BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee (2-4, 0-0) vs FIU (7-3, 1-1), Friday (6pm)/Saturday (4pm), January 8/9, 2021

[SpaceRaider]

Date: January 8, 2021 Time: 6:00 PM CT
Location: Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Arena: Murphy Center
Series Record: MT leads 30-10
TV: ESPN+ Talent: Jake Rose (PxP), Daron Park (Analyst)
Radio: Blue Raider Network (Game2/WGNS/TuneIn) Talent: Chip Walters (PxP), Kyle Turnham (Analyst)
Twitter: @MT_MBB, #BlueRaiders

FIU Panthers (7-3, 1-1)
Head Coach: Jeremy Ballard Record at FIU: 46-30 (3rd Season) Overall Record: 46-30 (3rd Season)

Blue Raiders set for C-USA opener against FIU - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — More than three weeks after Middle Tennessee's last game, the Blue Raiders will be back on the court to open Conference USA play against FIU on Friday and Saturday.

goblueraiders.com

 

[SpaceRaider]

"Reminder: Fans are not permitted to attend this weekend's games."

 

[SpaceRaider]

Middle Tennessee vs FIU College Basketball Picks, Odds, Predictions 1/8/21

FIU Panthers at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders 1/8/21: College Basketball free preview, analysis, prediction, odds and pick against the spread.

sportschatplace.com

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[MTsumner92]

Espn+ yeah!

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

halftime

FIU 32
MT 23

 

[SpaceRaider]

14:25

MT leads 39-38

 

[MT01]

New day. Same bull fighting defense. Olé !!

All FIU has done the entire second half is shoot layup after layup. Just not any fun to watch this program anymore.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[FranklinRaider315]

I was gonna try to get home in time to watch the 2nd half. Apparently I didn’t miss much.

 

[MT01]

I was gonna try to get home in time to watch the 2nd half. Apparently I didn’t miss much.

Nope. FIU shot 70% in the second half on two point shots? Wanna know why? I already gave it away. It’s not because they were on fire. They literally just drove to the basket for an uncontested layup over and over again.I didn’t count them per se but of the 16 second half baskets they made I bet 13 or 14 of them were bunnies.

Waiting for the apologists to come in and say we were short handed and hadn’t played in blah blah days. Quality defense can overcome these types of situations. That’s just not something that’s prioritized here with this staff.

 

[Blue_H]

I quit watching last year when, not because I knew we were going to lose, but I knew HOW we were going to lose. The losses all mirror each other. Same thing this year.

 

[blueraiderJT]

It's just straight up bad coaching. I'm over it completely. No justification for this sh!t show.

 

[FranklinRaider315]

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — An undermanned Middle Tennessee squad put up an inspiring fight against FIU Friday but ran out of gas late, falling 68-55 at home.

It was the Blue Raiders' Conference USA opener after their last four games — two against Bellarmine to end the nonconference and two with league foe Florida Atlantic — were canceled or postponed due to COVID-19.

The Raiders (2-5, 0-1) hadn't played since a Dec. 16 home loss to Ole Miss, a span of 23 days, and they were down to only nine players with a handful out due the virus and contact tracing. Some unavoidable rust early and fatigue down the stretch were evident, as the Panthers (8-3, 2-1) turned a tie with 8:27 left into a 13-point victory.

"I was really proud of our team's effort, not only tonight, but their attitude and how they've handled the last couple of weeks," MT head coach Nick McDevitt said. "Not once were our players complaining. They showed up every day working hard.

 

[MTFNBY5]

We had three players out yesterday and apparently haven't had but 4 (?) practices where we could have 5 on 5 work over the last three weeks. Brings up several questions none of which will explain why their players went through our defense like a knife through warm butter and had layup after layup.

Why don't we have a couple of walkons available for practice (Coffee just transferred at sem. break and IIRC he was the only walkon) and why don't we have managers at least capable of filling in?

Why weren't players working out on their own and not so obviously out of shape (no lateral quickness)?

Most importantly: I keep up fairly closely with several college basketball programs. None of the teams I keep up with have had the problems with Covid that our staff and media keeps telling fans about as a reason (excuse) for poor play (sarcasm intended). What are we doing causing this problem? Our FB team with 85 +/- players wasn't hit as hard as our BkB team with a full roster of only 13 scholarship players.

If during our previous two years with limited player numbers we had had similar problems we would have had to cancel the season by now.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

first half

11:21

MT leads 22-7

 

[SpaceRaider]

31-9

9:24

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[kingaling42]

Wire to wire win and a nice response from this group.. much more aggressive offensively, contained the perimeter drives on defense, and went to the line twice as much as they did in yesterday’s game.. outside shooting is still below average.

 

[MTsumner92]

So. We got lucky yesterday?

 

[kingaling42]

So. We got lucky yesterday?

Yes- all the haters stayed off this board.. someone should check to make sure they’re ok! 🤣

 

[FranklinRaider315]

Yes- all the haters stayed off this board.. someone should check to make sure they’re ok! 🤣

All good. I was busy watching Belmont/UTM.

 

[MT01]

I saw enough Friday night. Didn’t even bother watching this one. So no clue what happened but looks like FIU just had a really bad shooting night. Maybe McDevitt at least figured out how to stop the other team from having unfettered layups all night. This is probably one of three conference wins we’ll have this year.

 

[MT01]

And by haters the guy above means people who despise the 20% win pct the current head coach has. If you don’t hate that then either a) something is wrong with you or b) there’s an agenda. Hmm

 

[altshauf]

This board is so divided over basketball (I think, in large part having terrible football for so long) it reminds me of the current political climate. In the US.

MT more locked in yesterday. I know people get sick of bad defense. I said it a while back. This team is MUCH better than last year on both ends. They were dialed in defensively pretty well. Help rotation was there, but the big thing was MT sagging on the perimeter. Made it tougher for the Ole’ stuff we saw friday.

I’m telling you from personal experience. It is dang near impossible to have effective practices with less than 8 guys. That is absolutely fair. We are missing Shuler more than anyone

this season was always going to be an adventure.

 

[blueraiderJT]

FIU has a good record and we finally played like we should to win. There is an advantage to the back to back schedule. Very hard to win or lose against the same team twice. It is good we responded but let's see how we respond to USM before we start thinking we are turning some sort of corner.