Preseason favorite Lady Raiders open league play

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee was the preseason favorite of league coaches to win C-USA during Media Days in October. The Blue Raiders (6-5) will begin the conference portion of their league schedule when they play host to UAB Sunday at 2 p.m.

The Blue Raiders are 9-1 in conference openers under Head Coach Rick Insell, and they have been picked to win their respective conference championship in nine of his 11 seasons.

GAME INFORMATION
FULL GAME NOTES

Hashtag: #TrueLegacy, #TrueBlue, #BlueRaiders
Twitter: MT_WBB
Instagram: @MTAthletics
Facebook: MTSU Women's Basketball

Date: Sunday, Jan. 3
Time: 2 PM
Teams: UAB (7-4, 0-0) at Middle Tennessee (6-5, 0-0)
Location: Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Arena: Murphy Center (11,520)
Radio: WMOT-FM (89.5), WGNS (1450 AM/100.5 FM/101.9 FM)
Play-by-Play: Dick Palmer
Analysis: Duane Hickey

GAME NOTES:
Series with UAB
• MT and UAB meet for 12th time.
• MT leads, 6-5.
• MT is 2-2 against UAB in Murfreesboro.
• Blue Raider Head Coach Rick Insell is 4-2 against UAB with all four wins coming as members of C-USA.
• UAB ended a four-game Blue Raider win streak with a 62-57 win in Murfreesboro last February.

UAB (Blue Raiders lead, 6-5)
H: 2-2     A: 3-2      N: 1-1
11/23/90               N             L, 68-76
12/29/97               H             W, 65-41
11/19/98               A             W, 73-63
11/19/99               H             L, 67-70 (OT)
11/28/00               A             L, 71-76
12/19/05               A             L, 69-71
01/18/14               A             W, 61-55
03/01/14               H             W, 68-58
03/13/14               N             W, 69-59
01/04/15               A             W, 76-68
02/28/15               H             L, 57-62

Scouting the UAB Blazers
• UAB is 7-4 under third-year Head Coach Randy Norton.
• UAB has won five straight and six of seven.
• The Blazers are 1-3 on the road.
• UAB is led by guard Chelsee Black with 14 points and 3.1 assists per game.
• UAB also gets strong production from Deanna Kuzmanic (13.2 ppg), Keonna Farmer (10.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg) and Brittany Winborne (9.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg).

C-USA Play Begins
• MT begins its third season as a C-USA member.
• MT was the preseason pick of league coaches to win C-USA for the third straight year. The Blue Raiders have been picked to win their respective conference in nine of Insell's 11 seasons.
• MT is 9-1 in conference openers under Insell with the lone loss coming against FIU in 2013-13 when both schools were members of the Sun Belt Conference.
• MT boasts a sterling mark of 83-5 in conference home games under Insell for a 94 percent clip. MT is 154-19 in regular-season conference games under Insell for a 89 percent winning ledger.

From Way Downtown!
• It should come as no surprise Middle Tennessee has one of the nation's leaders in 3-point field goals per game, and 3-point field goal percentage in Brea Edwards.
• MT has demonstrated greater prowess shooting the 3-pointer under HC Rick Insell than any coach in program history.
• MT has hit 200 or more 3-pointers as a team eight times in program history and seven of those have taken place in Insell's first 10 seasons.
• The top five single-season totals for 3-point field goals have come under Insell's watch, including a record 313 treys in 2009-10. In fact, nine of the top 10 single-season totals are under Insell.
• This year's team is on pace to surpass 200 3-point field goals. It has 73 through 11 dates.

Happy New Year!
• MT is 79-7 for a 92 percent winning ledger under Insell in the month of January.
• MT has won 31 of its last 32 games in January. The Blue Raiders have won five straight January games overall.
• MT has produced five perfect Januarys in Insell's 10 previous seasons: 2007, 2009, 2012-14.
• MT was 8-1 in January in 2015.

70 Is Magic Number
• When MT scores 70 or more under HC Rick Insell it is a staggering 175-12 for a 94 percent winning clip.
• Give the Blue Raiders 80 points or more and they are nearly unbeatable under Rick Insell. MT has won 93 of the
95 games it has scored 80 or more in Insell's 10-plus seasons. The Blue Raiders are 35-0 when scoring 90 or more points under Insell.

On the Rebound
• MT HC Rick Insell stresses rebounding and the numbers support his emphasis on that facet.
• MT is 6-2 when outrebounding the opposition this season, and 166-17 overall when winning the battle of the boards under Insell.
• The only games MT has lost winning the rebounding battle this season are vs. No. 8 Kentucky (40-32) and at Ohio (42-32).
• MT ranks 55th nationally in total rebounds (42.9 rpg).

MT Attendance in Nation's Top 10
• Through five home dates, MT is eighth nationally in attendance with 6,749 per game. The Blue Raiders have drawn 5,000-plus for all but one game.
• MT has ranked among the Top 25 nationally in attendance in each of the last three seasons.
• The Blue Raiders have been ranked in the Top 30 nationally in attendance in eight of Insell's 10 seasons at the helm.
• The top 25 crowds in program history all have occurred during Insell's tenure.

Crowding the Glass House
Top 10 Crowds in Program History
Date                       Opponent Attendance
11.25.09 No. 6/5 Tennessee             11,802
12.17.15 Missouri St.* 11,411
12.03.14 Clemson* 11,307
11.8.13 No. 4/4 Tennessee 11,227
12.4.12                 Austin Peay* 10,107
12.12.13 Kennesaw St.* 10, 028
11.10.06 No. 1/1 Maryland 10,010
12.28.07 No. 8/8 LSU* 7,858
2.18.12                 Florida Atlantic* 7,605
2.17.08                 Western Kentucky* 6,968
* - Middle Tennessee victories

Edwards C-USA Player of Week X2
• Senior guard Brea Edwards has been named C-USA Player of the Week twice.
• Edwards was named Player of the Week, Dec. 21, after leading the Blue Raiders to wins vs. Missouri State and Tennessee Tech. Edwards averaged 24.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, shot 52 percent from the field, includng 42 percent from 3-point range, and 90 percent from the free-throw line in the two wins.
• Edwards earned her first C-USA Player of the Week honor, Dec. 7, after helping lead the Blue Raiders to road wins at Austin Peay & Xavier. Edwards averaged 21 points, 5.0 rebounds and shot 56 percent from the field in the two wins.

Edwards Recognized by NCAA.com
• Edwards was recognized by NCAA.com when she was highlighted in its weekly Starting Five feature Wednesday (Dec. 9).
Every week, NCAA.com's Starting Five features five of the top women's basketball players in the country. It was the first such honor for Edwards.

Edwards Amongst Nation's Best
• Senior guard Brea Edwards is among national leaders in four categories. Edwards is second in NCAA Division I WBB for 3-point FG per game (3.7), second in 3-point FG made (41), 19th in 3-point FG% (.466) and 20th in scoring (20.5).
• Edwards led the nation in scoring with a 21.8 average at Central Arizona Community College in 2012-13.
• Edwards has scored 24 or more five times, including a career-high 30 against Virginia in the season opener.
• Edwards is among C-USA leaders in scoring (1st, 20.5), 3-pt FG per game (1st, 3.7), minutes (3rd, 35.3), 3-pt FG% (3rd, .466), offensive rebounds (6th, 2.7), and rebounding (9th, 7.1)

Edwards Uncanny Beyond Arc
• Senior Brea Edwards has been sizzling from beyond the arc. She has connected on 46 percent of her 88 3-point attempts.
• Edwards was 6-of-8 from beyond the arc vs. Nevada, and followed that performance with a 5-for-6 effort against Austin Peay.
• Edwards has hit at least one 3-pointer in all games and has connected for four or more six times.
• Edwards has hit at least one trey in 25 straight games dating to last season.

Petty Strong Distributor
• MT junior point guard Ty Petty dished out a career-high 11 assists in the win vs. Missouri State. It was her second double-figure assist game of the season.
• Became first player with two double-figure assists games in same season since Sherry Smith in 1979-80.
• Petty had 10 assists in MT's win vs. Ole Miss.
• Her 10 assists vs. Ole Miss marked the first time a Blue Raider has had double-figure assists since Kortni Jones had 12 against Troy (1/25/12).
• Petty is second in C-USA with 4.7 assists per game.
• Petty has seven or more assists in four games, including her career high of 11 against Missouri St.

Developing Post Presence
• Coach Rick Insell has been stressing the need for a stronger post presence and his players have responded.
• The Blue Raiders have outscored their foes in the paint in five of the last seven games, and the team is 5-2 in those games. MT has averaged 35.2 points per game in the paint, while allowing 23.5 during this stretch.

Send In the Reserves
• MT's reserves are paying dividends. The Blue Raiders' bench has outscored the opposition's reserves four times this season.
• MT's reserves have provided 20-plus points five times. The team is 4-1 in those games.
• The Blue Raider reserves are averaging 15.0 points per game. Sophomore Abbey Sissom leads the reserves with 5.8 points per contest.

Did You Know?
• MT is the only WBB program nationally to have the NCAA Division I scoring champion in three consecutive seasons: Amber Holt (2008), Alysha Clark (2009, 10).
• MT has participated in a national postseason tournament in each of the last 12 years (10 NCAAs, 2 WNITs).
• MT has 37 winning seasons in its 40-year history.

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Players Mentioned

Brea Edwards

Ty Petty

Abbey Sissom

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics