Raiders face first road trip

Thursday, November 19

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

6:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

Central Michigan

11/18/2015 5:32:00 AM | Women's Basketball

MT faces Central Michigan Thursday

By: @MTAthletics

MT. PLEASANT, Mich. – Middle Tennessee heads north for its first road game of the season when it faces Central Michigan Thursday.

The Chippewas are 2-0 to start the season and have featured a high-octane offense at 97.5 points per game. Central Michigan has five players averaging double figures and another scoring 9.5 points per game.

The Blue Raiders are coming off a tough 70-66 loss against Virginia.

Tipoff at Central Michigan is 6 p.m. (Central). The game will be televised on ESPN 3.

On the Road

• Middle Tennessee heads north for its first road game of the 2015-16 season when it faces Central Michigan in Mt. Pleasant Thursday.
• MT has performed well on the road under Head coach Rick Insell, winning 66 percent (96-49) of the 145 games played.

Series History

• MT is 1-0 all-time against Central Michigan, winning 64-56 in Murfreesboro (Dec. 4, 1987).
• The Blue Raiders played just seven players in the game with four of them scoring double figures.
• Future Hall of Famer Tawanya Mucker led the way with 16 points.

Vs. the Mid-American

• MT is 8-0 all-time against current members of the Mid-American Conference.
• The Blue Raiders also face MAC member Ohio this season.

Scouting Central Michigan

• Central Michigan is 2-0 with wins against Indiana State and Oakland.
• Central Michigan is averaging 97.5 points per game and has five players averaging double figures and a sixth averaging 9.5. It is shooting 44 percent from 3-point range.
• Chippewas freshman standout Presley Hudson was named the MAC Player of the Week after averaging 26.5 points in the team's two wins. She shot 60 percent (21-for-35) from the field, including 50 percent from 3-point range.

Edwards Dominant in Opener

• MT senior guard Brea Edwards picked up where she left off at the end of last season with a career-high 30-point performance in the season opener against Virginia.
• Edwards also established career highs for field goals made (8) and free throws made (9).

Blue Raiders Preseason Favorites

• MT was picked as the preseason favorite in the 2015-16 C-USA Women's Basketball Preseason poll.
• This marks the eighth consecutive year Middle Tennessee has been picked as the preseason favorite under Head Coach Rick Insell and the ninth time in 11 years.

2015-16 C-USA Preseason Poll
1 Middle Tennessee (5)
2   Old Dominion (4)
3   WKU (4)
4   Southern Miss
5   UTEP
6   Charlotte
7   UTSA (1)
8   UAB
9   LA Tech
10                                    Marshall
11                                    Florida Atlantic
12                                    Rice
13                                    FIU
14                                    North Texas

Jones Preseason Player of Year

• MT junior standout Olivia Jones was voted the C-USA Preseason Player of the Year by league coaches.
• Jones was a first-team All C-USA selection as a sophomore after leading the league in scoring (19.8), fifth in rebounding (8.1), second in steals (2.9), third in 3-point field goals per game (2.3) and was first in minutes played (38.0).

Jones Closing in on 1,000 Points

• Junior Olivia Jones enters the game at Central Michigan needing 36 points to become the 29th member of the program's 1,000-point club.

Record-setting Jones

• Olivia Jones shattered seven Middle Tennessee sophomore records in 2014-15, including Hall of Famer Priscilla Robinson's scoring mark of 573 points that had stood since 1992.
Following are the sophomore records set by Jones last season:

Points                                                         673
FGM                                                            250
FGA                                                             607
3-pt. FGM                                                    75
3-pt. FGA                                                   243
Steals                                                          100
Minutes                                                   1276

In the Polls

• MT received six votes in the Preseason USA Today Coaches Poll.
• The six votes placed MT 41st nationally in the initial coaches poll.

Hometown Flavor

• MT started three players from Murfreesboro in the season opener against Virginia - Olivia Jones (Riverdale), Ty Petty (Riverdale) and Alex Johnson (Blackman). It was Johnson's first collegiate game.