Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Wednesday, March 4
Murfreesboro, TN
6:30 PM
Middle Tennessee
-723,314 CUSA
56
vs
60
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UTEP
-1614,710 CUSA
1
2
F
UTEP
26
34
60
Middle Tennessee
24
32
56
Team Stats
UTEP
MT
FG%
.434
.377
3FG%
.400
.389
FT%
.727
.692
RB
37
29
TO
13
11
STL
6
4
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
22
FGM
7
3FGM
6
FTM
2
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
5
FGM
1
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
4
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
Raiders drop 60-56 battle to UTEP
3/4/2020 9:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – With their postseason hopes already over, the Blue Raiders entered Wednesday night's contest against UTEP with a chance to show what they are made of in front of their home crowd, and despite a tightly-contested, 60-56 loss, that's exactly what they did.
Middle Tennessee battled the Miners throughout the evening, never falling behind by more than eight points and charging right back every time they did.
"I thought our team competed, played hard and battled for a good portion of the night," Head Coach Nick McDevitt said. "Our guys could've quit after being eliminated on Sunday and a lot of people might think these two games don't mean anything. To us they do, and our team showed that they believe that tonight."
Both teams started the evening out of sorts on the offensive end of the floor, playing at a slow pace and converting on a low percentage of shots early on.
After MT opened the scoring with a putback layup by Jo'Vontae Millner, UTEP looked to settle in as they opened up a 10-5 lead on the road.
The Blue Raiders climbed back into it with an 8-2 run, the end of which saw freshman Tyson Jackson convert back-to-back buckets to put MT on top 13-12.
Deadlocked at 15 coming out of the under eight media timeout, UTEP began to lockdown an already struggling Blue Raider offense as it cruised into the final two minutes of the half on an 11-3 run to garner an 8-point advantage.
Middle Tennessee senior Reggie Scurry wouldn't let his team go down so easily though, following an Anthony Crump free throw with personal 5-0 run to bring the Raiders within two at the break while leading his squad with nine points.
It was more of the same as the second half got underway, with Reggie Scurry opening the scoring to tie things up before the Miners took a 34-26 lead less than three minutes in.
After McDevitt used a timeout to talk things over with his team, C.J. Jones buried a 3-pointer to breathe some life back into the Raider offense. Jayce Johnson followed that with a steal and fast break layup as MT looked to build some momentum.
Jones began to heat up after that, drilling three more triples in a span of five possessions to bring the deficit down to two at 41-39.
"When C.J. is making shots like he was tonight, the basket just gets bigger and bigger," McDevitt stated. "We were trying to feed that as much as we could tonight because UTEP didn't have an answer for him on defense."
His hot shooting was taking over for MT's offense, but after two more gave him a career-high seven trifectas it was Scurry's third slam dunk of the night that finally put the home team back in a tie at 50 with 6:13 to play.
It stayed as tight as it could get inside Murphy Center as the game clock ticked down to 1:00 with score still knotted at 56.
The MT defense would force a shot clock violation and have a chance to take the lead with the clock in a potential 2-for-1 scenario but would fail to convert.
After a pair of made free throws by UTEP with 29.7 seconds on the clock, Middle Tennessee got it to the hot hand of C.J. Jones who saw a deep but open 3-pointer drop half way in before popping out and forcing the Raiders to foul with 7.8 seconds remaining.
Souley Boum – who entered the contest as Conference USA's top free throw shooter at over 88 percent but had already missed one in the contest – confidently knocked down both ends of the one-and-one to make it a two possession game and a dire situation for MT.
While the Raiders caught the heave downcourt, the shot was off the mark and the rebound secured by the Miners as the clock ran out on the contest.
Jones finished the night with 22 points on a 6 for 9 effort from downtown. Scurry added a season-high 17 points to help Jones out on a night where the remainder of the team combined for just 17 points.
Middle Tennessee now faces its final game of the season in just three days as Southern Miss comes to town for the second time in 2020 for the third meeting between the teams this season.
When the two teams tip at 5:00 on Saturday, the Blue Raiders will be looking for a season sweep of the Golden Eagles to send out veterans Reggie Scurry and Antonio Green with a bang on Senior Night.
Middle Tennessee battled the Miners throughout the evening, never falling behind by more than eight points and charging right back every time they did.
"I thought our team competed, played hard and battled for a good portion of the night," Head Coach Nick McDevitt said. "Our guys could've quit after being eliminated on Sunday and a lot of people might think these two games don't mean anything. To us they do, and our team showed that they believe that tonight."
Both teams started the evening out of sorts on the offensive end of the floor, playing at a slow pace and converting on a low percentage of shots early on.
After MT opened the scoring with a putback layup by Jo'Vontae Millner, UTEP looked to settle in as they opened up a 10-5 lead on the road.
The Blue Raiders climbed back into it with an 8-2 run, the end of which saw freshman Tyson Jackson convert back-to-back buckets to put MT on top 13-12.
Deadlocked at 15 coming out of the under eight media timeout, UTEP began to lockdown an already struggling Blue Raider offense as it cruised into the final two minutes of the half on an 11-3 run to garner an 8-point advantage.
Middle Tennessee senior Reggie Scurry wouldn't let his team go down so easily though, following an Anthony Crump free throw with personal 5-0 run to bring the Raiders within two at the break while leading his squad with nine points.
It was more of the same as the second half got underway, with Reggie Scurry opening the scoring to tie things up before the Miners took a 34-26 lead less than three minutes in.
After McDevitt used a timeout to talk things over with his team, C.J. Jones buried a 3-pointer to breathe some life back into the Raider offense. Jayce Johnson followed that with a steal and fast break layup as MT looked to build some momentum.
Jones began to heat up after that, drilling three more triples in a span of five possessions to bring the deficit down to two at 41-39.
"When C.J. is making shots like he was tonight, the basket just gets bigger and bigger," McDevitt stated. "We were trying to feed that as much as we could tonight because UTEP didn't have an answer for him on defense."
His hot shooting was taking over for MT's offense, but after two more gave him a career-high seven trifectas it was Scurry's third slam dunk of the night that finally put the home team back in a tie at 50 with 6:13 to play.
It stayed as tight as it could get inside Murphy Center as the game clock ticked down to 1:00 with score still knotted at 56.
The MT defense would force a shot clock violation and have a chance to take the lead with the clock in a potential 2-for-1 scenario but would fail to convert.
After a pair of made free throws by UTEP with 29.7 seconds on the clock, Middle Tennessee got it to the hot hand of C.J. Jones who saw a deep but open 3-pointer drop half way in before popping out and forcing the Raiders to foul with 7.8 seconds remaining.
Souley Boum – who entered the contest as Conference USA's top free throw shooter at over 88 percent but had already missed one in the contest – confidently knocked down both ends of the one-and-one to make it a two possession game and a dire situation for MT.
While the Raiders caught the heave downcourt, the shot was off the mark and the rebound secured by the Miners as the clock ran out on the contest.
Jones finished the night with 22 points on a 6 for 9 effort from downtown. Scurry added a season-high 17 points to help Jones out on a night where the remainder of the team combined for just 17 points.
Middle Tennessee now faces its final game of the season in just three days as Southern Miss comes to town for the second time in 2020 for the third meeting between the teams this season.
When the two teams tip at 5:00 on Saturday, the Blue Raiders will be looking for a season sweep of the Golden Eagles to send out veterans Reggie Scurry and Antonio Green with a bang on Senior Night.
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
MTSU Men's Basketball Post Game Press Conference vs Chattanooga NIT 3/18/25
Tuesday, March 18
