LADY RAIDER BB #11 Middle Tennessee vs #6 Louisville, 12:30PM CT, Friday, March 22, 2024 (ESPN2)
- Thread starter SpaceRaider
- Start date
No. 6 Seed Cardinals Travel to Baton Rouge for NCAA Opener - University of Louisville Athletic
BATON ROUGE, LA. — The No. 6 seed Louisville women's basketball team is back in the NCAA Tournament as they are making its 26th all-time appearance in ...
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ABOUT THE BLUE RAIDERS
Middle Tennessee heads into the NCAA Tournament with a 29-4 overall record and were 16-0 in Conference USA play. The Blue Raiders won the Conference-USA regular season and conference tournament titles this season. It was the second-consecutive Conference-USA tournament title for the Blue Raiders. They have won 19-straight games, the sixth-longest active winning streak in the country and they have not lost a game since December 30. Middle Tennessee has a few common opponents with the Cardinals this season. They defeated DePaul, 71-69, back in November and defeated Liberty three times, twice in the regular season and again in the Conference-USA championship game. The Blue Raiders are one of the best defensive teams in the country as they rank sixth nationally in field goal percentage defense as they limit opponents to .349 percent shooting per game. The Blue Raiders are also eighth in scoring defense, limiting opponents to 54.3 points per game. Middle does not turn the ball over often, as they are seventh nationally with 11.6 turnovers per game. They do not have a deep rotation as three of their players rank in the top-11 nationally in minutes played per game. Savannah Wheeler is third with 38.06, Jalynn Gregory is ninth with 37.25 and Courtney Whitson is 11th with 37.15. The Blue Raiders have one of the best shot blockers in the country in Anastasiia Boldyreva, who is third nationally with 95 blocks and fifth nationally with 2.9 per game.
Blue Raiders Tournament History - This will be the 21st all-time appearance for Middle Tennessee and the 12th appearance under head coach Rick Insell. It is the third appearance in the last four tournaments for Middle Tennessee. They are 5-20 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and the second round is the farthest they have advanced in program history. This will be the seventh time the Blue Raiders have faced an ACC opponent in the NCAA Tournament and they are 2-4 all-time against the ACC in the NCAA Tournament.
Series History - Louisville and Middle Tennessee will meet for the ninth time in program history on Friday in a series that dates back to 1992. The two teams first met in Murfreesboro on Dec. 12, 1992, and the Cardinals came away with a 71-70 victory. Louisville leads the all-time series 6-2 and this will be the first time they met at a neutral venue. This will be the second time Louisville and Middle Tennessee have faced off in the NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals and Blue Raiders squared off in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament at the KFC Yum! Center and Louisville came away with a 74-49 win.
Last Meeting (Dec. 4, 2022) - The No. 18/15 Louisville women's basketball team dropped its second game in a row to Middle Tennessee, 67-49, Sunday evening at the Murphy Center. The Cardinals (5-4) held a three-point lead after the first quarter but shooting woes plagued them the rest of the game as they fell to the Blue Raiders (5-2). Olivia Cochran led the way for the Cardinals with a team-high 14 points and added seven rebounds. Chrislyn Carr was the third Cardinal in double figures with 10 points, the fourth time in her last four games she has scored 10 points or more.
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Some interesting tidbits about scheduling:
Insell: "It's tough for us to get games. We have to constantly stay on top of it. Right now we've got a pretty good schedule next year. Again, we're scheduled to play Louisville again next year. We're scheduled to play Tennessee again next year. And we've been contacted by Southern Cal. We're not going to back down from anybody." ... "We can't get the likes of like Vanderbilt. They're down the road 15 minutes, 20 minutes from us, they got a fan base, we got a fan base. Our NET ranking is better than theirs, but we can't get them on the schedule."
Schedule next year will include Louisville, Tennessee, and maybe USC?! Wow!
NOTEBOOK – A Familiar First Round Matchup sets the tone in Baton Rouge - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
BATON ROUGE, La. — "Blessed," "Unbelievable," the superlatives for the Big Dance never stopped during press and practice day at the Pete Maravich Athletic Center
goblueraiders.com
Middle Tennessee set for NCAA Tournament matchup with Louisville - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
Friday, March 22 | 12:30 p.m. | Pete Maravich Assembly Center | Baton Rouge, La. MIDDLE TENNESSEE LADY
goblueraiders.com
WATCH: ESPN2
STATS: LINK
RADIO: WGNS (LINK)
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Matt will be going after a great addition with only 1 available roster spot left open this fall. Would love to see him hit a home run with a seasoned portal transfer. If everything goes well with Harrison's recovery we could be loaded again next year. If USC has reached out to us that is a huge sign of respect. I would take a 2 for 1 with USC in a heartbeat. I think we should reach out to Chattanooga. Seems like they average 25 wins a year. That would be another great local home & home against a really good quality opponent.
The video below has Savannah and Courtney at the 10:30 mark or so after nothing but black screen and the coach at about the 29:45 mark. I have watched several of these today and this is the worst video from the NCAA.
Very nice interview by coach. Win or lose the thing I like about this NCAA postseason is our rhetoric seems to have changed. Less talk about going to Elite 8 or Final 4, & stuck more to business with strictly talking about the immediate team in front of them. The players like Wheeler & Whitson being interviewed seem to understand the task ahead of them, but look like they're ready to go.
It's GAMEDAY!! Can't wait... under 2 hours to go. Hope the LSU fans in attendance are loud and cheering us on.
Once again, our coaching issues rear the ugly head. We didn't score for almost 6 minutes and Insell didn't take a single timeout and again we are getting stomped because things spiraled out of control. Same story every year in that regard. Having 4 TOs at the end won't matter when you're down 40.
We are playing a well coached, talented, big girl team.
What's happened to Savanah? She looks lost.
can't blame this slow start on ice under the floor. Same old.
I think you mean 35-20, sadly.
Just totally out of whack to start the game. About as poor of a start as possible.
That does seem to be a trend, doesn't it? Teams typically shoot above their percentages against us, don't really know what is up with that...
down 38-27 at half
Team Comparison
Team Comparison
| STATISTIC | ||
|---|---|---|
| FG% | 33% | 47% |
| FGs | 10-30 | 15-32 |
| 3FG% | 25% | 42% |
| 3FGs | 3-12 | 5-12 |
| FT% | 67% | 75% |
| FTs | 4-6 | 3-4 |
| TOs | 8 | 7 |
| PtsOffTO | 2 | 9 |
| TotReb | 17 | 20 |
| DefReb | 12 | 16 |
| Off Reb | 5 | 4 |
| 2ndChPts | 7 | 4 |
| BenchPts | 0 | 13 |
| PtsPaint | 14 | 18 |
| FstBkPt | 0 | 4 |
| Blocks | 1 | 2 |
| Steals | 3 | 3 |
| Assts | 4 | 8 |
| Times Tied: | 0 | |
| Time Tied: | 0:18 | |
| Lead Chg: | 0 | |
| LeadTime | 0:00 | 19:42 |
Well, better 2nd quarter; just need to keep that momentum into the 2nd half.
| # | Player | PTS | FG | 3FG | FT | OR | DR | REB | A | PF | TO | BL | ST | MIN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2* | BOLDYREVA,A | 4 | 2-4 | 0-1 | 0-0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 16 |
| 4* | WHEELER,S | 2 | 1-7 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 20 |
| 10* | GREGORY,J | 14 | 4-7 | 3-6 | 3-3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 20 |
| 15* | SCOTT,T | 4 | 2-8 | 0-2 | 0-0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 18 |
| 33* | WHITSON,C | 3 | 1-4 | 0-1 | 1-1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 |
| TOTALS | 27 | 10-30 | 3-12 | 4-6 | 5 | 12 | 17 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 3 |
WE ARE COMING BACK!! Great focus now after another slow start. Only down 5!!!
