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...We have some C-USA tournament quarterfinals action on Thursday afternoon, as the top-seeded Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders take on the #9 seed UTSA Roadrunners.
The UTSA Roadrunners come into this one fresh off of their 56-52 win over Western Kentucky in the opening round of the Conference USA tournament. Jeff Beverly led the team with 14 points on 6 of 13 shooting with 4 rebounds. Byron Frohnen came 2nd with 11 points on 5 of 10 shooting from the floor, with 13 rebounds, 7 of which came on the offensive end, as a team-high 4 assists with a pair of steals and a block. Lucas O’Brien added 10 points on 4 of 10 shooting with a pair of triples and 6 rebounds, while Giovanni De Nicolao added 5 points and a pair of steals. Beverly leads the team with an average of 16 points per game while Frohnen led the team on the glass with 6.8 rebounds per game and De Nicolao led the team in assists with 3.2 assists per game this season. As a team, UTSA is scoring 65.9 points per game on 39.3% shooting from the field, 27.9% from behind the arc and 66.4% from the foul line this season.
The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders were the class of Conference USA this season, winning 17 of their 18 conference matchups to finish at the top of the standings for the #1 seed in the conference tournament. The Blue Raiders finished the season on a 7-game winning streak, ending the year with a 93-59 dismantling of Florida Atlantic in their season finale. Giddy Potts poured in a game-high 30 points on 12 of 18 shooting with 3 triples, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. JaCorey Williams came 2nd with 17 points on 5 of 9 shooting from the floor with a 7 of 8 mark from the foul line with 7 boards and a pair of steals. Reggie Upshaw came 3rd with 11 points and 10 rebounds for the double-double, while Tyrik Dixon added 10 points and 3 assists in the winning effort. Williams leads the team with an average of 17.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game while Dixon leads the team in assists with 3.1 helpers per game this season. As a team, Middle Tennessee State is scoring 74.2 points per game on 48.7% shooting from the field, 36.4% from behind the arc and 69.7% from the foul line this season.
UTSA is 5-0 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a winning record and 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 conference matchups while the over is 6-1-1 in their last 8 games overall. Middle Tennessee is 20-8 ATS in their last 28 games overall and 15-6 ATS in their last 21 conference matchups while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 neutral site games. The game has finished under the total in each of the last 4 meetings between these two teams.
This is a lot of points to lay, but Middle Tennessee is well rested, while UTSA had to grind one out late against Western Kentucky on Wednesday afternoon.....
