s game begins 7 p.m. at Thompson-Boling Arena and will be broadcast by the SEC Network.
Marshall is 11-28 against current Southeastern Conference members.
Imani Spradley can be contacted at [email protected].