Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Monday, November 18
Conway, SC
6:00 PM
Middle Tennessee
-31,00 CUSA
72
at
93
Coastal Carolina
2-2,0-0Sun Belt
1
2
F
Middle Tennessee
40
32
72
Coastal Carolina
46
47
93
Team Stats
MT
CCU
FG%
.397
.456
3FG%
.423
.333
FT%
.611
.706
RB
38
45
TO
18
9
STL
7
12
Game Leaders
Pts
21
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
18
FGM
5
3FGM
5
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
Raiders suffer first loss of season at Coastal
11/18/2019 8:39:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CONWAY, S.C. – Having entered the game as the nation's third-leading scoring duo at 45 points per game, senior guard Antonio Green and junior guard C.J. Jones continued to shine offensively Monday evening.
It wasn't enough, however, as foul trouble on an already short bench and a below par defensive effort saw the Blue Raiders fall to Coastal Carolina, 93-72.
Jones and Green combined for 39 points with 21 and 18, respectively, but the Middle Tennessee defense gave up 40 points in the paint, 20 fast break points and 15 second chance points to a fast-paced and hot-shooting Chanticleer offense.
"Coach (Cliff) Ellis has done this for a long time and his teams always have really good guard play and physical, aggressive posts," Head Coach Nick McDevitt said. "We had trouble defending without fouling tonight with how aggressive they were at driving us to the basket."
Jones made his presence in Conway known early, connecting on his first two 3-pointers and swatting a baseline drive into the first row of Chanticleer fans all inside the first two minutes and 15 seconds.
After back-to-back baskets by CCU knotted the score at six, Jones went back to work with a pair of elbow jumpers giving him the first 10 Blue Raider points of the evening to keep things square at 10 apiece.
Green finally gave MT two scorers in the game at the 12:48 mark, and less than eight minutes later had four makes in the 3-point column to erase a 5-point Chanticleer lead and put MT up two, 33-31.
However, with foul trouble mounting and three starters on the bench, Middle Tennessee hit a cold stretch as a 13-3 CCU run over the ensuing four-plus minutes saw Coastal open up a nine-point advantage.
A turnover by the Raiders with the shot clock off looked to give the Chanticleers the last possession of the half and a chance to increase their advantage to double digits at the break.
Instead, a CCU miss and a 50-foot heave by Green that was nothing but net pulled MT back within six, going into the locker room down 46-40.
The high-scoring combo of Green and Jones boasted 32 of MT's 40 points in the opening 20 minutes and were the only two Blue Raiders without two or more fouls in the contest.
The foul trouble didn't get any better after halftime, as an offensive foul called on Jayce Johnson on the first possession put him right back on the bench with his third.
Middle's second half foul count reached four with just 3:20 off the clock, and with Coastal having opened up a 56-42 lead McDevitt called a timeout to settle his troops.
The Blue Raiders were able to get a stop and then a 3-pointer from Donovan Sims out of the breather, but it would only temporarily slow the CCU offense as continued to slowly build on their double-digit lead.
"We were too rushed in the second half," McDevitt added. "Once they built a double-digit lead we were trying to make it a tie game in a two-minute stretch instead of grinding it out. We didn't have enough discipline to get quality shots … and it led to them getting down the floor quickly and getting easy baskets."
After falling behind by 21 at the 9:18 mark, Middle Tennessee would fail to get any closer than 17 for the remainder of the evening as the Chanticleers cruised to a 21-point win to protect their home court.
CCU shot 45.6 percent (31-68) on the evening to MT's 39.7 percent (25-63) and outrebounded the Blue Raiders 45 to 38.
McDevitt will continue to push his team to become tougher and smarter as the Blue Raiders next face the nation's No. 17 ranked program in the Villanova Wildcats to kick off the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Thursday.
It wasn't enough, however, as foul trouble on an already short bench and a below par defensive effort saw the Blue Raiders fall to Coastal Carolina, 93-72.
Jones and Green combined for 39 points with 21 and 18, respectively, but the Middle Tennessee defense gave up 40 points in the paint, 20 fast break points and 15 second chance points to a fast-paced and hot-shooting Chanticleer offense.
"Coach (Cliff) Ellis has done this for a long time and his teams always have really good guard play and physical, aggressive posts," Head Coach Nick McDevitt said. "We had trouble defending without fouling tonight with how aggressive they were at driving us to the basket."
Jones made his presence in Conway known early, connecting on his first two 3-pointers and swatting a baseline drive into the first row of Chanticleer fans all inside the first two minutes and 15 seconds.
After back-to-back baskets by CCU knotted the score at six, Jones went back to work with a pair of elbow jumpers giving him the first 10 Blue Raider points of the evening to keep things square at 10 apiece.
Green finally gave MT two scorers in the game at the 12:48 mark, and less than eight minutes later had four makes in the 3-point column to erase a 5-point Chanticleer lead and put MT up two, 33-31.
However, with foul trouble mounting and three starters on the bench, Middle Tennessee hit a cold stretch as a 13-3 CCU run over the ensuing four-plus minutes saw Coastal open up a nine-point advantage.
A turnover by the Raiders with the shot clock off looked to give the Chanticleers the last possession of the half and a chance to increase their advantage to double digits at the break.
Instead, a CCU miss and a 50-foot heave by Green that was nothing but net pulled MT back within six, going into the locker room down 46-40.
The high-scoring combo of Green and Jones boasted 32 of MT's 40 points in the opening 20 minutes and were the only two Blue Raiders without two or more fouls in the contest.
The foul trouble didn't get any better after halftime, as an offensive foul called on Jayce Johnson on the first possession put him right back on the bench with his third.
Middle's second half foul count reached four with just 3:20 off the clock, and with Coastal having opened up a 56-42 lead McDevitt called a timeout to settle his troops.
The Blue Raiders were able to get a stop and then a 3-pointer from Donovan Sims out of the breather, but it would only temporarily slow the CCU offense as continued to slowly build on their double-digit lead.
"We were too rushed in the second half," McDevitt added. "Once they built a double-digit lead we were trying to make it a tie game in a two-minute stretch instead of grinding it out. We didn't have enough discipline to get quality shots … and it led to them getting down the floor quickly and getting easy baskets."
After falling behind by 21 at the 9:18 mark, Middle Tennessee would fail to get any closer than 17 for the remainder of the evening as the Chanticleers cruised to a 21-point win to protect their home court.
CCU shot 45.6 percent (31-68) on the evening to MT's 39.7 percent (25-63) and outrebounded the Blue Raiders 45 to 38.
McDevitt will continue to push his team to become tougher and smarter as the Blue Raiders next face the nation's No. 17 ranked program in the Villanova Wildcats to kick off the Myrtle Beach Invitational on Thursday.
2025 MTSU Basketball tickets on sale now - October 1st
Wednesday, October 01
Facility tour – Stephen and Denise Smith Student-Athlete Performance Center
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
