Blue Raiders Prepare to Host Old Dominion, Charlotte

Thursday, February 10

Murfreesboro, TN

6:00 PM

Middle Tennessee

Old Dominion

Buy Tickets

2/9/2022 3:14:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Watch Listen Live Stats MT Notes ODU Notes

By: Alex Morgan, MT Athletic Communications

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After defeating UTSA on Monday night 84-75, Middle Tennessee men's basketball (15-7, 6-3) sets its sights on extending its home winning streak to as many as 14 games as it takes on Old Dominion (9-14, 4-6) on Thursday and Charlotte on Sunday at the Murphy Center.

Both games will be broadcast on ESPN+. Fans can tune into the radio broadcast WGNS 1450AM/100.5 FM/101.9 FM; The Game 2 94.9 FM/95.1 FM with Chip Walters on the call. Tickets are available on the Blue Raiders' website.

MT withstood 17 offensive rebounds by the visiting Roadrunners on Monday, as four Blue Raiders found themselves in double figures. Josh Jefferson and DeAndre Dishman led the way with 18 points each.

Murfreesboro native Donovan Sims added 14 points and four boards in the contest. He needs just six points Thursday the 34th member of the MT men's hoops 1,000-point club. Eli Lawrence contributed 11 points and a season-high three steals.

Sunday's game will be Middle Tennessee men's basketball's first ever on Super Bowl Sunday.

Promotions
Thursday's game is "Greek Night/Mardi Gras Celebrations" in the Murphy Center. The first 100 fans in attendance will receive a King Cake inspired cupcake. If you are one of the first 10 fans to bring your baby to the game, you will receive a Blue Raider prize pack from MT Promotions. Fans are encouraged to stay and watch the halftime Mardi Gras parade.

Game 23: Middle Tennessee (12-6, 3-2 C-USA) vs. Old Dominion (9-14, 4-6 C-USA)
» Thursday, Feb. 10, 2022 – 6 p.m. CT
» Murphy Center
» Murfreesboro, Tenn.

Game 24: Middle Tennessee (12-6, 3-2 C-USA) vs. Charlotte (13-9, 6-4 C-USA)
» Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022 – 2 p.m. CT
» Murphy Center
» Murfreesboro, Tenn.

All-Time vs. ODU
» Thursday's game is the 14th all-time between the Blue Raiders and Monarchs dating back to 1986. MT leads the series 9-4.
» Old Dominion is currently riding a four-game win streak against MT after the Blue Raiders won the first nine matchups.

All-Time vs. Charlotte
» MT is 11-2 all-time and 6-0 at home against the 49ers.
» Charlotte was the visiting team for the first two games of the Blue Raiders' current 12-game home winning streak in February 2021.

Blue Raiders Notes
» Fifth-year Blue Raider Donovan Sims has made a mark on the MT record book and is closing in on making his presence felt even more. The home-grown guard is fifth all-time with 95 career games started, sixth with 125 games played, eighth with 152 3-pointers made, 306 assists and 2,970 minutes and tied for eighth with 134 steals. He is also six points from becoming the 34th member of MT's 1,000-point club.
» Middle Tennessee is 29th in the country in turnovers forced per game at 15.91.
» After shooting .293 from 3-point range in its first 19 games, Middle Tennessee is 37-for-74 (.500) from long range in its last three contests, including back-to-back games with 15 made threes, tying the second-highest single-game total in program history.
» Josh Jefferson leads the Blue Raiders in scoring at 14.0 points per game. The graduate transfer is shooting 56-for-61 (.918) from the charity stripe this season, which is first in C-USA and 10th in the country.
» DeAndre Dishman leads MT in rebounding at 4.5 rpg and has started every game of his Blue Raider career.
» Teafale Lenard Jr.'s 29 dunks on the season are the second-most by a Blue Raider since 2016-17, trailing only Reggie Scurry's 49 in 2018-19. After blocking seven shots in his last three games, Lenard is sixth in Conference USA and 87th nationally with 31 rejections on the season.
» Sophomore Camryn Weston is fourth in the conference in Field Goal Percentage (.568).

Scouting the Monarchs
» Old Dominion has lost six of its last eight games heading into Thursday's game.
» C.J. Keyser is leading the Monarchs and is 11th in the league with 14.8 points per contest.
» Chicago native Austin Trice leads ODU and is second in C-USA with 8.3 rebounds per game. He is 39th nationally with seven double-doubles this season.
» Trice (12.4 ppg) and Kalu Ezikpe (11.3 ppg) are the other Monarchs averaging double-digits in the scoring column this season.
» In Old Dominion's last two games - both losses - it has shot .286 from beyond the arc and .422 from the floor.

Scouting the 49ers
» Charlotte hosts LA Tech on Thursday before heading to Murfreesboro. The 49ers have split their last eight games with alternating two-game winning and losing streaks.
» Jahmir Young ranks fourth in C-USA in scoring at 18.9 points per game. He has scored in double figures in every game this season.
» Charlotte has been whistled for the second-fewest fouls in the league and 14th-fewest in the nation at 13.8 per game.
» Defending C-USA Freshman of the Week Aly Khalifa leads the league in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.36