Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Blue Raiders head to Texas for final regular season road trip
3/1/2023 10:31:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee men's basketball's next three guaranteed games - and hopefully next five wins - will take place in the state of Texas. Before the Blue Raiders play in the Conference USA Championship in Frisco, they have two final tests on the road, taking on North Texas in Denton on Thursday and closing the regular season at UTEP on Saturday. Tipoff for Thursday's game is set for 7 p.m., while Saturday's contest starts at 1 p.m.
The Blue Raiders have clinched a first-round bye in the conference tournament and enter the weekend in fourth place in the league standings. A win in either game would secure at least the No. 4 seed in the tournament, while a pair of wins and a UAB loss at Charlotte on Saturday would make MTSU the No. 3 seed.
Thursday's game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network, while Saturday's game will be found on ESPN+. WGNS and 94.9/95.1 The Fan will carry the radio broadcast, along with GoBlueRaiders.com and the Varsity Network App.
Game 29: Middle Tennessee (18-11, 11-7 C-USA) at North Texas (23-6, 14-4 C-USA)
» Thursday, March 2 – 7 p.m.
» The Super Pit
» Denton, Texas
Game 30: Middle Tennessee (18-11, 11-7 C-USA) at UTEP (13-16, 6-12 C-USA)
» Saturday, March 4 – 1 p.m.
» Don Haskins Arena
» El Paso, Texas
All-Time Against North Texas
» MTSU leads the all-time series 15-12.
» The Mean Green have won the last five matchups between the two teams.
Blue Raider Notes
» The Blue Raiders have clinched a first round bye in the Conference USA Championship.
» MTSU over its last 31 home games limits opponents to 59.6 points per game in regulation, having gone 29-2 in that stretch. Over the last two years, the Blue Raiders allow 59.7 regulation ppg in neutral site games and 76.2 on the road.
» Eli Lawrence is the 35th player to score 1,000 points in a Blue Raider uniform and the eighth to amass 1,000 points and 100 steals. He is currently 29th on the all-time scoring list with 1,049 points, seven behind Lee Nosse for 28th.
» MTSU's win over #25 FAU was its first home win over a ranked opponent in the 50-year history of the Murphy Center and their first overall since defeating Michigan State in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
» MTSU joins Navy as the only teams in the country to neither lose a player to the transfer portal nor add a player from it during the 2022 offseason.
» The Blue Raiders have scored 302 points in the second halves of their last seven games. The team has shot .514 (105-204) from the floor and .484 (31-64) from 3-point range after halftime in that span.
» Teafale Lenard, Jr., is 26th in the country in blocked shots with 57 and 26th in blocks per game with 1.97. He has 11 games with at least two blocks and two steals, three more than anyone else in the nation.
» In his sophomore season, Lenard is fourth in career blocks at MTSU with 115. His 57 rejections in 2022-23 are fifth-most in a season and one behind his 2021-22 total. The Blue Raiders are 15th in the nation with 5.01blocks per game.
» Lenard had a career game at Belmont in which he set personal bests in points (20), rebounds (8) and blocks (6) while adding three assists and three steals. His six blocks are tied for the fourth most in a game in program history, and MTSU's 13 blocks in the game established a new program record.
» DeAndre Dishman is one of just seven seventh-year players in Division I men's basketball.
Scouting the Mean Green
» North Texas enters the game coming off a loss at Charlotte that snapped an eight-game win streak.
» The Mean Green's three other conference losses have come to Rice at home and twice to regular season C-USA Champion Florida Atlantic.
» Tylor Perry is 10th in the nation in win shares. He averages 17.2 points per game is the only qualifying player in C-USA to shoot over 40 percent from 3-point range.
» Abou Ousmane is UNT's leading rebounder at 6.0 boards per game while averaging 11.5 points per contest.
» Prior to shooting .391 from the floor in their loss at Charlotte, the Mean Green had shot .583 as a team in their previous three games.
» North Texas enters the weekend as the No. 2 seed in the C-USA Tournament.
Scouting the Miners
» UTEP enters the weekend having lost eight of its last 10 games ahead of its Thursday night matchup with Western Kentucky.
» Joe Golding's squad is tied for ninth in the league entering the week.
» Tae Hardy leads the Miners in scoring at 12.8 points per game.
» Shamar Givance is UTEP's leading 3-point shooter at 32.4 percent (33-102).
» Calvin Solomon leads the Miners in rebounding at 6.0 rpg.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball on social media on Facebook //MTMensBasketball, Twitter (@MT_MBB) and Instagram (@mt_mbb).
The Blue Raiders have clinched a first-round bye in the conference tournament and enter the weekend in fourth place in the league standings. A win in either game would secure at least the No. 4 seed in the tournament, while a pair of wins and a UAB loss at Charlotte on Saturday would make MTSU the No. 3 seed.
Thursday's game will be broadcast on CBS Sports Network, while Saturday's game will be found on ESPN+. WGNS and 94.9/95.1 The Fan will carry the radio broadcast, along with GoBlueRaiders.com and the Varsity Network App.
Game 29: Middle Tennessee (18-11, 11-7 C-USA) at North Texas (23-6, 14-4 C-USA)
» Thursday, March 2 – 7 p.m.
» The Super Pit
» Denton, Texas
Game 30: Middle Tennessee (18-11, 11-7 C-USA) at UTEP (13-16, 6-12 C-USA)
» Saturday, March 4 – 1 p.m.
» Don Haskins Arena
» El Paso, Texas
All-Time Against North Texas
» MTSU leads the all-time series 15-12.
» The Mean Green have won the last five matchups between the two teams.
Blue Raider Notes
» The Blue Raiders have clinched a first round bye in the Conference USA Championship.
» MTSU over its last 31 home games limits opponents to 59.6 points per game in regulation, having gone 29-2 in that stretch. Over the last two years, the Blue Raiders allow 59.7 regulation ppg in neutral site games and 76.2 on the road.
» Eli Lawrence is the 35th player to score 1,000 points in a Blue Raider uniform and the eighth to amass 1,000 points and 100 steals. He is currently 29th on the all-time scoring list with 1,049 points, seven behind Lee Nosse for 28th.
» MTSU's win over #25 FAU was its first home win over a ranked opponent in the 50-year history of the Murphy Center and their first overall since defeating Michigan State in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
» MTSU joins Navy as the only teams in the country to neither lose a player to the transfer portal nor add a player from it during the 2022 offseason.
» The Blue Raiders have scored 302 points in the second halves of their last seven games. The team has shot .514 (105-204) from the floor and .484 (31-64) from 3-point range after halftime in that span.
» Teafale Lenard, Jr., is 26th in the country in blocked shots with 57 and 26th in blocks per game with 1.97. He has 11 games with at least two blocks and two steals, three more than anyone else in the nation.
» In his sophomore season, Lenard is fourth in career blocks at MTSU with 115. His 57 rejections in 2022-23 are fifth-most in a season and one behind his 2021-22 total. The Blue Raiders are 15th in the nation with 5.01blocks per game.
» Lenard had a career game at Belmont in which he set personal bests in points (20), rebounds (8) and blocks (6) while adding three assists and three steals. His six blocks are tied for the fourth most in a game in program history, and MTSU's 13 blocks in the game established a new program record.
» DeAndre Dishman is one of just seven seventh-year players in Division I men's basketball.
Scouting the Mean Green
» North Texas enters the game coming off a loss at Charlotte that snapped an eight-game win streak.
» The Mean Green's three other conference losses have come to Rice at home and twice to regular season C-USA Champion Florida Atlantic.
» Tylor Perry is 10th in the nation in win shares. He averages 17.2 points per game is the only qualifying player in C-USA to shoot over 40 percent from 3-point range.
» Abou Ousmane is UNT's leading rebounder at 6.0 boards per game while averaging 11.5 points per contest.
» Prior to shooting .391 from the floor in their loss at Charlotte, the Mean Green had shot .583 as a team in their previous three games.
» North Texas enters the weekend as the No. 2 seed in the C-USA Tournament.
Scouting the Miners
» UTEP enters the weekend having lost eight of its last 10 games ahead of its Thursday night matchup with Western Kentucky.
» Joe Golding's squad is tied for ninth in the league entering the week.
» Tae Hardy leads the Miners in scoring at 12.8 points per game.
» Shamar Givance is UTEP's leading 3-point shooter at 32.4 percent (33-102).
» Calvin Solomon leads the Miners in rebounding at 6.0 rpg.
Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball on social media on Facebook //MTMensBasketball, Twitter (@MT_MBB) and Instagram (@mt_mbb).
Players Mentioned
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