Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Wednesday, November 12
Evansville, IN
7 p.m.
Middle Tennessee
3-0,0-0CUSA
77
at
72
Evansville
2-2,0-0MVC
1
2
F
Middle Tenn.
36
41
77
Evansville
28
44
72
Blue Raiders down Evansville on the road, 77-72
11/12/2025 10:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Middle Tennessee men's basketball (3-0) earned a strong road win in the first away competition of the season, taking down Evansville (2-2) 77-72 Wednesday night at the Ford Center.
The Blue Raiders built their victory behind a balanced scoring attack led by Kamari Lands' 23 points, including several key buckets in the closing minutes, and Sean Smith's 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Jahvin Carter added 18 points and two assists, while Torey Alston pulled in six rebounds and chipped in six points.
After a tight opening stretch, MTSU began to find its rhythm midway through the first half. Trailing 11-9, the Blue Raiders responded with an 8-0 run, sparked by Lands and Carter, to grab control of the game. That stretch turned into a 17-7 burst that pushed the lead to 26-17. Lands' three-pointer and Carter's transition layup capped the surge as MTSU began to dictate the pace.
The Blue Raiders held Evansville to just 1-of-7 from three in the first half and took a 36-28 advantage into halftime after Carter drilled a triple in the final minute.
Coming out of the break, MTSU kept the momentum rolling. Smith and Carter combined for an early 10-3 run to stretch the lead to double digits, and a Lands jumper at the 10-minute mark gave the Raiders their largest lead of the night at 22 points (61-39).
Evansville mounted a late push, cutting the deficit to single digits with an 8-0 run in the final two minutes, but MTSU stayed composed at the line. Lands iced the game with two made free throws in the final seconds to secure the five-point win.
Middle Tennessee shot 49.2 percent from the field and held control of the boards, bringing in 35 rebounds to Evansville's 31.
McDevitt's Mic
"We made a good run to start the second half because of our defensive stops and rebounds," said head coach Nick McDevitt. "I told our players that you have to be prepared for their (scoring) run with the way they shoot it, and it came at the end… I thought our effort was really good, we had a lot of different guys play long stretches because of foul trouble, and I thought we did a good job of withstanding that."
Kamari Lands
"We had great preparation," said Lands. "We were focused and locked in and had some good practices. Our thing here is unselfishness, it can be anybody's night with how many guys we got who can score. It's hard for teams to focus on one guy, when we have nine guys who can do it."
By The Numbers
3 – MTSU grabbed three straight offensive rebounds to drain 1:15 off the clock in the final minutes.
23 & 18 – Kamari Lands and Jahvin Carter's career-high points.
17 – Sean Smith scored a season-high in points with 17.
The Blue Raiders built their victory behind a balanced scoring attack led by Kamari Lands' 23 points, including several key buckets in the closing minutes, and Sean Smith's 17 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Jahvin Carter added 18 points and two assists, while Torey Alston pulled in six rebounds and chipped in six points.
After a tight opening stretch, MTSU began to find its rhythm midway through the first half. Trailing 11-9, the Blue Raiders responded with an 8-0 run, sparked by Lands and Carter, to grab control of the game. That stretch turned into a 17-7 burst that pushed the lead to 26-17. Lands' three-pointer and Carter's transition layup capped the surge as MTSU began to dictate the pace.
The Blue Raiders held Evansville to just 1-of-7 from three in the first half and took a 36-28 advantage into halftime after Carter drilled a triple in the final minute.
Coming out of the break, MTSU kept the momentum rolling. Smith and Carter combined for an early 10-3 run to stretch the lead to double digits, and a Lands jumper at the 10-minute mark gave the Raiders their largest lead of the night at 22 points (61-39).
Evansville mounted a late push, cutting the deficit to single digits with an 8-0 run in the final two minutes, but MTSU stayed composed at the line. Lands iced the game with two made free throws in the final seconds to secure the five-point win.
Middle Tennessee shot 49.2 percent from the field and held control of the boards, bringing in 35 rebounds to Evansville's 31.
McDevitt's Mic
"We made a good run to start the second half because of our defensive stops and rebounds," said head coach Nick McDevitt. "I told our players that you have to be prepared for their (scoring) run with the way they shoot it, and it came at the end… I thought our effort was really good, we had a lot of different guys play long stretches because of foul trouble, and I thought we did a good job of withstanding that."
Kamari Lands
"We had great preparation," said Lands. "We were focused and locked in and had some good practices. Our thing here is unselfishness, it can be anybody's night with how many guys we got who can score. It's hard for teams to focus on one guy, when we have nine guys who can do it."
By The Numbers
3 – MTSU grabbed three straight offensive rebounds to drain 1:15 off the clock in the final minutes.
23 & 18 – Kamari Lands and Jahvin Carter's career-high points.
17 – Sean Smith scored a season-high in points with 17.
Team Stats
MTSU
Evans
FG%
.492
.481
3FG%
.269
.214
FT%
.588
.708
RB
35
31
TO
11
12
STL
7
7
Game Leaders
Pts
23
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
8
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
17
FGM
8
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
6
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
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/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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