Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Saturday, January 22
Murfreesboro, TN
1:00 PM
Middle Tennessee
-126,32 CUSA
74
vs
60
Southern Miss
-612,14 CUSA
1
2
F
Southern Miss.
33
27
60
Middle Tenn.
30
44
74
Team Stats
USM
MTSU
FG%
.489
.473
3FG%
.083
.083
FT%
.789
.690
RB
25
35
TO
17
10
STL
2
8
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
Middle Tennessee Turns The Tide, Overcomes First-Half Deficit against Southern Miss
1/22/2022 4:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Teafale Lenard ties career high with 12 points while not missing a shot from the floor on Saturday
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee men's basketball rode a dominant second half to a C-USA win on Saturday, holding Southern Miss to just 36.4 percent shooting from the field in the final 20 minutes to power past the Golden Eagles 74-60 at the Murphy Center.
After trailing by as much as 20-8 in the first half, the Blue Raiders (12-6, 3-2 C-USA) powered back to cut the lead to just three points at the half, before using a 21-4 run early in the second half to take the lead for good over USM (6-12, 1-4 C-USA).
It was Middle Tennessee's 11th straight win at home, and the program's first win after trailing by more than 10 points in a game since MT defeated UAB 79-78 after once trailing by 13 on Feb. 2, 2019.
"We started the game flat, we just didn't look like ourselves the way we've been defending all year long, and it burned us in those first eight minutes," head coach Nick McDevitt said. "Justin Bufford changed the game with his energy when he checked in. His stat line obviously isn't going to jump off the page, but that plus/minus at the end, +26 in 26 minutes. You'll take that every night."
On the stat line front, Donovan Sims led MT with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, making one of the two three pointers the Blue Raiders made all afternoon. Teafale Lenard finished the game with a perfect 4-for-4 clip from the field including the other 3-pointer as well as three dunks. Josh Jefferson (12) and Camryn Weston (10) also finished in double digit scoring for the Blue Raiders.
MT found a lot of momentum in the second half off of their backdoor cuts, often losing their man behind the play, leading to some easy layups in the second half as they went on their run, something Sims said was part of the team's scout heading into the contest.
"This league is always going to be tough every single night," Sims said. "When you prepare for a game, the coaches put in a lot of work preparing a scout, and they tell us what we need to do. The big emphasis this week has been cutting hard, and if we did that, then the results will be what we had tonight."
A switch flipped for Middle Tennessee halfway through the first half, when Teafale Lenard slammed home a dunk on the fast break and was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim, as two Southern Miss players stood underneath him.
Coming out of a Blue Raider timeout, McDevitt fired up the Murphy Center crowd, who rallied the team to close the deficit, in large part thanks to Lenard following up his first dunk with an alley-oop slam from Sims.
"At first I was mad, because I didn't think I was holding on," Lenard smiled post game. "But I just felt the same really."
McDevitt gave a lot of credit to the way his team played after that timeout as to why they were able to claw their way back into the game, and ultimately win comfortably.
"(Teafale) makes some big momentum plays, he's had some highlight reel plays this season," McDevitt said. "You could see it. The technical didn't pull the energy out of our fans or out of our team. I thought we were just playing at a higher level the rest of the game."
The Blue Raiders were able to dominate on the glass, hauling in 35 rebounds to USM's 25, with 13 offensive rebounds for MT resulting in 19 second chance points to the Golden Eagles' one. Middle Tennessee once again swept the "points from" categories, earning more points in the paint (48-32), off turnovers (19-11), on the fast break (19-4) and from their bench (31-4) than USM.
On an afternoon where neither team could find any offensive rhythm from the outside, Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee combined to shoot just 3-for-36 from the beyond the arc on Saturday. The Blue Raiders were able to capitalize inside, however, shooting 24-for-31 from two-point range to power past USM.
After three straight games at the Murphy Center, MT will now look ahead to three straight games on the road, starting on Thursday night when the Blue Raiders travel to Huntington, W. Va. to take on Marshall. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. central.
Game Notes
After trailing by as much as 20-8 in the first half, the Blue Raiders (12-6, 3-2 C-USA) powered back to cut the lead to just three points at the half, before using a 21-4 run early in the second half to take the lead for good over USM (6-12, 1-4 C-USA).
It was Middle Tennessee's 11th straight win at home, and the program's first win after trailing by more than 10 points in a game since MT defeated UAB 79-78 after once trailing by 13 on Feb. 2, 2019.
"We started the game flat, we just didn't look like ourselves the way we've been defending all year long, and it burned us in those first eight minutes," head coach Nick McDevitt said. "Justin Bufford changed the game with his energy when he checked in. His stat line obviously isn't going to jump off the page, but that plus/minus at the end, +26 in 26 minutes. You'll take that every night."
On the stat line front, Donovan Sims led MT with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, making one of the two three pointers the Blue Raiders made all afternoon. Teafale Lenard finished the game with a perfect 4-for-4 clip from the field including the other 3-pointer as well as three dunks. Josh Jefferson (12) and Camryn Weston (10) also finished in double digit scoring for the Blue Raiders.
MT found a lot of momentum in the second half off of their backdoor cuts, often losing their man behind the play, leading to some easy layups in the second half as they went on their run, something Sims said was part of the team's scout heading into the contest.
"This league is always going to be tough every single night," Sims said. "When you prepare for a game, the coaches put in a lot of work preparing a scout, and they tell us what we need to do. The big emphasis this week has been cutting hard, and if we did that, then the results will be what we had tonight."
A switch flipped for Middle Tennessee halfway through the first half, when Teafale Lenard slammed home a dunk on the fast break and was assessed a technical foul for hanging on the rim, as two Southern Miss players stood underneath him.
Coming out of a Blue Raider timeout, McDevitt fired up the Murphy Center crowd, who rallied the team to close the deficit, in large part thanks to Lenard following up his first dunk with an alley-oop slam from Sims.
"At first I was mad, because I didn't think I was holding on," Lenard smiled post game. "But I just felt the same really."
McDevitt gave a lot of credit to the way his team played after that timeout as to why they were able to claw their way back into the game, and ultimately win comfortably.
"(Teafale) makes some big momentum plays, he's had some highlight reel plays this season," McDevitt said. "You could see it. The technical didn't pull the energy out of our fans or out of our team. I thought we were just playing at a higher level the rest of the game."
The Blue Raiders were able to dominate on the glass, hauling in 35 rebounds to USM's 25, with 13 offensive rebounds for MT resulting in 19 second chance points to the Golden Eagles' one. Middle Tennessee once again swept the "points from" categories, earning more points in the paint (48-32), off turnovers (19-11), on the fast break (19-4) and from their bench (31-4) than USM.
On an afternoon where neither team could find any offensive rhythm from the outside, Southern Miss and Middle Tennessee combined to shoot just 3-for-36 from the beyond the arc on Saturday. The Blue Raiders were able to capitalize inside, however, shooting 24-for-31 from two-point range to power past USM.
After three straight games at the Murphy Center, MT will now look ahead to three straight games on the road, starting on Thursday night when the Blue Raiders travel to Huntington, W. Va. to take on Marshall. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. central.
Game Notes
- The Blue Raiders' 11-game home winning streak is the eighth-longest in program history and the seventh-longest since moving into the Murphy Center.
- The last time Middle Tennessee won a game after trailing by 10 or more was February 2, 2019, a 79-78 win at UAB.
- Teafale Lenard Jr. tied his career high with 12 points.
- Josh Jefferson scored in double figures for the seventh straight game, tying the longest such streak of his career.
- Donovan Sims moved into a tie for eighth all time with 131 career steals and sole possession of ninth place in assists with 294.
- MT remains undefeated on its home hardwood against Southern Miss: 8-0 all-time and 7-0 at the Murphy Center.
- The starting lineup of Tyler Millin, DeAndre Dishman, Donovan Sims, Eli Lawrence and Josh Jefferson improved to 4-0 on the season.
- Southern Miss' 25 rebounds are tied for the fewest allowed in a game by MT this season.
- The Blue Raiders improved to 5-3 all-time when playing on the same day as a Tennessee Titans playoff game. MT is now 3-0 at home when the Titans have a home playoff game.
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
