Blue Raiders prepped to host California Baptist Monday

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Blue Raiders are set to kick off their last homestand of the 2024 calendar year Monday, December 16, when California Baptist travels to the Murphy Center. The Conference USA – Western Athletic Conference matchup is set to tip off at 6:30 p.m. in the Glass House and will stream on ESPN+.

Series History
The two teams have only met once prior to Monday's contest, in the 2022 Roman CBI.
The Blue Raiders won the matchup in Daytona Beach, Fla., 64-58 on March 19, 2022.
Monday will mark the first regular season contest between the Blue Raiders and the Lancers.

Blue Raider Notes
• Middle Tennessee suffered its first true road loss at Belmont December 7 with an 82-79 decision. The defeat was not without its highlights, namely Jlynn Counter scored a season-high 22 points in the second half in his first game back since November 22.
• The Blue Raiders also held the Bruins, who averaged 10.3 three-pointers per game coming into the matchup, to just six made threes.
• Middle Tennessee ranks fourth in the country in three-point percentage defense, only allowing opponents to score 25.4 percent of their shots from deep, good for the conference lead.
• With an average of 3.70 offensive rebounds per game, Essam Mostafa is ranked 18th in the nation in offensive boards per game, first in the conference.
• The Blue Raider offense is the top-scoring offense in Conference USA, averaging 82.8 points per game. The average is good for 46th in the nation.
• Scoring 828 points ten games into the season, the 2024-25 Blue Raiders are the highest scoring roster of any Middle Tennessee team coached by Nick McDevitt.
• Middle Tennessee had spread its scoring efforts across the roster, with six different players leading the team in scoring in the ten games played thus far.
• Under head coach Nick McDevitt, the Blue Raiders have consistently protected the Glass House, going 41-9 at home over the past three seasons.
• With a 7-3 record thus far, the Blue Raiders are off to their best start since the 2021-22 season, matching the best start for head coach Nick McDevitt at Middle Tennessee.
• MTSU has outscored opponents 828-713 in the opening ten games of the 2024-25 campaign.

Lancer Notes
• CBU faced #23 San Diego State in its last matchup, falling 81-75 on the road at Viejas Arena. The Lancers faced one of the best defenses in the country and for the second time in its DI era matched up against a ranked opponent.
• Dominique Daniels Jr. leads all WAC players in scoring and is 12th in the nation averaging 21.7 points per contest. He is also 14th in the nation in field goals made with 76, 57th in free throws made and 15th in nation in total points with 217.
• CBU has taking care of the basketball at an exceptional rate to begin the season, ranking #1 in the WAC in fewest turnovers per game and #38 in the nation with 10.2 per contest. CBU has posted single-digit turnovers in five game this season and less than 14 turnovers in all but one game this season.
• The Lancers set a new DI-era program record vs Kennesaw State with 35 made free throws and tied the DI program record with 42 attempts.
• Head Coach Rick Croy is entering into his 12th season as the Lancer's head coach, amassing over 233 wins in Riverside. Croy has led CBU to the WAC Tournament in every season they have been eligible and has earned wins in all four tournaments they have competed in. Croy became the youngest active head coach to reach 350 career wins last season and is the program's all-time leader in wins.

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Players Mentioned

Jlynn Counter

Essam Mostafa

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics