Elon Phoenix 89 at Marshall Thundering Herd 96 (NCAA Basketball) - November 12, 2025

My dumbest quest is to use an airport in every state. I decided that this was worthy of my time and money when Avelo Airlines added Wilmington, Delaware to its list of destinations, giving the state some rare commercial service. I flew there last January, and a few other trips over the year left West Virginia as the only state which I had yet to fly into or out of. The only remaining venue worth seeing in the Mountain State is Marshall basketball, and as luck would have it, they had a game on Wednesday, with flights from Phoenix quite cheap on miles. So I flew overnight to Charlotte and after a long layover, boarded AA5366 for a flight to Charleston. 

It was a picturesque trip and we landed on time. No need for a jet bridge here; you walk on the tarmac to get to the terminal. And with that, another quest was complete. 

Now I had to rent a car to drive the 45 minutes to Huntington, home of Marshall University. I had been to Huntington just last year for their independent team, the Tri-State Coal Cats, who sadly will not be operating in 2026. After a stop at my hotel for a much-needed nap, I drove downtown, parking on 3rd Avenue, where meters are not enforced after 6 p.m. This is also the street on which Cam Henderson Center, home of Thundering Herd basketball, can be found.

As you approach from the west, you will pass the Hal Greer statue. Greer was born in Huntington and starred at Marshall, the first African American to play at a public college in the state. He went on to a stellar NBA career, including winning the 1967 championship with Philadelphia.

The main entrance to the venue is up a set of stairs. The gym itself is the large structure to the left in the photo above. The box office is just inside the doors and tickets start at $20, a bit much for this level, but at least you get a hard stub. The arena opened in 1981 and is named for the man who coached football and basketball here from 1935-55. Although there are over 9,000 seats in the building, capacity is limited to 5,175 with several upper rows tarped off on both sides due to 'safety considerations'.

The concourses are straight and narrow here, with the sloping roof giving you an almost claustrophobic feeling. You can see the slope from the outside in the exterior photo above.

There are a few features as you walk around, including one of Hassan Whiteside and his ridiculous wing span; he played here for just one season before being drafted in the 2nd round by Sacramento in 2010. He had a peripatetic early career but ended up in Miami for five strong seasons before again becoming a basketball nomad; he's currently playing in Shanghai.

All-time leaders can be found nearby; Charlie Slack was certainly no slacker on the boards as his 1954-55 rebound average of 25.6 is still the NCAA record.

There are a couple of stuffed bison on the concourse as the animal is the mascot of the school. The live mascot is Marco, a portmanteau of Marshall College, which is what the school used to be called. Marco did not pay a visit to the upper level where I was sitting, so no pictures of him.

Inside the seating bowl, there are suites at one end that hang over the baseline seats. The band occupies one of the lower sections and the students are next to them, though the shot below was taken before either had arrived.

Above those are the retired jerseys, most of which come from the early years of the program.

The other end zone has no suites and includes the Marshall Party Zone, which is above a stylish M that leads to the locker rooms.

The team has not had a lot of postseason success, with just a single tournament win coming in 2018 when they upset Wichita State in the first round before losing to the only other D-I school in the state (who then went on to lose to eventual champion Villanova).

However, the school does have one national championship, namely that from the NAIB (National Association for Intercollegiate Basketball) which later became the NAIA. In 1947, John Wooden withdrew Indiana State from the tournament because the NAIB would not allow Clarence Walker, an African American, to play; the NAIB modified the rule the following year and Indiana State went to the final, only to lose to Louisville.

You can see the lower sideline setup in the photo below, with four sections along the side and two in the corners; above that are five extended sections. I used the school's website to find an open row in which I could sit quietly without being disturbed.

Marshall is now a member of the Sun Belt Conference and the other schools have banners atop the floor. Meanwhile, a single four-sided scoreboard hangs above center court, with small triangles between the screens showing team stats.

By the time the game started, the crowd had filled the place up, and a large flag was unfurled for the national anthem. I really like getting to a venue early and witnessing the hum of anticipation as fans slowly make their way in.



Overall, Cam Henderson Center is an impressive basketball gym that I thoroughly enjoyed. Even better, I finally got a good game to watch.

The Game

After flying from Phoenix, I was happy to see that the Elon Phoenix were the visitors in an odd coincidence. They were 8.5-point underdogs, so I had hope for a close battle after a few blowouts to start my season. The most intriguing player was Matt Van Komen, a 7'4 center (#13 below) who had transferred from Elon to Marshall over the summer. The two squads had met last year at the Schar Center with the Phoenix prevailing 73-59.

Marshall got out to a quick start with Wyatt Fricks draining three bombs as they took a 12-2 lead. But Elon responded with three straight perimeter shots of their own to get within 17-15, only for the Thundering Herd to add two more, including another from Fricks, who was on fire. He added yet another before getting his second foul, sending him to the bench for the last 8:56 of the half. Elon then went on an extended 19-6 run to take a 38-36 lead, but Hamilton native Noah Otshudi (#5 below) added another three-pointer as Marshall went to the break up 45-43. Otshudi transferred from Western University (more commonly known as the University of Western Ontario when I was a student at Waterloo) and I have to say it is great to see more and more Canadian kids playing D-I hoops. 

The three-point barrage continued in the second half with Fricks (#2 below in a rare foray inside the arc) adding his sixth of the evening. Chandler Cuthrell (leaping above) was keeping Elon in the game but the Herd went on an 8-0 run over three minutes, with Frick potting his 7th trey to make it 68-58. Van Komen then added five points and Fricks scored from in close to give Marshall a 75-63 lead with 9:21 to go and the Phoenix could get no closer than 8 as the clock ticked down.

Elon did manage a couple of late scores to beat the cover but they fell 96-89 in a fast-paced game. There were 34 fouls and each team had 22 freebies, but that was tangential to the outcome.



The most intriguing stat saw Elon with 14 offensive rebounds but only 14 second-chance points, while Marshall managed 19 points off just 9 offensive boards. Fricks was excellent, going 13-14 (7-8 from downtown) and adding a free throw for 34 points, while Cuthrell contributed 28 for the losers despite going 0-8 from three-point land.

There were 131 shot attempts in this game, with 70 of them coming from downtown as you can see above. This is the state of basketball today and there's little that can be done to change it. I guess most fans like it, but I'd rather see more post play. Still, this was still a fun game to watch and made the end of the trip memorable.

 

Notes

Two days after this game was the 55th anniversary of the Marshall football plane crash, the biggest disaster in U.S. sports history. I wonder how many younger fans even know of this tragic event. 

West Virginia is the 13th of the 51 states (I include DC here for counting purposes) where I have seen every D-I basketball venue. Minnesota was on this list, but St. Thomas has opened the Lee & Penny Anderson Arena this year, so I have to return to St. Paul. As we all say, "it never ends".

Best,

Sean