Blue Raiders make first CUSA road trip of 2023-24

Thursday, Jan. 18 \| 8 p.m. \| Don Haskins Center \| El Paso, Texas

	MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS 6-11, 0-2 CUSA	at	UTEP MINERS 9-8, 0-2 CUSA

WATCH: CBS SPORTS NETWORK \| STATS: LINK \| RADIO: CLASSIC HITS 93.3/95.1 (LINK) \| NOTES: LINK \| HISTORY: LINK

EL PASO, Texas – Middle Tennessee men's basketball is back on the road Thursday for the first leg of its western swing in Conference USA. The Blue Raiders take on UTEP at 8 p.m. CT at the Don Haskins Center on CBS Sports Network.

The Blue Raiders are coming off a 60-51 loss to LA Tech on Thursday. Jestin Porter set a new career high with 29 points on 10-of-21 shooting.

All-Time Against UTEP
» The Blue Raiders lead the all-time series 10-6.
» MTSU has won three of the last four meetings.

Blue Raider Notes
» MTSU over its last 42 home games has limited opponents to 59.9 points per game in regulation, having gone 34-8 in that stretch. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, the Blue Raiders allow 62.7 regulation ppg in neutral site games and 75.4 on the road.
» Porter has averaged 18.8 points per game with a 48.6 shooting percentage over his last five games played. His 12.2 ppg on the season leads the team.
» Porter's six blocked shots are most in Conference USA among players 6'1" or shorter.
» Chris Loofe has been named the CUSA Freshman of the Week four times after earning the honor again on January 1. He is eighth in the conference with 0.9 blocked shots per game.
» Justin Bufford is 10th in program history with 61 career blocked shots.
» MTSU added six newcomers to the roster to replace its six departing players. The average newcomer is 1.7 inches taller than the player he is replacing (6'8.0" vs. 6'6.3").
» Weston tore his ACL against Stephen F. Austin. He will miss the remainder of the 2023-24 season.
» At 1,344 active square feet, the Murphy Center's new scoreboards are the largest in Conference USA.

Scouting the Miners
» UTEP is looking for its first CUSA win of the season and has lost three of its last four games.
» Tae Hardy leads the Miners in scoring at 14.7 points per game and is first in the conference with 31.9 minutes per game.
» Joe Golding's team forces 18.8 turnovers per game.
» Hardy, Zid Powell and Otis Frazier III are all in the top five in the league in steals per game.

Follow the Blue Raiders
Follow Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball on social media on Facebook //MTMensBasketball, Twitter (@MT_MBB) and Instagram (@mt_mbb).

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Justin Bufford

Chris Loofe

Jestin Porter

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