TOLEDO, Ohio – The Toledo men's basketball (7-3) heads to Huntington, W. Va.  this weekend for a matchup that will feature two of the top mid-major teams in the country. The Rockets are ranked No. 10 in this week's CollegeInsiders.com poll and will face a Marshall squad (9-2) that is ranked No. 14 on Saturday, Dec. 17. Tip-off time at the Cam Henderson Center will be at 3:30 p.m. with streaming on ESPN+.

The Rockets have won four of their last five games, with wins over Northern Kentucky (82-69), Richmond (90-67), Northern Iowa (83-75) and Canisius (69-68), with the only defeat an 80-73 setback at George Mason.

In last Saturday's one-point win over the Golden Griffins, junior RayJ Dennis led the way with a career-high 29 points, a season-best nine rebounds and six assists. Dennis also scored the Rockets' final 16 points to help UT rally from a six-point deficit with 5:27 to play. He knocked down a career-high 15 free throws in 20 attempts, including 10-of-11 in the final five minutes. JT Shumate was the only other Rocket to score in double digits with 20 points, posting his fourth straight outing with 20 points or more.

Dennis' play last week earned him MAC Player of the Week honors for the second time this season. He averaged 25.0 ppg, 7.0 rpg and 5.5 apg in the Rockets' two victories.

Shumate has moved into the MAC scoring lead with 19.5 ppg, with Dennis ranking third with 19.1 ppg and 14th in the nation with 5.9 apg. Dennis and Shumate are the only two teammates in the country averaging 19.0 ppg or higher.

As a team, Toledo is ranked 17th nationally with 83.3 ppg and will be facing a Marshall squad that averages 80.7 ppg following Tuesday's 75-67 loss at UNC Greensboro.

The Thundering Herd's defeat snapped their nine-game winning streak. Marshall features a high-scoring tandem as well with redshirt seniors Taevion Kinsey (21.2 ppg) and Andrew Taylor (18.6 ppg).

TOLEDO VS. MARSHALL
Date: Saturday, Dec. 17, 2022.
Tip-Off: 3:30 p.m.
Location: Huntington, W. Va.
Arena: Henderson Center (9,048).
Streaming: ESPN+.
Radio: Rocket Radio Network. WSPD (1370 AM) in Toledo. Jim Heller will provide play-by-play for broadcast with Jay Lehman serving as analyst.

SERIES
Toledo leads 38-23. The Rockets have won five in a row over Marshall, including a 96-87 (OT) win in its last trip to Huntington. UT is facing the Thundering Herd in a non-conference contest for the seventh straight season.

ROCKETS IN THE MAC RANKINGS
•  Toledo leads the MAC with 83.3 ppg, five points better than Ball State (78.8).
•  The Rockets are also second with a 47.6 FG%, a 36.5 3PTFG%, a 76.5 FT%, 14.8 apg, a 1.35 assist/turnover ratio, and a plus-3.30 turnover margin.
•  The Rockets are third with 8.2 spg.
•  Toledo is the only school to have three representatives among the MAC's Top 15 scoring leaders — JT Shumate (19.5/1st), RayJ Dennis (19.1/3rd), and Setric Millner Jr. (14.3 ppg/14th).
•  Dennis leads the MAC with 5.9 apg and a 2.8 assist/turnover ratio.
•  Shumate ranks first in the MAC with 19.5 ppg and 1.5 bpg.
•  Shumate and Dennis rank first and second in the MAC in 20-point outings with seven and five, respectively.
•  Millner Jr is sixth with 7.4 rpg and eighth with an 87.5 FT%.
•  Dante Maddox Jr. is seventh in the MAC with a team-best 43.2 three-point FG%.
 
TEAM TIDBITS
•  Toledo's one-point win over Canisius was its first contest decided by seven points or less this season. The Rockets are 2-1 in games decided by 5-10 points, 2-2 in games decided by 11-15 points and 2-0 in games decided by more than 20 points.
•  The Rockets have scored 90 or more points on three occasions, including 112 points vs. Oakland to match their most points ever scored under Coach Kowalczyk.
•  Toledo has posted a MAC-best 200-106 (.654) win-loss mark since the start of the 2013-14 season. Entering this season, Rockets had averaged 21.4 victories over the last nine years.
•  Toledo has shot over 80 percent from the free-throw line in six of 10 games, including all 13 of its attempts from the charity stripe at Northern Iowa (Dec. 6).
•  Toledo is the only MAC school to win 13 or more league games four of last five years.
•  Toledo was 8-2 in conference road games last season after posting a 6-3 mark in league contests away from home in the 2020-21 campaign.
 
ON THE HORIZON
Toledo will travel to Vermont (6-7) on Tuesday, Dec. 20 for its final contest before taking a break for Christmas. The Catamounts are 2-0 at home this season and will be idle for 10 days leading up to the matchup since a 73-72 victory at Colgate on Dec. 10.