MT responds with double-digit win over FIU

Saturday, January 9

Murfreesboro, TN

4:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

-35,11 CUSA

FIU

-84,22 CUSA

FIU

Middle Tennessee

Photo by: Emily Cole/MT Athletic Communications

1/9/2021 6:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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Raider defense stifles high-powered Panther offense

By: @MTAthletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee responded in a big way Saturday after a tough conference-opening loss to FIU Friday.

Despite only having nine active players for the second day in a row and playing for only the second time in 24 days, the Blue Raiders (3-5, 1-1) got out to a double-digit lead over the Panthers (8-4, 2-2) early and cruised to a 67-56 victory.

"It was a great team win," MT head coach Nick McDevitt said. "I thought we showed a little bit of maturity after yesterday's game, but also … they just haven't dropped their heads and their effort hasn't wavered over the last about 10 days as we've been in and out of quarantines and struggling to find enough bodies to even do small group workouts.

"To be able to come out of here with a good win, I was really proud of our group."

Conference USA's implementation of a unique league schedule this season with back-to-back games against the same opponent on Fridays and Saturdays promised some interesting outcomes. This set of games could fit in that category.

Middle Tennessee and FIU had an ugly slugfest Friday with both teams struggling to find the bottom of the net with consistency.

The Blue Raiders led midway through the second half before the Panthers took advantage of MT's tired legs and pulled away late for a 68-55 win.

Saturday's tail end of the back-to-back didn't mirror the first game in the slightest, and McDevitt and his Blue Raiders were glad for it.

They jumped out to a 31-9 lead through the first 10 minutes, making 13 of their first 21 shots. In comparison, they didn't make their 13^th shot Friday until the 17:18 mark of the second half.

"There was just better ball movement," senior Donovan Sims said. "We were trusting each other and knew when we made a play for each other, we had confidence they would knock it down."

The big early lead provided Middle Tennessee a nice cushion. It entered the halftime locker room up 42-28 thanks to 54.5% shooting (18-of-33 from the floor) and only five first-half turnovers.

FIU cut the advantage down to as little as seven in the second half, but the Blue Raiders used an 11-2 run over four minutes of game time to lay the finishing blow. They held the Panthers to 1-for-9 shooting during the run.

It was an unusually long couple of days shooting the ball for FIU. It went into Friday's game ranked second in the country in 3-pointers made per game and 18^th in scoring but was held to 25% (6-24) and 18% (4-22) shooting from behind the arc Friday and Saturday, respectively. The 56 points and four 3-pointers Saturday were season lows.

"We're just trusting our principles on the defensive side," Sims said. "It's nothing new to us. It's what we've been doing all season … and it's just being who we are."

As McDevitt said, Middle Tennessee's defensive pressure was there in both games. It was on the offensive end where the improvements came Saturday.

After only having one player, junior Jalen Jordan, in double-figure scoring Friday, MT had three Saturday. Just about every team offensive category was improved, including only committing 15 turnovers after 21 in the first contest.

Sims led the way Saturday with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting. Junior DeAndre Dishman added 12 points and eight rebounds, and junior Jordan Davis had 13 points and three steals.

That type of balanced offensive performance is exactly what McDevitt is hoping to keep once more players start entering back into the fold.

"Our shot quality was much better today," he said. "We just have to keep building on this. There are some things we can clean up, clearly, so we just have to build on it."

Middle Tennessee is next in action Jan. 15 and 16 at Southern Miss.