Blue Raiders return home to take on New Mexico State

Thursday, Feb. 15 \| 6:30 p.m. \| Murphy Center \| Murfreesboro, TN

	MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS 9-15, 3-6 CUSA	vs.	NEW MEXICO STATE AGGIES 11-13, 5-4 CUSA

WATCH: ESPN+ \| STATS: LINK \| RADIO: CLASSIC HITS 93.3/95.1 (LINK) \| NOTES: LINK \| HISTORY: LINK

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Two and a half weeks after its last home game, Middle Tennessee men's basketball is back in the Murphy Center on Thursday to take on New Mexico State. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. with the broadcast on ESPN+.

The Blue Raiders snapped a 13-game losing streak in road games Saturday in a 68-66 victory at FIU. Jestin Porter's go-ahead layup with 44 seconds proved to be the game-winner. Elias King led the way with 18 points, while Jared Coleman-Jones recorded his fourth double-double of the year with 13 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.

All-Time Against NM State
» The Aggies have won six of the nine games between the two teams.
» MTSU and NM State first squared off in the 1957-58 season.
» The Blue Raiders have won three of the last five matchups.
» Tre Green scored a career-high 18 points on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range when the two teams played on Jan. 20.

Blue Raider Notes
» Middle Tennessee over its last 44 home games has limited opponents to 60.1 points per game in regulation, having gone 36-8 in that stretch. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, the Blue Raiders
are allowing 62.7 regulation ppg in neutral site games and 75.7 on the road.
» Elias King is shooting 47.1 percent (16-for-34) from 3-point range over his last five games. On Saturday, he passed James Washington and Raymond Cintron for sole possession of 10th in MTSU history with 139 career threes.
» Last time the Blue Raiders and Aggies faced off, Tre Green put up 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.
» Jestin Porter set a new career high with 30 points against Jacksonville State. He is averaging 19.6 points per game in Conference USA play.
» Justin Bufford is ninth in program history with 68 blocked shots, one away from tying Theryn Hudson for eighth. His four blocks against WKU are the most by a Blue Raider this season.
» Against Jacksonville State, Porter and Elias King became the first pair of Blue Raiders with 20-plus points in the same game since February 9, 2023. They matched the feat the next time out against FIU.
» Coleman-Jones is the only player in the top 25 of the conference in assists per game taller than 6'7".
» The Blue Raiders are second in CUSA in blocks at 4.5 per game, which would be the third-most in program history for a full season. Coleman-Jones leads the team with 24 rejections on the year.
» Porter's six blocked shots are most in CUSA among players listed at 6'1" or shorter.
» Four-time CUSA Freshman of the Year Chris Loofe is 10th in the league with 0.9 blocked shots per game.

Scouting the Aggies
» NMSU is 0-12 away from home this season.
» Femi Odukale is the Aggies' leading scorer with 10.7 points per game while also averaging 6.0 rebounds. He is fifth in CUSA with 102 free throw attempts - 36 more than his closest teammate - despite having missed six games.
» Robert Carpenter, who led the Aggies with 17 points in the Jan. 20 win over MTSU, is suspended indefinitely for punching Liberty's Shiloh Robinson on Feb. 1.
» NMSU is 31st in the nation and second in CUSA in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 40.5 percent from the floor.

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

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Players Mentioned

Justin Bufford

Jared Coleman-Jones

Tre Green

Elias King

Chris Loofe

Jestin Porter

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