Published: March 04, 2008 11:54 pm         

Wilkerson key to Herd’s success

It’s looking more and more that as Tyler Wilkerson goes, so does Marshall.

Take, for instance, Wilkerson’s four double-doubles in a recent stretch of nine games. Marshall at one point won four straight games during that tear.

Then came Saturday. Wilkerson was called for a foul on the first play of the game against Tulsa. Marshall’s 6-foot-8 sophomore forward was limited to 23 minutes against the Golden Hurricane because of foul trouble and finished with eight points and six rebounds.

The Thundering Herd suffered an 89-64 defeat, the worst setback of the Donnie Jones era.

So, as Marshall travels to Tulane tonight for its regular-season road finale, a big game — or at least more production — from Wilkerson seems imperative.

“His biggest stride is his work ethic has really improved,” Jones said. “In practice has been the biggest thing for him. It’s hard, coming into his sophomore year, like most guys trying to make the transition, playing with a new coach and understanding the level that he has to play at on a day-to-day basis. You want them to compete on every possession, and Tyler is doing that. I think he has bought into the opportunity to which he has had and gotten in to play and taken advantage of it night in and night out.”

Again, Jones’ squad finds itself in a middle-of-the-pack quagmire in the Conference USA standings. Basically, four teams — Marshall, along with Tulsa, Texas-El Paso and Southern Miss — are tied for fifth with 7-7 league marks.

Central Florida is fourth at 9-5 and plays a big game at third-place Houston tonight. The Cougars are 10-4 after Saturday’s head-scratching 84-83 loss to East Carolina.

Memphis, of course, has locked up the No. 1 seed for the league tournament, which it will host beginning Wednesday, March 12.

Marshall closes out the regular season Saturday at home against Southern Miss.

Tulane is a team desperately looking for a win. At one point the Green Wave was 5-1 in the conference, but has since lost seven straight games to drop to 5-8.

“It is going to be a great challenge ahead with two games left,” Jones said. “Tulane is a team that has had a really good year. They have had a couple tough games of late, but they have been playing as well as anybody in our league.”

Tip-off for tonight’s game will be 8 p.m. Eastern time. Marshall won the teams’ last meeting 68-54 Feb. 16 in Huntington.

— E-mail:

gfauber@register-herald.com