Men’s Basketball Recap
By: Anthony Doria, FM88 Sports
HUNTINGTON, W.Va – Marshall Men’s basketball opened the 2026-2027 year on a very high note, defeating Buffalo 92-65 in the Cam Henderson Center on Monday Night, in a game where Marshall never trailed.
The win marked the 37th win for head coach Corny Jackson at Marshall. Jackson has also won the first game of the season every year of his tenure with the Herd.
“Proud of the way that we played tonight. We had good leadership, we had toughness, we had some consistency, some things that we’re looking for. Proud of these guys,” Jackson said.
Monday’s game was a big response from Marshall’s last exhibition game against UPIKE. After only beating the NAIA School by ten points and trailing for a portion of the game, the game seemed to feel more like a loss than a win. Jackson said that his team needed to get better from that game. It’s safe to say that Marshall answered the call in practice and in the game.
“You can tell the last couple of days we got after it, I said that we were going to get better from that game, and we got after it the last couple of practices,” Jackson said.
There are a lot of new faces for Marshall this year, with only four returners from last year. While it sometimes takes a while for a team to gel with each other, that was not the case for Marshall. Marshall’s bench outscored Buffalo 30-5, as well as winning the turnover battle and outrebounding the Bulls by 10.
Guard Bryce Slay said the team depth was a big part of the win, and that the team is very in tune with each other.
“As a team, we’ve been talking about our team theme: strength and numbers. Every single time we break it down in the huddle, we’re saying together. We’re a deep unit,” Slay said.
They kept the same level whenever we made subs, and that really helped us just keep growing that lead throughout the whole game.”
The main star of the show was Emmanuel Manyuon. The Pacific University transfer earned a double-double with a team-leading 22 points and 11 rebounds. First games should maybe be taken with a grain of salt, but Manyuon made a good first impression for Herd Faithful.
Manyuon said the team is living in the moment and can not get comfortable even after the win.
“At the end of the day, we got to do this 30-something more times. We can’t get complacent. I just love being with this team. I love playing in this arena. So, we’re just living in the moment; we’re being present,” Manyuon said after the win.
Byrce Slay earned a career-high 19 points, going 8-for-12 from the field. Slay said it was nice to start 1-0 against a very good MAC team.
“It feels great. We got nine new guys, new team, new squad. We’ve been waiting; we’ve been ready since June,” Slay said, “To be able to go against another team, a good team in the MAC. It felt great. Good environment to get that first win.”
Marshall rebounding was superb. After UPIKE made Marshall look small on the boards, Jackson said it was talked about a lot, given the athleticism that Buffalo possessed.
Jackson said it all came down to the team having more effort. “We harped on it the last few days. We told our guys, if you’re standing and watching, then you’re probably not doing your job,” Jackson said.
“We always want to hit first. We want to hit first on rebounds, want to hit first with our chest defensively, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”
Manyuon’s eleven rebounds were the most on the team, and 26% of Marshall’s rebounds in the game. Manyuon expressed the same sentiment about rebounding, saying his goal was helping the team.
“For us to win this game, we had to keep them off the boards. We had to win, and it came from our guards helping our bigs. I was just trying to do my part and help my bigs out,” Manyoun said.
With the win, Marshall looks to continue that momentum and continue the hot start. Marshall’s next game will be Saturday. Nov. 7, as the MAC-SBC challenge continues as the Herd hosts old rival Toledo. Tip-off will be at 2 pm.