Men's Basketball prepped to take part in Cayman Islands Classic

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Middle Tennessee men's basketball team is set to close out the month of November taking part in the Cayman Islands Classic MTE. The Blue Raiders open up tournament play against Murray State Sunday 6:30 p.m. before playing George Washington Monday and McNeese Tuesday, both games at 4 p.m. The tournament takes place in the John Gray Gymnasium in George Town, Grand Cayman and will be streamed on FloSports and Blue Raider Network.

Blue Raider Notes

Sunday's contest between Middle Tennessee and Murray State will mark the 148^th all-time meeting between the teams and just the ninth in a neutral site, making it the most played rivalry in MTSU basketball history.
The Blue Raiders will take part in the Cayman Islands Classic for the first time in program history this weekend, playing in Grand Cayman for the first time as well.
The last MTE that Middle Tennessee competed in was the 2024 Myrtle Beach Invitational in Conway, S.C. The team downed Ohio and South Florida en route to an appearance in the tournament finals before falling to Bradley to finish as the runner ups.
The Blue Raiders most recently played at No. 7 Michigan, falling in their first loss 86-61. MTSU battled it out against the Wolverines, trailing by just six at half time, but were unable to overcome a strong push from the home team in the second half.
In sophomore Jahvin Carter's opening games as a Blue Raider, he set new career highs in numerous categories. He set a personal best in points scored with 18 at Evansville before matching that point total against seventh-ranked Michigan in Ann Arbor as well. In the season opener in the Murphy Center, the Alcoa, Tenn., native dished out a career-best eight assists against Milligan.
The Blue Raiders sit second in the nation in three point attempts per game with 36.0.
MTSU's three-point percentage defense also continues to thrive, ranking third in the nation at just 19.5 percent, while the team averages the 17^th-most three pointers per game with 12.0.
With a 6.5 turnover margin, MTSU sits 21^st in the nation.

Racer Notes

The Racers are rated No. 77 in adjusted efficiency on offense and No. 160 on defense nationally.
Murray State is averaging a Missouri Valley Conference leading 94.4 points per contest, downing Omaha, Mississippi Valley State, Nicholls and Little Rock.
MSU's lone loss of the season came in Dallas, dropping 102-91 to SMU.
In their previous contest against Little Rock, every Racer that stepped onto the floor scored, led by Mason Miller and Brayden Shorter, who each scored 16 points.

Revolutionary Notes

George Washington is 5-0 for the second time in three years following an 89-52 victory over UMBC on Wednesday at home.
The Revolutionaries rolled to a fifth-straight win, holding a 30-point lead at halftime over UMBC. The team was led by Garrett Johnson's 16 points, while also seeing four others score in double figures.
Rafael Castro (13pts, 15 reb) and Luke Hunger (13pts, 10reb) both tallied double-doubles in their last contest against UMBC.
GW is the only team in the country to boast nine players averaging at least 8.0 points per game. All nine are doing so while only playing between 19.0 and 28.0 minutes per game.

Cowboy Notes

McNeese last played on November 14 when it defeated ULL by a score of 88-62 to improve to 3-1 on the season.
Bill Johnson is in his first year at the helm of the program after Will Wade departed following leading the team to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament.
McNeese leads the nation in scoring average with a 103.5 mark and set home scoring records in back-to-back games (127 vs. Champion Christian and 132 vs. Biblical Studies).
Through their first four games, Cowboys have tallied 18 double-figure scoring performances spread out among nine different players with Larry Johnson and Tyshawn Archie each scoring double-digits in all four games.

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Players Mentioned

Jahvin Carter

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics