1955–56 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team

1955–56 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball
1955–56 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball
Mid-American Conference champions
NCAA tournament, first round
Conference	Mid-American Conference
Record	18–5 (10–2 MAC)
Head coach	Jule Rivlin (1st season);
Home arena	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse
	Seasons ← 1954–55 1956–57 →

1955–56 Mid-American Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Marshall	10	–	2	.833	18	–	5	.783
Miami (OH)	8	–	4	.667	12	–	8	.600
Western Michigan	7	–	5	.583	11	–	9	.550
Toledo	6	–	6	.500	9	–	13	.409
Ohio	5	–	7	.417	13	–	11	.542
Kent State	5	–	7	.417	10	–	11	.476
Bowling Green	1	–	11	.083	4	–	19	.174

Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1955–56 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team represented Marshall College (now Marshall University) during the 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season. The Thundering Herd, led by first-year head coach Jule Rivlin, played their home games at the Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse as members of the Mid-American Conference. They finished the season 18–5, 10–2 in MAC play to finish in first place. For the first time in school history, they received the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost to Morehead State in the first round.

The season also marked the first time in the program's history that the Thundering Herd were ranked in the AP Poll during the season, coming in at No. 18 on the week of January 31.^[2]

Roster

1955–56 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year
		Bob Ashley	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—
		Dave Dingess	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	—
		Jack Freeman	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	—
G	16	Hal Greer	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—	So
		Joe Hunnicutt	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	—
		Dave Kirk	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—
		John Mayfield	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	—
		Sonny Parkins	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—
		Jerry Pierson	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)	—
		Cebe Price	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—
	17	Charlie Slack	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	—	Sr
		Paul Underwood	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)	—
		Ron Williamson	—	—
		Bill Zban	—	—

Head coach

Jule Rivlin

Assistant coach(es)

None

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

^[3]

Schedule/results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Regular Season
Dec 8, 1955*		Spring Hill	W 83–69	1–0	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Dec 10, 1955*		Washington and Lee	W 115–83	2–0	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Dec 15, 1955		Ohio	W 87–71	3–0 (1–0)	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Dec 17, 1955		at Western Michigan	L 70–80	3–1 (1–1)	Oakland Gymnasium Kalamazoo, MI
Dec 20, 1955*		at Morehead State	L 89–102	3–2	Button Hall Morehead, KY
Dec 29, 1955*		vs. Boston College Fayetteville Invitational	W 130–69	4–2	Fayetteville, IN
Dec 30, 1955*		vs. Denver Fayetteville Invitational	W 79–78	5–2	Fayetteville, IN
Jan 4, 1956		Miami (OH)	W 99–93	6–2 (2–1)	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Jan 7, 1956		Western Michigan	W 85–72	7–2 (3–1)	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Jan 12, 1956		at Ohio	W 72–63	8–2 (4–1)	Woodruff Hall Athens, OH
Jan 14, 1956		Toledo	W 92–53	9–2 (5–1)	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Jan 18, 1956*		Morris Harvey	W 115–76	10–2	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Jan 20, 1956*		at Baldwin Wallace	W 91–87	11–2	Berea, OH
Jan 21, 1956		at Kent State	W 97–83	12–2 (6–1)	Men's Physical Education Building Kent, OH
Jan 28, 1956		Kent State	W 110–108	13–2 (7–1)	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Feb 2, 1956*	No. 18	Morehead State	L 103–108	13–3	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Feb 7, 1956*		West Virginia Wesleyan	W 85–64	14–3	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Feb 10, 1956		at Bowling Green	W 87–85	15–3 (8–1)	Bowling Green, OH
Feb 11, 1956		at Toledo	W 78–70	16–3 (9–1)	The Field House Toledo, OH
Feb 20, 1956		Bowling Green	W 95–91	17–3 (10–1)	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse Huntington, WV
Feb 22, 1956		at Miami (OH)	L 82–103	17–4 (10–2)	Withrow Court Oxford, OH
Feb 25, 1956*		at Morris Harvey	W 109–91	18–4	Charleston, WV
NCAA tournament
Mar 12, 1956*		vs. Morehead State First Round – Midwest Region	L 92–107	18–5	Allen County War Memorial Coliseum Fort Wayne, IN
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.

^[4]^[5]

References

^ "1955-56 Mid-American Conference Season Summary". college-basketball-reference. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
^ "Marshall Thundering Herd AP Poll History". college-basketball-reference. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
^ "1955-56 Marshall Thundering Herd Roster and Stats". college-basketball-reference. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
^ "1955-56 Marshall Thundering Herd Schedule and Results". college-basketball-reference. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
^ Marshall Record Book Archived April 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine p. 38 Retrieved May 24, 2019

[1] "1955-56 Mid-American Conference Season Summary". college-basketball-reference. Retrieved May 24, 2019.

[2] "Marshall Thundering Herd AP Poll History". college-basketball-reference. Retrieved May 24, 2019.

[3] "1955-56 Marshall Thundering Herd Roster and Stats". college-basketball-reference. Retrieved May 24, 2019.

[4] "1955-56 Marshall Thundering Herd Schedule and Results". college-basketball-reference. Retrieved May 24, 2019.

[5] Marshall Record Book Archived April 25, 2022, at the Wayback Machine p. 38 Retrieved May 24, 2019

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v t e Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball
Venues	Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse (1950–1981) Cam Henderson Center (1981–present)
Rivalries	West Virginia
Culture & lore	Marco the Bison
People	Head coaches NBA draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1906–07 1907–08 1908–09 1909–10 1910–11 1911–12 1912–13 1913–14 1914–18 1918–19 1919–20 1920–21 1921–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25
NAIA national championship in bold