Marshall hosts Appalachian State following Marcus' 20-point outing

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Appalachian State Mountaineers (9-6, 2-1 Sun Belt) at Marshall Thundering Herd (9-5, 1-1 Sun Belt)

Huntington, West Virginia; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Appalachian State visits Marshall after Michael Marcus Jr. scored 20 points in Appalachian State's 81-73 victory over the Old Dominion Monarchs.

The Thundering Herd have gone 7-1 in home games. Marshall averages 17.6 assists per game to lead the Sun Belt, paced by Jalen Speer with 5.9.

The Mountaineers have gone 2-1 against Sun Belt opponents. Appalachian State ranks third in the Sun Belt with 10.3 offensive rebounds per game led by Marcus averaging 2.3.

Marshall averages 80.2 points, 13.8 more per game than the 66.4 Appalachian State gives up. Appalachian State averages 73.9 points per game, 1.3 fewer than the 75.2 Marshall gives up.

The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.

TOP PERFORMERS: Speer is shooting 35.1% from beyond the arc with 2.8 made 3-pointers per game for the Thundering Herd, while averaging 14.4 points and 5.9 assists. Noah Otshudi is averaging 13.9 points and 3.9 assists over the last 10 games.

Kasen Jennings is shooting 44.3% and averaging 15.0 points for the Mountaineers. Alonzo Dodd is averaging 13.9 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Thundering Herd: 6-4, averaging 78.6 points, 37.2 rebounds, 16.4 assists, 5.6 steals and 5.9 blocks per game while shooting 45.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.5 points per game.

Mountaineers: 6-4, averaging 73.7 points, 35.3 rebounds, 13.5 assists, 4.4 steals and 3.3 blocks per game while shooting 46.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.2 points.

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.