MidTennMtneer said:

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Watched but never saw this.

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Rewatched their 107-74 win in opener against Howard Payne (D3). The most impressive stats is ACU scored 107, shot just 3/13 from deep, and gave up 33 turnovers. It was ugly basketball.

Those numbers are telling of the style ACU plays with. It was a blur constantly running the floor, overly aggressive passing to move the ball up the floor quickly. The 3/4 trap created some problems for ACU early, they eventually settled in but I cant emphasis enough about slowing their transition offense will be key in winning on the road.

ACU is smaller than MTSU which should give them the edge down low guarding Leonardo Bettiol (#3, 6’8”). He scored 22 points (9/11 shooting) with 8 rebounds. At the guards they have Oklahoma State transfer Quion Williams (#5, 6’5”) scored another 20 points (9/11 shooting) and their 3rd best scorer from ‘23-‘24, Hunter Jack Madden (#21, 6’2”) averaged over 11 ppg. They both will be tasked with taking better care of the ball today as they combined for 7 assists and 11 turnovers in the opener.

After both openers against D3 opponents it’s always tough to see how the game will transfer against better competition. I think the game plan has to be: win the turnover and rebounding battles, and force ACU to run a half court offense. I personally think the -3.5 spread for ACU is wild, but Vegas has seen the road struggles for MTSU. In a vacuum, MT was far more impressive through one game.

Good win and that will boost our NET ranking when it’s all said and done. GCU looks like a clear favorite in the WAC, so another tournament team on the resume.

Did a great job keeping their best player off the floor with 2 points and fouling out in just 15 minutes. Scott and Gregory drew 8 fouls apiece! Will need to replicate that effort on Tuesday.

As many have said GCU is a diet version of what UT runs on defense. They both thrive on chaos. Forced us into 18 turnovers, held us to 1-10 from deep, and out rebounded us 39-32. Really was a recipe to lose but we played better defense.

As Gregory said in her post game, “the shots will fall!” Just give her time to find her groove like she did last November.

We beat a solid team tonight, maybe top 50? Great crowd for a Nov. Friday night. If we were playing UT here next week I think it might sell out, lot of excitement in this town for the Lady Raiders!

Is black a new official color and no one told us? It’s now being worn every game it seems.

MTFAN61 said:

This was a perfect game to prep us for a fight against Tennessee.

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100%, this was a really good game to have before UT as they're going to put even more pressure when we have the ball.

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BTW was at the game. Being on the same night as opening round of high school football playoffs was expecting similar crowd to our exhibition games. Practically every team in Rutherford County were in playoffs tonight. Was surprised to see our crowd seemed almost double to our exhibitions. Flipped over on ESPN+ for some replay when getting home. Video didn't really give justice as home side view was mostly blocked, but D, E, & F had a sizeable attendance tonight.

This was a perfect game to prep us for a fight against Tennessee. GCU came out ready to fight, & are a very tough team. Wouldn't be surprised they knock off Oregon & Arizona St both this year. We weren't exactly ready for such a hard fight that first period. However by the end of 2nd quarter we were not only matching their intensity we were beating it. And by midway through the 3rd they were wearing down.
I hope Jada or Savannah can spell Courtney a few minutes next Tuesday. She was exhausted.
Concerning Tennessee, they have played 3 easy opponents to build their team's confidence & garner attention for a few blowouts. We may not win Tuesday, but Tennessee has yet to play such an aggressive defense as what MT has to offer. I'm somewhat disappointed in Gregory's & Arike's offense thus far, but you can't spite their defensive tenacity. Very impressive. Hopefully our offense will have a little more cohesion for our next game.
But for so early in the season our defense kicks butt!

That was like being in the middle of March Madness already. That was the most defense by two teams just about ever. We always have good defense, but theirs is just a small below ours. Their perimeter defense is for real. TaMia turned it on in the second half. I loved it. GCU kept trying to attack Elina and Anastasia unsuccessfully. This is already the best defensive team Insell has had at MTSU. Defense will get you a lot of wins on the road.

Good win. Showed a lot of strength in this one against a very good mid major program. Hope we’re ready for UT!

Got to re-watch their 93-52 win over Bakersfield on Monday. I chalk most of the scoring margin to Bakersfield being a bad team, and a first year head coach. Nothing CSUB did impressed me and GCU capitalized.

GCU played man defense and will press the point guard all the time. They want to double team immediately crossing the half-court line if they can push us to the sideline. This created a lot of rushed passes, and made Bakersfield's offense very uncomfortable. However, the downside to the half-court trap is you're constantly watching the ball. Off ball screens/movement, back door cuts, etc. will be open. Dribble penetration will collapse their defense and leave one (if not more) wide open on the perimeter -- Bakersfield could not buy a 3 (0/17) and they had many open looks.

GCU is relatively small compared to MTSU. Graduate post Laura Erikstrup (#20) is 6'2" and works in the low block. Her twin, Sydney Erikstrup (#11) is 6'1", similar style, but can step out and shoot a 3 (40% on 70 attempts LY). This team in general isn't known for their 3 point threat, but Oklahoma State transfer, Senior PG Ale'jah Douglas (#3, 5'6") had herself an opener (11 points, 3/4 from 3). The rest of their offense works from the perimeter and tries to dribble penetrate with 4 out. Trinity San Antonio (#23, 5'10") is their biggest threat (WAC Preseason POY) after leading her team with 11.5 ppg in '23-'24, she gets down hill and to the rim well. She has good vision because she draws a lot of attention and averaged 3.5 apg with a 1.25 A/TO. Graduate SF Tiarra Brown (#24) plays bigger than her 5'9" frame would appear and can score inside the paint. This team's offense thrives on transition buckets created by their defense. Limiting the turnovers in the backcourt will force this team to run a half court offense which I wasn't particularly impressed by versus Bakersfield.

GCU obviously has a recipe for beating MTSU as they did last year. We struggled with 36% FG. Wheeler and Gregory shot a combined 4/17 from deep. Despite winning the rebounding battle 41-27, giving GCU 20 points off 16 turnovers is the biggest reason we lost last December. I think if they can win the turnover battle this year, MTSU will be fine. I also expect a guard to have herself a game from deep. This may be Jalynn's breakout game or even Davis if she gets more minutes. I also expect the Boldyreva/Arike combo to combine for over 25 pts and 25 reb.

Tonight #8 Iowa State led Indiana St at the half only 35-28. The Cyclone's went on to win a sluggish game 64-42.
As a reference Indiana State's 1st game was a couple nights ago. They played Western Kentucky at home, & lost 71-59.

#22 Kentucky played Northern Kentucky tonight at home and won by 29. By comparison, we played NKU on the road and won by 21. I'd say that's pretty darn good.