To properly understand Marshall's two victories last week, you have to go back to the week before, when the Thundering Herd ground out an overtime win over Western Kentucky.
Two days earlier, WKU coach Ray Harper described Marshall's "no conscience" offense and compared the Herd to the Harlem Globetrotters. That brought about a quick exchange.
A reporter prompted Harper: "But they don't play a whole lot of defense."
Harper: "I didn't say that."
Reporter: "I did."
The topic then shifted, but you get the drift. The questioner may have forgotten how the Hilltoppers yielded 39 points on 20 turnovers (15 steals) on Jan. 3 in Huntington, but the Herd is last in Conference USA in scoring defense.
Of course it is. So what?
The Feb. 13 game in Bowling Green ended 96-93, but it was 80-80 at the end of regulation. In today's MU lexicon, that's called a "defensive struggle."
With that in mind, recall that the Herd beat Charlotte 87-72 and pulled away from Old Dominion 82-65. The games bore no resemblance to those of WKU's 59-56 loss to ODU and a 59-54 win over Charlotte last week. ("Bore" has a double meaning here.)
But make no mistake about it: It was a very good week for the Herd defense.
There's no arguing with the game numbers. Charlotte came in as one of the hottest-shooting teams in the league and the top 3-point team. The 49ers left with a 35.9 percent night from all distances, 29.6 percent from long range.
ODU's 43.1 percent wasn't awful, but its 1-of-11 3-point shooting was. That's 9.1 percent.
The Herd only had three steals and ODU just 11 turnovers, but those were turned into 20 points. ODU scored just four, making a margin that nearly equals that of the score.
Marshall coach Dan D'Antoni had too much fun with numbers that may be important in other games but are irrelevant to MU games.
"For the purists - and I'm afraid to say this because you might catch me one of these times - they had 38 points in the paint and we had 24," D'Antoni said. "They had 14 second-chance points and we had 7. And they got beat 16."
So what makes D'Antoni's MU defense successful, other than not giving up 112 to Texas-El Paso?
"Our goal the whole time is to not give up layups, not to foul and put them at the foul line, take away the 3s," he said. "It goes back to the NBA - contested 2s aren't going to kill us. And if you look down there, they outdid us in contested 2s in the paint, 38-24."
Another opening for another joke: "So I guess they won by 28. No, they didn't."
The Herd bailed itself out on defense in the early going Saturday. At the other end, it made just two of its first 14 shots over the first 10:14, yet trailed just 11-9. The Monarchs went 3 of 14 in that stretch.
The crowd of 8,520, the Herd's largest in five years, played a role.
"We're still not used to the intensity and atmosphere with this place full." D'Antoni said. A minute later, he added, "I thought Jon Elmore's first two shots were going out of the building. They were all jacked up, they were excited.
"That's where our defense really held in there. We didn't play well at all offensively. But our defense was there."
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Keeping opponents off the foul line is critical for this reason: Marshall's run-and-bomb style almost begs a free-throw deficit, though the Herd has led in attempts in 14 of 27 games.
As for the season number, MU has done better as the season has progressed. In non-conference play, the Herd was minus-33 in attempts and minus-27 in made shots. But in league play, the Herd is only minus-3 in attempts and plus-13 in makes.
Chalk that latter figure to 71.6 percent shooting from the stripe, no small reason for this team's emergence.
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The funky stat item in the Herd-ODU game Saturday: There were no fast-break points. Officially, at least.
I've always thought that figure may be a basket or two low. In 27 games, the Herd has been credited with 251 fast-break points, or 9.3 per game. Sounds low for this team, doesn't it?
Keep this in mind, though: From the 2014-15 NCAA Basketball Statisticians' Manual, fast-break points are defined as "Points scored on a quick counterattack following a change of possession before the offense or defense is set."
Just guessing, but those last seven words probably keep a few transition baskets from being counted.
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And finally, a shout-out to Jim Boone, who picked up his 500th coaching victory Saturday night with Delta State's 71-65 win over Lee University.
The Winfield native is in his 30th year of coaching, fourth at the helm of the Division II school in Cleveland, Mississippi. The Statesmen are 70-46 in that time, 18-9 this season.
The four-year player at West Virginia State, he also has coached California (Pa.), Robert Morris, Eastern Michigan, Tusculum and West Virginia Wesleyan.
He is a class act who deserves this milestone.