Marshall University men’s team is 349-110 since 1981 when playing at the Cam Henderson Center, and for the past few seasons, the Herd has found it easier to win at home than on the road.

In the 2009-2010 season, the Herd won 24 times, and 15 of those came from games played at home. The following season, Marshall won 14 games in Huntington and only six on the road. The 2011-2012 season was another year that the team struggled to win games on the road. At home, the Herd had a record of 13-4. On the road, however, Marshall only took home 5 of 13 regular season games played on the road.

The past two seasons have been the worst for the Herd when it comes to taking home road wins. Marshall has played 28 games away from Huntington since 2012 and has only won five of those games.

In the world of sports, many view the advantage of playing at home as a motivating factor that helps teams win.

Former Los Angeles Lakers head coach, Phil Jackson, in a 2010 Los Angeles Times blog article listed home-court advantage as the biggest priority of his team.

“What’s important,” Jackson said, “is getting out ahead of the rest of the pack and somehow or other putting them in the back so that you have that home-court advantage that looms important at certain times in the playoffs.”

Indiana Pacers guard Paul George favors home-court advantage, as well. In an interview with Jim Rome on “Jim Rome is Burning” in January, George was asked if he believed the Heat would beat the Pacers in Indiana four times if they had home-court advantage. His response was simple:

“We don’t,” George said. “We know how well we play at home. We’re one of the best teams in the postseason last year defending our home court.”

George went on to stress the importance of home-court advantage, which seems to be a major reason why Marshall wins at the Cam Henderson Center and loses frequently on the road.

In the 16 games played in Huntington during the 2012- 2013 season, the Cam saw an average of 5,587 fans per game. In the 16 home games played in the season after, an average of 4,713 fans were in attendance each game.

The Herd lost 11 games away from home in the 2012-2013 season. When the team was in Huntington, however, it had a record of 11-5. In the same season, it also added to the total years winning at least 10 games at the Cam Henderson Center, which is 22 out of the 33 years the Herd has played in that building. That season was the sixth consecutive time the Herd was able to do so.

The 2013-2014 season was not Marshall’s year on the road, either. The Herd saw action away from Huntington 14 times and only won two of those games.

Marshall’s struggles on the road these past two seasons has carried over into postseason play in Conference USA, as well. Both seasons, the Herd found itself on the losing end in tournament play within the first two rounds. The last time the team was able to make it to a C-USA championship game was in 2011.

DeVince Boykins, senior guard from Forest City, North Carolina, said the Herd needs to play harder on the road to win.

“On the road, it is all about grinding it out because a lot of games go down to the wire,” Boykins said. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to start finishing games out.”

Boykins also said the team needs to play smarter basketball fundamentally when it is away.

“We’ve got to make free throws, reduce turnovers, and stop making mistakes,” Boykins said. “Pretty much all we have to do is take care of the ball.”

LaChel House can be contacted at [email protected].