BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Cinderella wasn’t wearing a green slipper on Saturday night. But sixth-seeded Marshall, playing in its fourth game in four days, gave Conference USA regular-season champion Middle Tennessee everything it wanted in the championship game.
It wasn’t enough, as the Blue Raiders flexed their second-half muscle in an 83-72 win at Legacy Arena. Middle Tennessee (30-4) showed why it was the class of the conference, earning the conference’s automatic NCAA Tournament bid for the second straight year and kept the Thundering Herd (20-15) from reaching that destination for the first time since 1987.
Marshall went from winning 11 games in coach Dan D’Antoni’s first year to 20 in his third.