Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Tuesday, March 13
7 PM
Middle Tennessee
25-7
91
vs
64
Vermont
27-8
1
2
3
4
F
VERMONT
21
12
9
22
64
Middle Tennessee
16
25
32
18
91
Team Stats
VERMONT
MT
FG%
.458
.633
3FG%
.167
.476
FT%
.800
.833
RB
22
34
TO
10
13
STL
4
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
25
FGM
9
3FGM
6
FTM
1
Pts
15
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballBlue Raiders blow out Vermont in NIT first round
3/13/2018 9:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Potts pours in 25, moves into second all-time in career points
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After its snub from the NCAA Tournament, Middle Tennessee was granted with a home game in the first round of NIT, giving senior Giddy Potts one more chance to put on a show in front of the Blue Raider faithful.
He did just that Tuesday, guiding MT (25-7) to a 91-64 victory over the Vermont Catamounts (27-8) with 25 points on a 6-of-11 night from 3-point range. It was Potts' and fellow senior Edward Simpson's 100th wins all-time, moving them past 2017 graduate Reggie Upshaw into first all-time in program history.
"I don't do stats or anything like that, but just to get 100 wins with Ed, man, that means so much," Potts said. "That's my brother and always will be my brother, and to do it with him means a lot to me.
"I was just coming out doing what I was supposed to do. I told our team if we came out and do our part, everything would take care of itself."
It was a matchup of a pair of regular-season conference champions, as the Catamounts finished 15-1 in the America East Conference and Middle Tennessee 16-2 in Conference USA.
The Blue Raiders looked to be the better team early on, as they built a quick 12-5 advantage through the game's first 4.5 minutes, but Vermont closed the first quarter on a 16-4 run to take a 21-16 lead into the first break.
That's when Potts caught fire.
The Athens, Alabama, native knocked down three 3-pointers and another jumper in a five-minute span of the second quarter as Middle Tennessee built as much as a 10-point advantage in the period. The Raiders took a 41-33 lead into the halftime break as Potts scored 16 first-half points.
"That's just what Giddy Potts has done here for four years on the biggest stages," Blue Raider head coach Kermit Davis said. "It was great to see."
Middle Tennessee carried the momentum into the third quarter, using its nationally 28th-ranked scoring defense to shut the Catamounts down, particularly from 3-point range.
The Blue Raiders outscored Vermont 32-9 in the third while limiting the Catamounts, NCAA's 10th-best 3-point shooting team (40.5 percent), to a 0-of-3 mark from distance in the quarter.
The away team finished just 2-of-12 (17 percent) from beyond the arc in the game against MT's 12th-ranked 3-point defense (31 percent allowed).
"I thought our zone got them out of rhythm," Davis said. "They run such good stuff … and I thought our changing of defenses got them out a little bit out of rhythm. Then, how we started the third quarter, that's about as good as a 10-minute stretch as we've played all year."
With its defense doing its job, Middle Tennessee got on a hot streak like it hadn't seen this season offensively.
The Blue Raiders finished shooting 63 percent from the floor, a new season high, and their 38 field goals were also a season's best.
"First off, our main thought was we didn't want to go out with three losses in a row," senior Nick King said. "We want to finish the season off as strong as we can. We wanted to get [Potts and Simpson] their 100th win, and we wanted to do anything possible to make that happen."
Adding to Potts' 25 points were senior Brandon Walters with 15, six rebounds, four blocks and two steals and junior Antwain Johnson with 14 points. King also had 16 points to go with 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season.
Middle Tennessee, the third seed in Region 2, will travel to Louisville for the NIT second round.
The Cardinals, the region's second seed, took down Northern Kentucky 66-58 on Tuesday. They lead the all-time series against the Blue Raiders 2-0, the last game coming during the 2005-06 season.
"It's just another game," Potts said. "We're just going to come out and play our best basketball and do what we can control."
He did just that Tuesday, guiding MT (25-7) to a 91-64 victory over the Vermont Catamounts (27-8) with 25 points on a 6-of-11 night from 3-point range. It was Potts' and fellow senior Edward Simpson's 100th wins all-time, moving them past 2017 graduate Reggie Upshaw into first all-time in program history.
"I don't do stats or anything like that, but just to get 100 wins with Ed, man, that means so much," Potts said. "That's my brother and always will be my brother, and to do it with him means a lot to me.
"I was just coming out doing what I was supposed to do. I told our team if we came out and do our part, everything would take care of itself."
It was a matchup of a pair of regular-season conference champions, as the Catamounts finished 15-1 in the America East Conference and Middle Tennessee 16-2 in Conference USA.
The Blue Raiders looked to be the better team early on, as they built a quick 12-5 advantage through the game's first 4.5 minutes, but Vermont closed the first quarter on a 16-4 run to take a 21-16 lead into the first break.
That's when Potts caught fire.
The Athens, Alabama, native knocked down three 3-pointers and another jumper in a five-minute span of the second quarter as Middle Tennessee built as much as a 10-point advantage in the period. The Raiders took a 41-33 lead into the halftime break as Potts scored 16 first-half points.
"That's just what Giddy Potts has done here for four years on the biggest stages," Blue Raider head coach Kermit Davis said. "It was great to see."
Middle Tennessee carried the momentum into the third quarter, using its nationally 28th-ranked scoring defense to shut the Catamounts down, particularly from 3-point range.
The Blue Raiders outscored Vermont 32-9 in the third while limiting the Catamounts, NCAA's 10th-best 3-point shooting team (40.5 percent), to a 0-of-3 mark from distance in the quarter.
The away team finished just 2-of-12 (17 percent) from beyond the arc in the game against MT's 12th-ranked 3-point defense (31 percent allowed).
"I thought our zone got them out of rhythm," Davis said. "They run such good stuff … and I thought our changing of defenses got them out a little bit out of rhythm. Then, how we started the third quarter, that's about as good as a 10-minute stretch as we've played all year."
With its defense doing its job, Middle Tennessee got on a hot streak like it hadn't seen this season offensively.
The Blue Raiders finished shooting 63 percent from the floor, a new season high, and their 38 field goals were also a season's best.
"First off, our main thought was we didn't want to go out with three losses in a row," senior Nick King said. "We want to finish the season off as strong as we can. We wanted to get [Potts and Simpson] their 100th win, and we wanted to do anything possible to make that happen."
Adding to Potts' 25 points were senior Brandon Walters with 15, six rebounds, four blocks and two steals and junior Antwain Johnson with 14 points. King also had 16 points to go with 12 rebounds for his 11th double-double of the season.
Middle Tennessee, the third seed in Region 2, will travel to Louisville for the NIT second round.
The Cardinals, the region's second seed, took down Northern Kentucky 66-58 on Tuesday. They lead the all-time series against the Blue Raiders 2-0, the last game coming during the 2005-06 season.
"It's just another game," Potts said. "We're just going to come out and play our best basketball and do what we can control."
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