Men's Hoops to Host Marshall on Senior Night

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – An injury-riddled Middle Tennessee men's basketball team will take on Marshall Saturday at 5:00 p.m. inside the Murphy Center. The Blue Raiders will have to play on Senior Night without their starting backcourt, Jacob Ivory and Giddy Potts, who are both sidelined with concussions.

GAME INFORMATION
(Full Game Notes)

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Date: Saturday, Feb. 27
Time: 5:00 p.m.
Teams: Middle Tennessee (18-9, 10-5 C-USA) vs. Marshall (15-13, 11-4 C-USA)
Location: Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Arena: Murphy Center (11,520)
Radio: WMOT-FM (89.5), WGNS (1450 AM/100.5 FM/101.9 FM), Game 2 (102.5/94.9/95.1)
Play-by-Play: Chip Walters
Analysis: Kyle Turnham

Live Audio | Live Stats

GAME NOTES
Lockdown Defense
The Blue Raiders are constantly working on closing out on opposing ball handlers, but are struggling to force tough shots lately. MT's opponents average 43.2 percent from the field this season, but their last five opponents have made 51.4 percent of their field goal attempts. The Raiders will need to get back to their gritty defensive ways to improve their chances of winning down the stretch.

Get to the Line
Middle Tennessee has shot just 550 free throws this year, an average of just 20.4 free throw attempts per game. MT's opponents have shot 641 free throws, an average of 23.7 free throws per game. Middle's opponents are also making an average of 3.5 more free throws per game. The Blue Raiders have attempted an average of 21.3 free throws per game in their wins compared to just 18.6 in their losses, including a total of just 10 attempts in the loss at LA Tech and 13 in the loss vs. UAB.

Downtown Raiders
MT has been deadly from beyond the 3-point line this season and are currently ranked 31st among D-I teams in 3-point percentage (38.4%). Sophomore guard Giddy Potts is currently nationally in 3-point percentage, converting 49.3 percent of his attempts from deep, but will be sorely missed as he is out with a concussion. The team has even improved lately, shooting 39.8 percent from deep and making 8.7 threes per game in conference play compared to 36.4 percent and 7.3 threes per game in non-conference play.

Protecting the Rock
Middle Tennessee's offense strives on decision-making and taking good care of the basketball. As the season has gone on the Blue Raiders have constantly decreased their amount of turnovers. MT is averaging 11.9 turnovers on the season but have dropped that number to 10.6 in conference play and just 10.0 in their last five contests.

Fantastic Four
Just last season, Middle Tennessee did not have a single player average over 10 points per game. Reggie Upshaw was close at 9.9, but this season MT has four players in double-figures in Upshaw (13.0), Giddy Potts (14.8), Darnell Harris (12.5) and Perrin Buford (11.0).

Upping His Game
Through 27 games, junior forward Reggie Upshaw leads the Blue Raiders in field goal percentage (51.5%), rebounds per game (8.6), defensive rpg (5.6), offensive rpg (2.9), assists per game (2.2) and steals per game (1.4) and ranks in the top eight in Conference USA in each of those categories except assists per game. The Chattanooga, Tenn. native is also second on the team in points per game (13.1). Through 13 conference games this season, Upshaw has increased his numbers in five of those seven categories over his non-conference statistics.

Buford's Best
Through his first 19 games as a Blue Raider, Perrin Buford was averaging just 5.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 13.3 minutes per game. In his last 43 games stretched over two seasons, Buford is averaging 11.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 26.3 minutes per contest.

Series History
Middle Tennessee and Marshall will meet for just the 10th time in the history of the programs on Saturday. Middle Tennessee leads the all-time series 6-3 but lost 82-66 earlier this season to the high-scoring Herd. The Blue Raiders have never lost to Marshall at home, going a perfect 4-0 against the Herd inside the Murphy Center. Head coach Kermit Davis is 3-2 against Marshall and 2-1 since the Blue Raiders joined Conference USA. Marshall currently stands as the only opponent Davis has ever faced from the state of West Virginia.

Last Time Out
It was a heartbreaking loss Thursday night as the Blue Raiders were bested by WKU in the Murphy Center, 78-72.

Giddy Potts led the Blue Raiders with 19 points and 12 rebounds, marking his second career double-double. Reggie Upshaw added 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting while Perrin Buford registered 11 points.

Middle Tennessee (18-9, 10-5) struggled on the boards for the second-straight game, getting outrebounded by WKU (14-14, 6-9) by a total of 40-29.

It was also the second consecutive outing in which the Raiders allowed their opponent to shoot over 50 percent as the Hilltoppers shot 51.8 percent from the field and 53.3 percent from three.

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Players Mentioned

Perrin Buford

Darnell Harris

Jacob Ivory

Giddy Potts

Reggie Upshaw

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics