The 1955–56 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team represented Marshall College (now

Marshall University Marshall University is a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States. The university is currently composed of nine colleges: L ...

) during the

1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season The 1955–56 NCAA men's basketball season began in December 1955, progressed through the regular season and conference tournaments, and concluded with the 1956 NCAA basketball tournament championship game on March 24, 1956, at McGaw Hall in Eva ...

. The Thundering Herd, led by first-year head coach

Jule Rivlin Julius Leon "Jule" Rivlin (February 2, 1917 – September 23, 2002) was a college men's basketball coach and professional basketball player. He was the head coach of Marshall from 1955 to 1963. He coached Marshall to a 100-88 record, winning one ...

, played their home games at the

Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse The Veterans Memorial Fieldhouse was an 8,500-seat (6,500 for basketball) multi-purpose arena in Huntington, West Virginia. It was built in 1950. Prior to the completion of the Huntington Civic Center (now known as Mountain Health Arena) in 197 ...

as members of the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

. 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 Morehead State University (MSU) is a public university in Morehead, Kentucky. The university began as Morehead Normal School, which opened its doors in 1887. The Craft Academy for Excellence in Science and Mathematics, a two-year residential ea ...

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 The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

during the season, coming in at No. 18 on the week of January 31.

Roster

Schedule/results

, - !colspan=8, Regular Season , - , - !colspan=8, NCAA tournament Marshall Record Book
p. 38 Retrieved May 24, 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1955-56 Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball team Marshall Thundering Herd men's basketball seasons Marshall Marshall Marshall Thundering Herd basketball (men's) Marshall Thundering Herd basketball (men's)