Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Saturday, January 23
Murfreesboro, TN
5:00 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
-145, 61 CUSA
87
vs
73
Rice
-614, 16 CUSA
1
2
F
Rice
25
48
73
Middle Tennessee
45
42
87
Team Stats
RICE
MT
FG%
.490
.548
3FG%
.333
.474
FT%
.690
.455
RB
25
39
TO
18
15
STL
9
11
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
27
FGM
10
3FGM
6
FTM
1
Pts
23
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
18
FGM
8
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballRaiders Roll to Sixth Straight Win
1/23/2016 7:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MT pours in 87 points to down Rice
MURFREESBORO – On a snowy night in Murfreesboro the Blue Raiders were on fire inside the Murphy Center, shooting their way to an 87-73 win against Rice.
Giddy Potts led the way for the Blue Raiders with 27 points on a 10-of-18 performance from the field while hitting 6-of-10 three point attempts.
Perrin Buford stuffed the box score with 23 points, eight rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks. Reggie Upshaw chimed in with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Middle Tennessee (14-5, 6-1) shot 54.8 percent on the night and connected on 47.4 percent of their three-pointers. The Raiders outrebounded Rice (6-14, 1-6) 39-25 and held a 14-5 edge on the offensive glass.
The Blue Raiders opened the game with a 7-0 start, but Rice battled back in the early going. The Owls took a 16-14 advantage on their first possession coming out of the second media timeout.
MT then used a 17-0 run that included three consecutive three-pointers to open up a 31-16 lead at the 7:13 mark in the first half.
The Raiders continued to assert themselves on both ends of the floor in the opening half, taking a 45-25 advantage into the locker room.
It was more of the same coming out of the break as the Blue Raiders held a strong lead for the first eight minutes of the second half.
Upshaw found Buford for an alley-oop that brought the Murphy Center crowd to its feet with 13:30 left in the game, but Rice would soon close the gap to 10 points after a questionable dead ball technical was called on Darnell Harris.
It was Potts who put the Raiders back in control of the game down the stretch, going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc in the final nine and a half minutes.
With just over two minutes remaining, Buford put an exclamation point on the contest with a huge slam dunk over a Rice defender, making the game all but out of reach for the Owls.
Middle Tennessee will hit the road to take on Marshall on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. The Raiders will conclude their road trip on Saturday at WKU.
Giddy Potts led the way for the Blue Raiders with 27 points on a 10-of-18 performance from the field while hitting 6-of-10 three point attempts.
Perrin Buford stuffed the box score with 23 points, eight rebounds, three steals, two assists and two blocks. Reggie Upshaw chimed in with 18 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals.
Middle Tennessee (14-5, 6-1) shot 54.8 percent on the night and connected on 47.4 percent of their three-pointers. The Raiders outrebounded Rice (6-14, 1-6) 39-25 and held a 14-5 edge on the offensive glass.
The Blue Raiders opened the game with a 7-0 start, but Rice battled back in the early going. The Owls took a 16-14 advantage on their first possession coming out of the second media timeout.
MT then used a 17-0 run that included three consecutive three-pointers to open up a 31-16 lead at the 7:13 mark in the first half.
The Raiders continued to assert themselves on both ends of the floor in the opening half, taking a 45-25 advantage into the locker room.
It was more of the same coming out of the break as the Blue Raiders held a strong lead for the first eight minutes of the second half.
Upshaw found Buford for an alley-oop that brought the Murphy Center crowd to its feet with 13:30 left in the game, but Rice would soon close the gap to 10 points after a questionable dead ball technical was called on Darnell Harris.
It was Potts who put the Raiders back in control of the game down the stretch, going 3-for-4 from beyond the arc in the final nine and a half minutes.
With just over two minutes remaining, Buford put an exclamation point on the contest with a huge slam dunk over a Rice defender, making the game all but out of reach for the Owls.
Middle Tennessee will hit the road to take on Marshall on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. The Raiders will conclude their road trip on Saturday at WKU.
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Wednesday, July 30
2025 Blue Raider Blitz Media Panel
Thursday, July 03
MTSU Men's Basketball Coach Nick McDevitt interview at 2025 Blue Raider Blitz
Monday, June 30
MTSU Men's Basketball Post Game Press Conference vs Chattanooga NIT 3/18/25
Tuesday, March 18
