Middle Tennesee State University Athletics
Middle Tennessee
Louisville
Middle Tennessee set for NCAA Tournament matchup with Louisville
3/21/2024 5:01:00 PM | Women's Basketball
Friday, March 22 | 12:30 p.m. | Pete Maravich Assembly Center | Baton Rouge, La. |
||||
 |
MIDDLE TENNESSEE LADY RAIDERS 29-4, 16-0 CUSA |
vs | LOUISVILLE CARDINALS 24-9, 12-6 ACC |
 |
| WATCH: ESPN2 | STATS: LINK | RADIO: WGNS (LINK) | MEDIA CENTER: LINK | ||||
BATON ROUGE, La. – Middle Tennessee is set to travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for the first round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament, as the No. 11 seed in the Albany Regional 2. The Blue Raiders will face off against a familiar foe in No. 6 seed Louisville. No. 3 seed LSU (AP No. 8) will serve as the host institution for the opening two rounds, playing No. 14 seed Rice in the other first-round game.
LADY RAIDER NOTES
NCAA TOURNAMENT
This marks Middle Tennessee's 21st NCAA Tournament appearance and the 12th under Head Coach Rick Insell.
SERIES INFO
This marks just the ninth meeting in series history between the Middle Tennessee Lady Raiders and Louisville Cardinals.
Louisville is making its 26th appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its 13th consecutive appearance. The two squads last met in the 2022-23 regular season, where Middle Tennessee defeated Louisville 67-49 in the Glass House.
HEAD COACH RICK INSELL
"We're pretty excited about being here. We were in the tournament last year. We got basically most of the team back. We've kind of been on a run, and we're kind of excited about where our basketball team is at right now. I look for it to be a great game tomorrow."
JOBS NOT FINISHED
Middle Tennessee Clinched the 2023-24 Conference USA Regular Season Title. This marks the second consecutive and 21st overall regular season championship in program history.
LAST TIME OUT
The Lady Raiders are coming off a 67-51 win over Liberty, to claim the 2024 Conference USA Tournament Championship. This marks the second consecutive and 18th overall tournament championship in program history. MTSU also became just the second team in CUSA history to run the table and win both conference titles.
Savannah Wheeler was named the Conference USA Tournament MVP, while Anastasiia Boldyreva and Jalynn Gregory also earned All-Tournament Team honors.
SAVANNAH LAND
Savannah Wheeler becomes just the ninth Lady Raider overall to be named conference player of the year and the third to be named CUSA Player of the Year. The guard has been sensational this season, leading the league in scoring (17.5 ppg), assists (150), assist/ turnover ratio (2.1), and minutes (37.8). Already the CUSA all-time free throw record holder, Wheeler also recently cracked into the top three on the all-time leader scorers list. The recent graduate and five-time CUSA Player of the Week also earned First Team All- Conference honors.
NOT IN HER HOUSE
Anastasiia Boldyreva burst onto the scene this season and established herself as one of the top rim protectors in the nation en rout to being the first Lady Raider to be named CUSA Defensive Player of the Year.
She currently leads the league and ranks fourth in the nation with 88 blocks on the season – a Lady Raider single-season record. The junior also earned First Team All-Conference and All-Defensive Team honors. She has played a crucial part in the Lady Raiders having a top 10 defense nationally. MTSU is currently holding opponents to just 51.8 points per game and scoring 75.1 for an average scoring margin of 23.3.
The junior has tallied 186 blocks in her career which ranks second all-time in program history. Boldyreva's eight blocks against Jax State ranks third all-time in blocks per game by a Lady Raider.
STREAKS
The Lady Raiders have the sixth longest winning streak in the nation at 19 games and the fifth longest winning streak against conference opponents at 25 games.
PLAYING WITH THE LEAD
• MTSU has been outstanding with the lead and closing games out under HC Rick Insell.
• MTSU is 393-39 all-time when leading at the half under Insell.
• MTSU is 432-20 when leading at the 5-minute mark under Insell
ROAD RAIDERS
• MTSU has enjoyed great road success under HC Rick Insell.
• The Lady Raiders are 171-87 overall on the road under Insell, for a 65 percent winning ledger.
• Insell's teams are 70-20 on the road in CUSA play (76 percent), and 128-31 (79 percent) in conference road games overall (CUSA & Sun Belt).
A MTSU WIN WOULD...
• MTSU would move to 1,028-454 all-time.
• MTSU would advance to the second round for fifth time in program history – second time under Coach Insell.
SHOOTERS SHOOT
The Lady Raiders are 145-18 (.885) under Head Coach Rick Insell when connecting on 10 or more Three-Point Field Goals in a game.
CAREER LEADERS
Savannah Wheeler ranks fourth in the nation in career free throws made (6435) and sixth in career free throw attempts (761).
The graduate also ranks eighth in nation in scoring among active career leaders with 2318 career points.
MENTOR VS. MENTEE
Memphis Head Coach Alex Simmons, Tennessee Head Coach Kellie Harper and NM State Head Coach Jody Adams each played for Head Coach Rick Insell prior to their collegiate careers.
Simmons played for Insell at Shelbyville Central HS, while Adams and Harper played AAU ball for Insell at the Shelbyville Sports Shop.
Insell went a perfect 5-0 against his former players in 2023-24, with a pair of wins over Memphis, a neutral site win over Tennessee and a pair of wins over NM State.
POINTS. POINTS. POINTS.
With 18 points against UTEP, Savannah Wheeler became the 10th player in Conference USA history to eclipse 2,000 career points.
With eight points against NM State, Jalynn Gregory became just the 34th Lady Raider in program history to eclipse 1,000 career points.
With eight points against LA Tech, Courtney Whitson eclipsed 1,500 career points. She is just the 12th Lady Raider in program history to accomplish that feat.
With 22 points against LA Tech, Wheeler eclipsed 1,000 career points in a Lady Raider uniform – just the 35th Lady Raider to do so.
With 16 points against LA Tech, Boldyreva became the 36th Lady Raider to eclipse 1,000 career points.
FOR THE LOVE OF CHARITY
With 13 free throws against NM State, Savannah Wheeler became the Conference USA all-time leader in career free throws made with 579.
SHARPSHOOTERS
With a pair of triples against GCU, Wheeler became just the 16th player in CUSA history to eclipse 200 career made three-point field goals.
With four three-point field goals against Sam Houston, Courtney Whitson became the all-time record holder at Middle Tennessee with 260.
With eight three-point field goals against Jax State, Jalynn Gregory became the 17th player in CUSA history to eclipse 200 career made three-point field goals.
QUEEN ON THE BOARDS
Courtney Whitson became just the fourth Lady Raider in program history to surpass 900 career rebounds in MTSU' 70-45 win over Houston.
The graduate became just second Lady Raider in program history to eclipse 1,000 career boards - joining Ebony Rowe.
RACE TO 1,000
Middle Tennessee became just the 25th school in NCAA Division I women's basketball history and the third in Conference USA to reach 1,000 program wins on Thursday, Nov. 9 when the Lady Raiders defeated the Florida A&M Rattlers 93-48.
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR
MTSU has seven international players on its 2023-24 roster, spanning from Canada, Hungary, Russia and Spain.
Middle Tennessee's has the third most international student-athletes on its roster (seven) and the third most countries represented (six).
