Marshall Thundering Herd vs. UTEP Miners Prediction & Game Preview - 2/13/2022

Time: 3 p.m. ET

Venue: Don Haskins Center, El Paso, TX

Where to watch: N/A

DraftKings: UTEP -6.5

BetMGM: NL

Caesars: UTEP -6.5

Marshall: 8-16 (1-10 C-USA)

UTEP: 14-9 (7-4 C-USA)

Marshall: lost three straight

UTEP: won six of seven

It's a heavy day in Conference USA, but there are still the games that we need to get to that involve teams that we won't be seeing for another few weeks.

Alas, we continue on with Sunday's matchup between the UTEP Miners and the Marshall Thundering Herd in which I feel will be another easy victory for the team facing Marshall.

The thundering herd much like other teams within Conference USA, are not very good this year. In 24 games that they have played, they have won a grand total of eight of them. But wait that's not all. Marshall has only had one victory since December 11th, when they started with seven wins in their first ten games after defeating Eastern Kentucky.

Marshall had just won its first conference game of the season, surprisingly enough, against the UAB Blazers on January 29th, the team that many expect to be the best in the conference right now. So clearly when we look at this game and we look at the matchup and we look at how college basketball shapes up during this time of year, the only logical explanation I can think of is that nobody knows anything and we are just the talking heads that try to tell you who to bet against at a current point in time.

That being said, however, Marshall has not been able to capitalize on such an impressive victory against the Blazers. Marshall has lost three straight coming out of that win with double-digit losses to Old Dominion and Charlotte. The herd nearly pulled off another victory on Thursday but lost by 1 to Florida International.

As is the case with most of these teams, you can have one guy take over the bulk of the scoring but if you don't have a second or even a third you're going to run into trouble especially with the collective shooting percentage. Marshall ran into that problem against Florida International when Andrew Taylor led the way with 22 points and got no help whatsoever from anyone else on his team. You had one player miss six of seven shots in 19 minutes, and you had another one miss 12 of 15 in 27.

This is the world we live in when you talk about bad play within Conference USA. It also did not help matters that Marshall went to the line only 11 times and made eight of them, while their opponents went to the line 20 times and made 16. In short, Marshall probably would have won this game had they made their free throws, and got to the line more.

Marshall has also been an abysmal bet on the books this year, failing to cover in 18 of 22 this season. They failed to cover in nine of their last 10, with one being a push, and the only cover was that upset win over the Blazers when they were ten and a half point underdogs. Even against Florida International, Marshall was six-point favorites and failed to cover. If that isn't the most symbolic thing we can find for this team I honestly don't know what would be.

And now to ask Marshall, who has been mostly horrible over the last few weeks, to go on the road and face UTEP after having a six-game winning streak end on February 7th against North Texas, were more than likely looking at a very angry UTEP team going into this game.

The miners hung tough with one of the top teams in the conference but ran out of gas at the worst time. In hindsight, they did everything right in this game. Souly Boum had 20 points, and Jamal Bieniemy had 17 to pace what was a collective effort of shooting 54.5 percent from the floor.

The only problem UTEP ran into was not getting to the free-throw line enough. The minors shot 100% from the free-throw line, but only took six free throw attempts. North Texas meanwhile went 17 of 27 from the charity stripe, and in an 8 point victory, that's essentially all that mattered.

UTEP has covered their last four games and is clearly without question the better team amongst these two. Some books have the minors opening at six and a half point favorites, and if that line stays there, I would highly advise taking the favorites in this one period Marshall just does not look like a good team to bet on, they don't even seem reliable when it comes to being underdogs, so I would either stay as heavily away from this game as possible or have no problem taking the favorite. If the spread is good to you, take the favorite. UTEP by 14

Marshall is 99-142 ATS as a road underdog or pick since 1997.

Marshall is 37-71 ATS as a road dog of six points or less.

Marshall is 3-16 ATS following two straight games where the opponent was called for 15 fouls or less.

The under is 36-19 when UTEP plays with five or six days of rest.

PG: Andrew Taylor

SG: Taevion Kinsey

SF: Obinna Anochili

PF: Mikel Byers

C: Goran Miladinovic

PG: Souley Boum

SG: Jorell Saterfield

SF: Jamal Bieniemy

PF: Jamari Sibley

C: Tydus Verhoeven

Points: Taevion Kinsey -- 19.9

Rebounds: Obinna Anochili -- 6.9

Assists: Andrew Taylor -- 4.4

Points: Souley Boum -- 18.9

Rebounds: Keonte Kennedy -- 5.9

Assists: Jamal Bieniemy -- 3.7