Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
MTSU played their style of Basketball. But couldn’t get Tennessee out of theirs
11/13/2024 3:35:00 PM | Women's Basketball
The Blue Raiders did a lot of things well on Tuesday night in Knoxville. The Lady Vols just did what they do well a bit better.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Tuesday night at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center, Middle Tennessee women's basketball did a lot of things right. They shot the ball well from the court, shooting 54.9 percent (28-for-51) for the game. Point guard Courtney Blakely set a new career high with 25 points on 11-of-17 shooting. Jalynn Gregory found her outside shot again, going 3-for-5 from beyond the arc.
It's easy to see why Rick Insell was proud of his team at the end, despite the result of the game of an 89-75 loss to Tennessee.
"We didn't quit, we didn't get down," Insell said. "We went back out there and battled, ran our offense and got some baskets."
MTSU did what they needed to do to win on most nights. But against a new system for the Lady Vols under first-year head coach Kim Caldwell, the Blue Raiders failed to get the hosts out of what they wanted to do: press to force turnovers, crash the offensive glass to generate extra possessions and sub liberally to allow for both former points of emphasis to flourish.
The Blue Raiders were able to make it half-court game at times on Tuesday, particularly in a strong start in the first quarter, where MTSU led by as many as seven as the Lady Vols started out cold from the field. But press breaks that were simple at the start of the game became trickier as Tennessee added new wrinkles to how they defended, and the pace and pressure began to get into the legs of MTSU's starters.
Couple that with some aggressive overplays in the half-court game and the usual assortment of travels and offensive fouls and you get 22 MTSU turnovers for the game, 13 of them live-ball turnovers on Tennessee steals, resulting in 29 points for the Lady Vols. MTSU was able to generate a few turnovers of their own, 14 total for the hosts, but only three game on Blue Raider steals, resulting in just 13 points. That difference, as you may notice, was the margin of victory for Tennessee on Tuesday.
"It's the most turnovers we had in a pretty good while," Insell said.
On the glass, Tennessee secured 19 offensive rebounds on Tuesday night, resulting in 13 second chance points to MTSU's nine on six offensive rebounds.
"We said from the beginning that we need to box out," said center Anastasiia Boldyreva, who finished the night with 18 points and seven board. "Every person, from the point guard to the post players, we need to box out. And fight for them, because even if you get a rebound, it's not over, they're going to trap."
Boldyreva's head coach wasn't displeased with his team's effort. But recognized what led to the 19 offensive rebounds for the Lady Vols.
"The thing you've got with them, they run three or four in at a time and you've got to have your matchups correct," Insell said. "And a couple of times, we didn't. And they took advantage of it."
There isn't going to be a team left on MTSU's schedule that plays the way Tennessee does, breaking the program record for three-pointers attempted every game so far this season, content with shooting 35 percent from the floor most quarters because they know they'll generate the extra possessions to make up for it. But what did work on Tuesday against a top-flight team — the half-court offense execution, the denial of points in the paint, the ability to execute on the fast break — can translate into nearly any game MTSU plays going forward.
Something that Rick Insell is ready to build on the rest of the way for the Blue Raiders.
"(Tennessee) did a good job with what they do," Insell said. "And I was real proud of what our players did."
