Marshall's first road venture of the 2009-10 basketball season won't rival that December journey to North Carolina, but it's plenty tough enough for coach Donnie Jones.

The Thundering Herd surfaces today in Norfolk, Va., tangling with perennial postseason participant Old Dominion. The   8,424-seat Ted Constant Convocation Center has been sold out for the 7 p.m. tip-off.

The game is a return match of Marshall's 68-64 win last November in Huntington. The Monarchs of the Colonial Athletic Association went on to finish 25-10, capturing the championship of the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament. All starters have returned.

"That will be an NCAA tournament atmosphere," Jones said. "For us to be a top-100 team, we need to win on the road, and we haven't done that yet in this program."

This stands to be the Herd's toughest test, but it should be the Monarchs' toughest test as well. They have pummeled Bethune-Cookman 69-38, Longwood 98-59 and Liberty 73-41, and are playing the fourth game in seven days.

The three games have kept the troops fresh, as nobody has played more than 26 minutes per game. Gerald Lee, the 6-foot-9 Finland native who is a nephew of Marshall great Russell Lee, leads the way with 10.3 points per game, with 6-5 guard Kent Bazemore scoring 10.0 off the bench.

Three others are scoring 8.7 to 9.3 points - 6-5 forward Ben Finney, 6-8 forward Keyon Carter and 6-2 Marsharee Neely.

Marshall (2-0) is coming off a hard-fought 63-60 win over Middle Tennessee State, and also owns an easier win over North Carolina A&T. Shaquille Johnson took the early scoring lead, with 16.5 points per game.

"Obviously, we have to shoot the ball better from the free-throw line [16-of-29 last game], and from the 3-point line [23.8 percent in two games]," Jones said. "We haven't shot well from the 3-point line at all. Some of those shots go down, and it changes everything. We're due, and I hope it's [today] when those 3s start falling."

BRIEFLY: Marshall returns home to play Lamar at 7 p.m. Wednesday, the third game of the Global Sports Invitational. That package wraps up next Saturday when the Herd plays Ohio at the Charleston Civic Center, in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. ... DeAndre Kane's status remains in limbo with the NCAA, and he did not make the trip. ... ODU has drawn 6,015 and 6,264 in its first two home games.

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.

Marshall's first road venture of the 2009-10 basketball season won't rival that December journey to North Carolina, but it's plenty tough enough for coach Donnie Jones.

The Thundering Herd surfaces today in Norfolk, Va., tangling with perennial postseason participant Old Dominion. The   8,424-seat Ted Constant Convocation Center has been sold out for the 7 p.m. tip-off.

The game is a return match of Marshall's 68-64 win last November in Huntington. The Monarchs of the Colonial Athletic Association went on to finish 25-10, capturing the championship of the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament. All starters have returned.

"That will be an NCAA tournament atmosphere," Jones said. "For us to be a top-100 team, we need to win on the road, and we haven't done that yet in this program."

This stands to be the Herd's toughest test, but it should be the Monarchs' toughest test as well. They have pummeled Bethune-Cookman 69-38, Longwood 98-59 and Liberty 73-41, and are playing the fourth game in seven days.

The three games have kept the troops fresh, as nobody has played more than 26 minutes per game. Gerald Lee, the 6-foot-9 Finland native who is a nephew of Marshall great Russell Lee, leads the way with 10.3 points per game, with 6-5 guard Kent Bazemore scoring 10.0 off the bench.

Three others are scoring 8.7 to 9.3 points - 6-5 forward Ben Finney, 6-8 forward Keyon Carter and 6-2 Marsharee Neely.

Marshall (2-0) is coming off a hard-fought 63-60 win over Middle Tennessee State, and also owns an easier win over North Carolina A&T. Shaquille Johnson took the early scoring lead, with 16.5 points per game.

"Obviously, we have to shoot the ball better from the free-throw line [16-of-29 last game], and from the 3-point line [23.8 percent in two games]," Jones said. "We haven't shot well from the 3-point line at all. Some of those shots go down, and it changes everything. We're due, and I hope it's [today] when those 3s start falling."

BRIEFLY: Marshall returns home to play Lamar at 7 p.m. Wednesday, the third game of the Global Sports Invitational. That package wraps up next Saturday when the Herd plays Ohio at the Charleston Civic Center, in a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. ... DeAndre Kane's status remains in limbo with the NCAA, and he did not make the trip. ... ODU has drawn 6,015 and 6,264 in its first two home games.

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.