Men's Basketball prepped to take on Sam Houston, Delaware

Wednesday, February 18

Huntsville, TX

6:30 p.m.

Middle Tennessee

Sam Houston

2/17/2026 8:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: Logan Hasselbach

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Middle Tennessee men's basketball team will look to bounce back after a splitting last week's games when it plays Sam Houston and Delaware. The team will first travel to Huntsville, Texas to take on the Bearkats before welcoming the Blue Hens to the Murphy Center for the first time Saturday. The contests will tip off at 6:30 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively, with both streaming on ESPN+ and Blue Raider Network.

Blue Raider Notes

Last week on the road at Kennesaw State and Western Kentucky, Sean Smith had his best two-game stretch as a Blue Raider, averaging 20.5 points on the week.
The graduate student tallied his first 20+ point performance at Middle Tennessee against Kennesaw, amassing 22 points as a pivotal part of the win.
Against WKU, Smith followed it up with 19 points and two made threes, along with a season-high seven assists.
The Blue Raiders found themselves back in the win column at Kennesaw State Thursday, downing to Owls 9-87 to snap a five-game losing streak. Middle Tennessee improved the all-time series record to 10-0 overall and 2-0 on the road over KSU.
Kamari Lands also had a good night at KSU, dishing out a career-best seven dimes with 13 points. He led the team in assists for the third time this season.
For the first time since February 15, 2025, the Blue Raiders had three players score 20+ points in the same game at Delaware.
The last five contests for Middle Tennessee have been decided by five points or less, with two of them going to overtime.

Series History
The Blue Raiders are 3-2 against Sam Houston in the all-time series and are currently on a three-game winning streak over the Bearkats. In Huntsville, the series is tied at one game a piece.

Bearkat Notes

Sam Houston is 17-8 overall and is in sole possession of second place with a 9-5 record in league play.
Po'Boigh King leads the Bearkats with 14.0 points per game on 42.4 percent shooting from the floor.
Kashie Natt is on top of the rebounding stats for the Kats with 7.4 per contest.
Sam Houston is first in the conference in fastbreak points, averaging 15.6 each game.

Series History
The all-time series is tied at one game each between the Blue Raiders and Blue Hens. Delaware took the last contest 89-88 in overtime in the beginning of February in Newark.

Blue Hen Notes

Delaware is 9-16 on the season and 5-9 in league play.
Christian Bliss and Justyn Fernandez are tied for the team lead with 15.8 points per contest.
Macon Emory is the squad's leading rebounder with 6.8 per game.
Fernandez earned Conference USA Player of the Week honors after leading UD to a 2-0 week in conference play.