Men's Basketball continues road stand at Kennesaw State, WKU

Thursday, February 12

Kennesaw, GA

5:30 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

Kennesaw State

2/11/2026 6:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Logan Hasselbach

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After beginning it last week, Middle Tennessee men's basketball is set to continue its four-game road trip with two contests this week on the road, facing Kennesaw State on Thursday before traveling north to take on Western Kentucky Saturday. The tilt against the Owls will tip off at 5:30 p.m. on CBSSN, while the season series finale with the Hilltoppers will begin at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. Both games will be streamed on Blue Raider Network.

Blue Raider Notes

The Blue Raiders will look to snap a five-game losing streak when they travel to Kennesaw Wednesday, a location they have never lost at.
For the first time since February 15, 2025, the Blue Raiders had three players score 20+ points in the same game at Delaware. Torey Alston and Kamari Lands both had 21, while Alec Oglesby tallied 20 points.
The three combined to account for over 70 percent of Middle Tennessee's points scored on Saturday, while amassing nine assists and just four turnovers as a collective.
Against FIU, Marcus Whitlock, Jr. had his best performance of his Division I career, tallying 25 points on seven made threes and a perfect 4-4 showing at the courtesy stripe. He bested his previous career high (6 pts) by 19 points and earned 27 minutes on the floor for that effort.
Torey Alston's five double-doubles on the season are the second-most of any individual in Conference USA, with two back-to-back showings (vs. Cumberland/Houston and vs. Liberty/WKU).
Redshirt sophomore Marcus Whitlock, Jr. signed to Kennesaw State for his true freshman year, though he redshirted due to a torn ACL, before transferring to Cowley College and, eventually, MTSU.
Middle Tennessee ranks second in the league with 9.7 made threes and 28.1 attempted threes per game.

Series History
MTSU is undefeated against Kennesaw State, owning a perfect 9-0 record in the all-time series. The Blue Raiders took the lone game in VyStar Arena last year, 76-75.

Owl Notes

Kennesaw State's starting lineup is the only one in Conference USA to not feature a single senior or transfer player.
The Owls are 20^th in the nation in field goal defense at 39.6 percent.
Kennesaw State leads the conference and is 10^th in the nation in blocks per game at 5.7. Braedan Lue and Trey Simpson are one of just 15 duos in the nation with at least 31 total blocks each this season.
Sophomore RJ Johnson leads the Owls with 12.9 points per game on 47.7 percent shooting from the field.

Series History
The Hilltoppers own a 101-49 edge over Middle Tennessee in the all-time series, the longest running series in Middle Tennessee history.

Hilltopper Notes

Western Kentucky is 13-11 overall and 6-7 in conference games.
The team ranks seventh in the nation with 14.38 offensive rebounds per game, though they also own one of the worst field goal percentages in Division I at 39.4 percent.
WKU leads the league with 32.83 bench points per contest.
Teagan Moore is first on the team, scoring 17.2 points each outing, though the redshirt sophomore has not played since January 21.