MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — While both men's and women's basketball fell short of CUSA Tournament titles this weekend in Huntsville, Ala., their body of work over the course of the whole season has allowed BOTH programs to continue play, starting on Tuesday night in the Glass House, where Men's Basketball will host Chattanooga in the first round of the NIT at 7 p.m.
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MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — While both men's and women's basketball fell short of CUSA Tournament titles this weekend in Huntsville, Ala., their body of work over the course of the whole season has allowed BOTH programs to continue play, starting on Tuesday night in the Glass House, where Men's Basketball will host Chattanooga in the first round of the NIT at 7 p.m.
This is the fifth time Middle Tennessee will play in the NIT in program history. The Mocs, the regular season champions of the SoCon, will provide tough competition for the seeded Blue Raiders in the opening game and we need every Blue Raider possible in the Murphy Center to cheer on the home team!
All ticket prices are set by the NIT. Tickets for Tuesday's game are $25 for ages 18+, and all seats are general admission. Fans can purchase tickets immediately online by clicking HERE.
Youth tickets for ages 2-17 will be available for $15 the night of the event at the Murphy Center box office starting 2 hours prior to tip-off.
Women's Basketball heads to Music City for the WBIT First Round against Belmont
Women's Basketball also gets to keep playing in the mid-state, earning a bid to the WBIT, the premier secondary tournament in NCAA Division I Women's Basketball. They'll travel to Belmont on Thursday night for a 6:30 p.m. tip in the Music City.
The Blue Raiders likely deserved a much better draw than the Bruins, comparing favorably to several teams that were seeds in the field, as the data of various ranking systems shows. This writer can't help but feel MTSU's inability to host the game on Thursday (thanks to the TSSAA Tournament) might've affected the seeding process, but I wasn't in the room with the committee! I'm sure there will be plenty of time this offseason to sort out the process.
Nevertheless, MTSU will need to bring their A-Game against Belmont, who defeated MTSU in Nashville earlier this season, 65-52. Tickets went on sale earlier Monday at this link: https://belmont.evenue.net/events/WBIT
Softball defeats ranked Mississippi State, caps big week by picking up series win over Sam Houston
It was a banner week for Middle Tennessee softball, who knocked off No. 19 Mississippi State in the midweek clash before taking the first two games of their weekend series against Sam Houston to get some momentum in the CUSA Race during Spring Break. The second win of the weekend against the Bearkats was done in dramatic fashion as Ava Tepe hit a come-from-behind, walk-off, three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh to win the game.
Leila Ammon was named Conference USA Freshman of the Week this week after dominating in the circle for the Blue Raiders. The Gulf Breeze, Fla. native held the No. 19 Mississippi State offense in check in MTSU's dramatic, upset win over the Bulldogs. Ammon threw a complete game, giving up just two runs and struck out three Bulldogs en route to the Blue Raider win.
In the Conference USA series vs. Sam Houston, Ammon threw 8.1 innings across two appearances while surrendering zero earned runs. In her first appearance, the freshman tossed a complete game with no earned runs in a win over the Bearkats, while striking out six. In her third and final appearance of the week, Ammon threw 1.1 scoreless innings in a relief role.
Baseball keeps it rolling ahead of CUSA play, taking the weekend series from UAB
Baseball also had a successful week at Reese Smith Jr. Field, taking two of three from UAB, including coming back from seven runs down on Friday night in the team's final tune-up ahead of the start of CUSA play this weekend at Dallas Baptist.
Chandler Alderman became the third Blue Raider to earn Pitcher of the Week honors from the Conference USA office this season, joining his weekend rotation mate Trace Phillips and Drew Horn in that category. Alderman tossed a seven inning, complete game against the UAB Blazers on Sunday. He tossed 111 pitches, striking out four and forced two double plays, one of which ended the game. Alderman brought his season ERA down to 1.97 and earned his second win of the season.
Outdoor Track and Field starts this week!
The Track and Field program make their transition from indoor to outdoor season this week, heading to Atlanta for the Yellow Jacket Invitational this weekend. Check out the full outdoor schedule below and check out the video recap of the CUSA Indoor Championships, released early last week, if you haven't already!
Chip Walters sits down with Derek Mason ahead of spring practice
Voice of the Blue Raiders Chip Walters sat down with MTSU Football Head Coach Derek Mason to discuss what his experience was in year one, recapping the 2025 signing class, previewing the upcoming spring showcase, and more. To listen to an audio-only version of the podcast, check out GoBlueRaiders.com Podcasts on Spotify.
