Raiders, Spartans Meet in St. Louis

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - March Madness is officially underway as Middle Tennessee looks to add some madness of its own to the mix in the Midwest Regional. The No. 15 seeded Blue Raiders take on the No. 2 seeded Michigan State Spartans Friday at approximately 1:45 p.m. inside the Scottrade Center.

The Raiders are led into their first trip to the big dance since 2013 by Conference USA Tournament MVP Reggie Upshaw and his 13.8 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Perrin Buford will look to stay hot after being named to the C-USA All-Tournament Team for the second consecutive season while leading scorer Giddy Potts (15.0) will hope to spark the MT offensive attack with his nation-leading 50.3 percent success rate from beyond the arc.

Head coach Kermit Davis boasts a team that has a history of excelling in tournament settings and will look to continue that trend in St. Louis.

"Our team has played 10 tournament games over the last two years and are 9-1, so they have a good tournament feel," Davis said. "They have the confidence."

Middle Tennessee is looking to extend its season by winning its third NCAA Tournament game in school history, having defeated Florida State in 1989 and Kentucky in 1982.

GAME INFORMATION
(Full Game Notes)

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Date: Friday, March 18
Time: Approx. 1:45 p.m.
Teams: No. 15 Middle Tennessee (24-9, 13-5 C-USA) vs. No. 2 Michigan State (29-5, 13-5 Big Ten)
Location: St. Louis, Mo.
Arena: Scottrade Center (19,150)
Radio: WGNS (1450/100.5/101.9), WPRT (97.5/102.5), WMOT (89.5)
Play-by-Play: Chip Walters
Analysis: Kyle Turnham
TV: CBS
TV Talent: Brian Anderson (PxP), Steve Smith (analysis) and Dana Jacobson (sideline reporter)

Live Stats

GAME NOTES
Coming Through in the Clutch
The Blue Raiders are the best in Conference USA in close games, going 9-1 in contests decided by three points or less in 2015-16. All of the close wins can and have proven to be valuable in the postseason for the Blue Raiders. MT defeated Old Dominion by two points to capture the Conference USA title last weekend after trailing the Monarchs by two with just over a minute left in the contest. In fact, not only does Middle Tennessee have the best record in C-USA in games decided by three points or less, it is the only team to play in more than seven such games.

Raiders 'Role'ing
Middle Tennessee's role players stepped it up the last few weeks of conference play, giving the Raiders some added momentum and a three-game winning streak heading into the tournament. JaQawn Raymond filled the void at point guard with Jacob Ivory out, averaging 7.8 points with a 3.0 assist-to-turnover ratio in the last five regular seasson games. Xavier Habersham pitched in 5.5 points and 3.3 rebounds the last four regular season contests while Aldonis Foote contributed 6.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in the last three regular season outings.

Downtown Raiders
Middle Tennessee has been deadly from long range this season, ranking 27th among D-I teams in three-point percentage (38.7%). Giddy Potts currently leads the nation in three-point percentage, converting 50.3 percent of his attempts from deep. The Raiders have been even better in the second half of the season, shooting 40.2 percent from beyond the arc and making 8.6 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 12.1 turnovers on the season but dropped that number to 10.8 in conference play and just 10.3 in their last 10 regular season contests. JaQawn Raymond has seen exceptional improvements in his ball handling since taking over the point guard spot for the injured Jacob Ivory, Raymond had an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.1 through the first 25 games this season, but has 19 assists to just seven turnovers in the last eight games. Raymond played 39 minutes against Old Dominion in the Conference USA Championship game without a single turnover.

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 (13.8), Giddy Potts (15.0), Perrin Buford (12.0) and Darnell Harris (11.6).

Upping His Game
Through 33 games, junior forward Reggie Upshaw leads the Blue Raiders in rebounds per game (8.7), defensive rpg (5.8), offensive rpg (2.9), assists per game (2.2) and steals per game (1.5) and ranks in the top seven among Conference USA players in each of those categories except assists per game. The Chattanooga, Tenn. native is also second on the team in points per game (13.8) and field goal percentage (.506). In 18 conference games, Upshaw 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 49 games stretched over two seasons, Buford is averaging 11.8 points, 5.6 rebounds and 26.8 minutes per contest

Depth Chart
Middle Tennessee boasts one of the deepest rosters in Conference USA this season. Head coach Kermit Davis has played each of the 12 scholarship players in at least 75 percent of this season's contests, with the exception of Jacob Ivory who sat out the first eight games dueand last nine games due to injury. Of those 12, 11 are averaging over five minutes per game while eight are averaging over 15 minutes per game. With that kind of depth, Davis was able to try eight different starting lineups in the first 13 games to find his best combination. However, in addition to Jacob Ivory's injury, Middle's depth took another hit just before the Conference USA Tournament when Ed Simpson was also lost for the remainder of the season.

Lockdown Defense
The Blue Raiders are constantly working on closing out on opposing ball handlers, but have struggled at times to force tough shots. MT's opponents average 42.6 percent shooting from the field this season. When Middle Tennessee loses their opponents shoot 47.0 percent this season compared to just 41.1 percent in MT wins. During a three-game span late in the season that included UAB, WKU and Marshall, MT allowed the three to shoot a combined 53.6 percent from the field, but have since gotten back to their gritty defense down the stretch. Middle's last five opponents have shot a combined 38.7 percent from the field while the Blue Raiders held their three Conference USA Tournament opponents to just 39.9 percent from the field.

Last Time Out
The Middle Tennessee men's basketball team is headed to the big dance after a 55-53 win against Old Dominion to capture the 2016 Conference USA Championship.

Reggie Upshaw was named the Tournament MVP after averaging 17.7 points and 8.0 rebounds. Perrin Buford joined Upshaw on the All-Tournament Team, scoring 16.3 points per game and pulling down 6.0 boards per game.

Middle Tennessee (24-9, 13-5 C-USA) Shot just 36.5 percent but held Old Dominion (22-13, 12-6 C-USA) to 35.7 percent in the defensive showdown.

Upshaw drove to the basket, spun and drew a foul with 2.9 seconds remaining. He sank both free throws to put the Raiders up 55-53. ODU ran an inbounds play from the far baseline but couldn't get a shot to go, sealing the win and the conference championship for Middle Tennessee

Conference Superlatives
Junior forward Reggie Upshaw and sophomore guard Giddy Potts were both named to the All-Conference USA Third Team for their performance on the court this season.

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Players Mentioned

Perrin Buford

Aldonis Foote

Xavier Habersham

Darnell Harris

Jacob Ivory

Giddy Potts

Reggie Upshaw

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics