Men’s Basketball preps for visit to Oxford

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee is looking for its 13th win over a Power 5 team this decade — and fifth over Ole Miss — when it visits Oxford to face the Rebels on Saturday afternoon.

Game 11: Middle Tennessee (4-6, 0-0 C-USA) at Ole Miss (6-3, 0-0 SEC)
» Saturday, Dec. 14, 2019 – 2:00 p.m. CST
» The Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500) – Oxford, Miss.

About the Blue Raiders
» Middle Tennessee's road woes continued last week with a loss at Murray State.
» MT is looking for its second road win of the season after having won only two games away from the Glass House all of last season.
» Antonio Green, C.J. Jones, Donovan Sims, and Jayce Johnson have started all 10 games of the 2019-20 season.
» The Blue Raiders are one of just two teams in Conference USA with two scorers in the top 10 in all of C-USA. Jones is fourth with 16.2, and Green is sixth at 15.7 points per game.
» Sims is seventh in C-USA in assists per game with 3.8, which is nearly an entire assist more per game than last season.
» Senior forward Reggie Scurry will return to the Blue Raiders after Saturday's contest at Ole Miss. The NCAA determined Scurry had to sit out 11 games in the 2019-20 season due to a ruling regarding his transfer from Missouri State.

Scouting the Rebels
» Ole Miss won 20 games and made an NCAA Tournament appearance last year after being predicted to finish last in the SEC. For his efforts, former Middle Tennessee Head Coach Kermit Davis was named SEC Coach of the Year in his first season as the Rebels' leader.
» The Pavilion has been kind to the Rebels so far this season, as Ole Miss takes a 5-1 home record into Saturday's game.
» Parts of the Rebels' schedule has been challenging this season, as they lost by one point at No. 15 Memphis and fell by nine at home to No. 24 Butler.
» After erasing a 21-point deficit to win over Penn State, Ole Miss dropped a lopsided affair to Oklahoma State in the NIT Tip-Off Championship.
» Four Rebels average around 30 minutes played per game, including 6-foot-2 guard Breein Tyree, who leads his team in scoring with 16.4 points per contest.
» 6-foot-7 forward KJ Buffen leads his team in minutes, field goal percentage, rebounds and blocks while also scoring 11 points per game.

All-Time vs. Ole Miss
» Saturday's game at Ole Miss will be the 12th in series history, and the Blue Raiders will be looking to extend their 6-5 lead in the series.
» Head Coach Nick McDevitt is 0-1 all-time against Ole Miss after last year's loss at Bridgestone Arena.
» MT has won over a Power 5 team on 12 occasions this decade, with four of those wins coming against Ole Miss.

Last Time Out
» All nine Blue Raiders that played saw the floor for at least 10 minutes in the 85-52 loss at Murray State.
» C.J. Jones scored in double figures for the ninth time this season, as he led his team in scoring with 15 points on 7-18 from the floor.
» MT was 3-22 (13.6%) as a team from behind the 3-point line. MT's top two shooters, Jones and Antonio Green, combined for no makes on 13 attempts from 3-point range.
» Eli Lawrence logged his fifth career double-digit scoring game, contributing 10 points in 25 minutes off the bench.
» Tyler Millin fouled out in 20 minutes but logged eight points and two of his team's three 3-pointers on the night.

Next Time Out
» MT will be back at the Murphy Center for a contest with St. Bonaventure on Dec. 21.
» Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. against the Bonnies and can be streamed on CUSA.tv.

For all the latest information on Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball, follow the #BlueRaiders on Facebook (@MTMensBasketball), Twitter (@MT_MBB) and Instagram (MT_MBB).

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Players Mentioned

Antonio Green

Jayce Johnson

C.J. Jones

Eli Lawrence

Tyler Millin

Reggie Scurry

Donovan Sims

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics