LYNCHBURG, Va. – Middle Tennessee will travel to Liberty for a highly anticipated battle between the top two teams in the Conference USA standings on Thursday, Mar. 6.
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Thursday, Mar. 6 | 6 p.m. | Liberty Arena | Lynchburg, Va. |
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MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS 23-6, 15-1 CUSA |
at | LIBERTY FLAMES 21-6, 14-2 CUSA |
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| WATCH: ESPN+ | STATS: LINK | RADIO: WGNS (LINK) | ||||
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Middle Tennessee will travel to Liberty for a highly anticipated battle between the top two teams in the Conference USA standings on Thursday, Mar. 6. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. The game will air on the Blue Raider Network and broadcast on ESPN+.
With a win, the Blue Raiders would clinch their third consecutive CUSA Regular Season title and lock down the No. 1 seed in the CUSA Tournament.
» Thursday, March 6 - 6 p.m.
» Liberty Arena
» Lynchburg, Va.
» This marks the fifth meeting in series history between the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and Liberty Flames.
» The Blue Raiders owns a 4-0 lead over Liberty in the all-time series.
» MTSU defeated Liberty 69-41 in their first meeting of the season. Senior Jalynn Gregory led the Blue Raiders with 26 points on 6-of-8 shooting from beyond the arc. She also tallied four steals and three assists, while junior Ta'Mia Scott logged 23 points and eight rebounds
BLUE RAIDER NOTES
» Middle Tennessee is 168-38 in conference play since joining Conference USA in 2013-14.
» The Blue Raiders boast the unanimous No. 1 Defense in the Nation. MTSU is holding opponents to just 51.6 points per game on 32.5 percent shooting.
» This year's graduating class will go down as the winningest four-year class in program history with 108 wins and counting.
» Senior Anastasiia Boldyreva leads the league and ranks first in the Nation in blocks with 106 and blocks per game with 3.7.
» Middle Tennessee has won at least 17 games for the 23rd consecutive season. The only other NCAA DI schools with at least 17 wins in every season since 2002-03 (including this season) are Tennessee, UConn and Baylor.
» MTSU also owns CUSA's best all-time defense, holding conference opponents to just 45.4 points per game on 29.2 percent shooting. That would be the third-lowest opposing field goal percentage in conference play by any NCAA DI team over the last 20 seasons (2014-15 UConn – 26.8%, 2016-17 Bethune-Cookman 28.2%).
» Middle Tennessee has enjoyed great success on the road under Head Coach Rick Insell. The Blue Raiders are 179-92 overall on the road under Insell, for a 65 percent winning ledger. Insell's teams are 76-21 on the road in CUSA play (76 percent), and 134-32 (79 percent) in conference road games overall (Sun Belt and CUSA).
» Head Coach Rick Insell has led the Blue Raiders to 19 consecutive post-seasons. He has tallied a 486-162 record at his alma mater.
» The Middle Tennessee women's basketball program will celebrate its 50th varsity season in 2024-25 and is set to honor the program's storied tradition and rich history with various initiatives throughout the year.
SCOUTING THE FLAMES
» Liberty enters Thursday with a 21-6 overall record and is 14-2 in CUSA play. The Flanes are coming off of a pair of wins over Kennesaw State and Jax State.
» Senior Bella Smuda leads the Flames in scoring with 11.9 points per game and rebounds (6.6)
» The Flames have won six straight games overall and 11 in a row at Liberty Arena, where they are 37-3 all-time in conference games.
» Liberty is shooting 36.8 percent from beyond the arc in 2024-25 (No. 16 nationally), superior to the program single-season mark of 35.6 percent set during Carey Green's first season (1999-2000).
» Liberty's reserves rank No. 11 nationally with 28.3 bench points per game.
Saturday, Mar. 8 | 12 p.m. | Ocean Bank Convocation Center | Miami, Fla. |
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MIDDLE TENNESSEE BLUE RAIDERS 23-6, 15-1 CUSA |
at | UTEP MINERS 9-9, 2-5 CUSA |
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| WATCH: ESPN+ | STATS: LINK | RADIO: WGNS (LINK) | ||||
MIAMI – Middle Tennessee will travel to FIU for its regular-season finale on Saturday, Mar. 8 , at the Murphy Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT. The game will air on the Blue Raider Network and broadcast on ESPN+.
» Saturday, March 8 - 12 p.m.
» Ocean Bank Convocation Center
» Miami, Fla.
» This marks the 49th meeting in series history between the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders and FIU Panthers.
» The Blue Raiders owns a 38-10 lead over FIU in the all-time series.
» MTSU defeated FIU 69-38 in their first meeting of the season. Senior Jalynn Gregory led the Blue Raiders with 17 points and five rebounds, while fifth-year Elina Arike tallied 16 points, four boards, two assists and two steals and senior Anastasiia Boldyreva posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double.
SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
» FIU enters the week with a 11-16 overall record and is 7-9 in CUSA play. The Panthers take on WKU on Thursday before hosting MTSU on Saturday.
» FIU is coming off of a split, defeating Jax State and falling to Kennesaw State.
» Senior Isnelle Natabou leads the team in scoring with 14.0 points per game and rebounds (7.0).
» Natabou leads the league and ranks second in the nation, shooting a 67.7 percent clip.
