Blue Raiders start CUSA Championship with rematch vs. Bulldogs

CUSA Quarterfinal \| Wednesday, March 13 \| 8:00 p.m. \| Propst Arena \| Huntsville, Ala.

	#7 MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS 13-18, 7-9 CUSA	vs.	#2 LA TECH BULLDOGS 22-9, 12-4 CUSA

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

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Middle Tennessee men's basketball starts its Conference USA Tournament run with a rematch of its final regular season game as it takes on LA Tech at 8 p.m. Wednesday at Propst Arena. The Blue Raiders are the No. 7 seed in the tournament after finishing in a four-way tie for the fourth-best record in the league, while the Bulldogs are the No. 2 seed.

LA Tech defeated MTSU 84-70 on Saturday in Ruston. Outside of 7-0 runs by the Bulldogs to start each half, the two teams were evenly matched. Elias King led the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds in his first double-double of the season.

Four Blue Raiders earned All-Conference recognition Monday, when the league put out its postseason awards: Jestin Porter (2nd Team All-Conference), Jared Coleman-Jones (3rd Team), Chris Loofe (All-Freshman Team) and Elias King (Honorable Mention).

All-Time Against LA Tech
» The Bulldogs lead the all-time series 15-7.
» MTSU has won five of the last nine games between the two teams.
» This is the first matchup between the two teams in a conference tournament.

Blue Raider Notes
» Middle Tennessee over its last 48 home games has limited opponents to 60.7 points per game in regulation, having gone 40-8 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 75.9 on the road.
» Jestin Porter averaged 17.0 points per game in conference play. He set CUSA and MTSU records by going 8-for-8 from 3-point range on Feb. 17 vs. UTEP. His 41 points are tied for the third-highest single-game total in program history. He was named CUSA Player of the Week, TSWA Player of the Week and Oscar Robertson Trophy National Player of the Week after averaging 33.5 points per game against New Mexico State and UTEP.
» Jared Coleman-Jones had seven double-doubles in league games, one shy of Nick King's mark of eight in 2017-18 for the most by a Blue Raider in CUSA action. The Jacksonville, Fla., native averaged 13.8 points and 8.7 rebounds in CUSA play and is 11-for-21 (.524) from 3-point range over his last seven games.
» The Blue Raiders are shooting .791 (136-172) from the free throw line over their last seven games, compared to a season mark of .701. Coleman-Jones is 29-for-34 (.853) during that span.
» Elias King this season has moved into ninth in MTSU history with 149 career threes.
» Justin Bufford is eighth in MTSU history with 74 career blocked shots, having blocked 24 this year. He has blocked six shots over his last five games.

Scouting the Bulldogs
» LA Tech has won six of its last seven games heading into the CUSA Championship.
» Daniel Batcho leads Conference USA in rebounding (9.9 per game), field goal percentage (.579) and blocks (2.4 bpg).
» Isaiah Crawford is second in the league in scoring at 16.5 points per game.
» Sean Newman, Jr., leads the conference with 5.2 assists 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

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Players Mentioned

Justin Bufford

Jared Coleman-Jones

Elias King

Chris Loofe

Jestin Porter

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