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BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee (24-4, 14-1) at UAB (15-13, 8-7), CBSSN, 12PM, Sunday, February 26, 2017

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Middle Tennessee (24-4, 14-1 C-USA) at UAB Blazers (15-13, 8-7 C-USA)

Date: Sunday, February 26

Tip-Off: 12:00 p.m. CT

TV: CBSSN - Comcast: Channel 1721, DirecTV: Channel 221, Dish: Channel 158, AT&T U-verse: Channel 1643

Radio: 1450 AM, 94.9 FM, 95.1 FM, 100.5 FM, 101.9 FM

Free Audio: Click here

Live Stats: Gametracker

Series Record: 15th meeting, UAB leads series 10-4

Last Meeting: January 1, 2017 (MT 60, UAB 49)

Rosters: MT / UAB


warren nolan live rpi: MT #32 / UAB # 178

Live-RPI.com: MT #32 / UAB #178

Sagarin: MT #60 / UAB #156

Pomeroy: MT #44 / UAB #184

KPI: MT #32 / UAB #173

ESPN BPI: MT #45 / UAB #155
 
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excerpt:

...Sunday afternoon the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders visit the UAB Blazers.

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders will be looking to build on their solid 4-game winning streak including a 97-86 win over Marshall in their last outing to remain at the top of the C-USA standings. JaCorey Williams led the team with 25 points on 9 of 17 shooting from the field and 7 of 8 from the foul line in addition to a team-high 8 rebounds. Giddy Potts came 2nd with 19 points on 6 of 11 shooting from the field with a pair of triples and a share of the team lead with 3 assists while Reggie Upshaw chipped in 12 points on 4 of 6 shooting with 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Tyrik Dixon, Brandon Walters and Xavier Habersham each added 10 points with Dixon and Walters each notching a pair of steals while Harbersham added a pair of triples for the Blue Raiders. Williams leads the team with an average of 17.5 points and 7.6 rebounds per game while Dixon is the team’s leader in the assists department with 3 assists per game this season. As a team, Middle Tennessee is scoring 74 points per game on 48.6% shooting from the field, 36.5% from behind the arc and 68.4% from the foul line this season.

The UAB Blazers will be looking to turn things around down the stretch after dropping 3 straight and 5 of their last 6 following a 76-64 loss to Western Kentucky in their last outing. William Lee led the team with 18 points on 5 of 9 shooting with 3 triples and a 5 of 6 mark from the line in addition to 4 rebounds and 3 blocks while Dirk Williams added 4 triples for 12 points, joining Lee as the only Blazers to score in double figures in the win. Chris Cokley and Deion Lavender shared the team lead with 4 assists, while Lavender also grabbed a team-high 5 rebounds in the losing effort. Lee leads UAB with an average of 13 points and 6.6 rebounds per game while Lavender leads the team in assists with 3.6 assists per game this season. As a team, UAB is scoring 72.8 points per game on 46.6% shooting from the field, 35.5% from behind the arc and 73.7% from the foul line this season.

Middle Tennessee is 16-5 ATS in their last 21 conference matchups and 19-7 ATS in their last 26 games overall while the under is 5-1 in their last 6 games following a win. UAB is 1-7 ATS in their last 8 games as an underdog and 1-5 ATS in their last 6 games overall while the under is 14-2 in their last 16 Sunday games. UAB is 7-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings between these two teams.

Even though UAB has had the bulk of the success against Middle Tennessee the last few years, I can’t back the Blazers in good faith in their current form. They’re skidding and a win over the top team in the conference would do wonders for them, but the Blue Raiders have played head and shoulders better than UAB over the last few weeks.....



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While most any rivalry game when the record books are tossed out are cause for concern, this particular game is setting up as an excellent opportunity for MT. That's as long as MT brings their top game vs UAB.

In my opinion, one of the struggles for MT this season in conf play has been getting up for games vs conf opponents that are low in the standing and where MT has been heavily favored. Of course, all these conf teams have usually come out to give MT their best shot in hopes of knocking off the best team in the conf. This seemed to be apparent at home early in games with MT taking a few mins to get good energy going. On the road especially, MT would get early strong shots from opponents. The benefit on the road, opponents' fans trash talking JaCorey Williams to get him mad. It was then "Release The Kraken" time.

Hopefully this game vs UAB will provide a few motivators to get MT going strong from early in the game. One is simply playing a rival in UAB that MT would like to repay for UAB's last season sweep of MT. Two, Williams will feed off of UAB's rowdy fans. Thirdly, the outright regular season conf championship is on the line. This is shaping up to be some factors that will hopefully result in MT coming out and playing strongly with lots of energy from the beginning.

If recent history is any indicator, Reggie Upshaw teams step up late in the season especially at tourney time. Hopefully the high energy dominant player of Upshaw starts to dominate from beginning to end of games as he has demonstrated in crunch time the last few seasons.
 
gonna hit MT -6 pretty big....please dont let me down guys
 
Earlier in the year, LA Tech fans said that UAB gets every call in their building. Starting to believe it.
 
Wow what an ending. When the ball was in the air for that last 3 by UAB my heart was in my throat. I am pulling so hard for you guys to make the NCAA tournament as long as you don't play Kentucky I will be rooting for you to win. This win was huge to keep any hopes of at large bid possible. That damn UTEP loss is like an albatross hanging over your necks.
 
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I can't believe we won. Someone needs to send a tape of that one to the CUSA office.
 
Maybe Toots will give away wings, for all the chicken wings UAB got away with.

We got lucky though. We didn't play well and still came away with a win on the road.
 
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MTTim said:
Wouldn't do any good. Judy doesn't have a clue
Click to expand...

I have to say that pretty much concur. Not just officiating but in general, the current commish just doesn't seem up to helping this conference. C-USA needs a change.
 
This game was a fine example of the other factor that makes it most difficult for a team to go through a conf with an unblemished record. Refs taking over a game early and often can make a game most difficult. Today's game was a fine example of a bunch of junk foul calls. What was it, 3 starters sitting on the bench for significant mins in the 1st half due to a bunch of fouls? Then what, in the first min of 2nd half, Williams hit with another foul for 3.

Then in the 2nd half, the foul disparity was ridiculous. The first half, it seemed to me that the refs were just making a bunch of terrible calls of MT fouls when it was hard to even tell that there was a foul. In the 2nd half, it seemed more of the fouls called on MT were more legit, but they were NOT making foul calls on UAB.
 
MT Glenn said:
Maybe Toots will give away wings, for all the chicken wings UAB got away with.

We got lucky though. We didn't play well and still came away with a win on the road.
Click to expand...

I'm a little hesitant to say MT did not play well. Maybe not the absolute best for MT, but not that bad either. I really thought the refs took over the 1st half with all the bad foul calls. It was hard for MT to sustain flow for the rest of the game due to so many key players in foul trouble. Another way this effected the 2nd half as well was the huge foul call disparity between MT and UAB. I don't think it was even close.

I also think UAB brought their A game. They have really struggled for the last couple of weeks as a team. Today, they did not look like a team that had lost 5 or 6 games in the last couple/few weeks. MT was fortunate to come out with a win today. MT somehow found a way to fight through all of the adversity on the road to get the win. Dang, it was close. Now, sigh of relief. MT outright C-USA regular season Champions!
 
Most of the fouls called on us were fouls...just saying. Historically, we have always been a team that fouls a lot. I only watched the 2nd half, so can't speak to the early part of the game. Our team typically plays much tighter D than our opponents...

The game was tight because we were not hitting enough shots...Potts didn't, Dixon didn't...in the end Upshaw and then Williams hit.

Our weakness is long scoring droughts...we saw this today, we saw it against UTEP. When we are in these droughts its important for either Potts or Dixon to get to the FT line. Think Marcos Knight like...that dude would just take it inside. I know they are both capable. We look hesitant, hoping for someone to make a 3 pointer or for Williams to make one of his 15 footers, thankfully this has worked out most of the year.
 
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a lot of no calls that favored uab. I wonder if the refs had money on this game. Some of crap by one official bordered on criminal.
 
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Anyone who thought this game wouldn't be a close one doesn't know much about our history or UAB. Both teams had a week off and playing down there in Birmingham is intense on it's own and with the championship on the line, UAB was gonna punch us in the face. It wasn't a secret. However, we survived and won the conference out right.
 
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Blueraider_Mike said:
Most of the fouls called on us were fouls...just saying. Historically, we have always been a team that fouls a lot. I only watched the 2nd half, so can't speak to the early part of the game. Our team typically plays much tighter D than our opponents...

The game was tight because we were not hitting enough shots...Potts didn't, Dixon didn't...in the end Upshaw and then Williams hit.

Our weakness is long scoring droughts...we saw this today, we saw it against UTEP. When we are in these droughts its important for either Potts or Dixon to get to the FT line. Think Marcos Knight like...that dude would just take it inside. I know they are both capable. We look hesitant, hoping for someone to make a 3 pointer or for Williams to make one of his 15 footers, thankfully this has worked out most of the year.
Click to expand...

Earlier I mentioned that generally in the 2nd half it looked like the foul calls on MT looked fairly legit. The problem in the 2nd half imo was the lack of foul calls on UAB. In the end I think it was called 19 times on MT vs 9 on UAB for the game. To me, the questionable calls on MT were in the 1st half. There seemed to be some off the ball fouls in the 1st i.e. running the baseline type picks etc that went against MT on both ends of the court if I remember properly. I do agree that MT sometimes has tendency to get some fouls as a product of the aggressive defense. Some of those critical fouls in the 1st half did not strike me as those type of fouls. In the end though, a winning team can't get down about bad ref calls. MT fought through it like a Champion would. Good on them.

Despite the foul trouble and limited mins by players such as Williams, he still had decent scoring in 24 mins. I imagine that he typically sees 30+ mins a game. Despite the size and effectiveness of UAB's frontcourt, Upshaw and Williams were still effective in scoring. Potts was clearly off in shooting. While Dixon played excellent overall, Dixon's shots didn't seem to fall. He did seem to get to the FT line a couple of times when he pushed the action down the lane.

I think some teams come into games vs MT with a defensive approach to pack it in in the lane often with 2-3 zones etc. They try to slow up the scoring of Williams and Upshaw. It dares MT to take early 3pt shots. If those 3pt shots aren't falling, the gamble pays off for the opponents. When MT makes some passes and shoots the 3 in flow, the 3s seem to fall at a much greater rate. I do also think that sometimes the other players sit back a little on offense looking for Williams and Upshaw to create on their own. Generally those two players can create and are effective. It just doesn't seem to make MT be at their best. Kermit's approach that he constantly screams does work when the players execute it. That is passing side to side to find an open lane to drive and dish to an open shooter. Whether a pass for a 3 or pass in the lane, those drive and dish passes are usually the high percentage shots.

All in all, give UAB credit for big effort Sunday afternoon in limiting MT's perimeter players. Thankfully, Dixon was able to penetrate the lane and dish to Williams for the game winning shot!
 
blueraiderJT said:
Anyone who thought this game wouldn't be a close one doesn't know much about our history or UAB. Both teams had a week off and playing down there in Birmingham is intense on it's own and with the championship on the line, UAB was gonna punch us in the face. It wasn't a secret. However, we survived and won the conference out right.
Click to expand...

As good as MT has it with Upshaw and Williams, UAB has excellent frontcourt players as well in Lee, Mehenti, and Cokley. With that UAB frontcourt, I'm surprised UAB has lost as many games as they have this season. They also seem to have a true freshman guard that is really starting to come along now. I thought I heard the announcers say that he was the highest ranked recruit to ever sign with UAB. I think they said he was the Alabama 6A POY. Wasn't Lee that was the a high quality recruit for them as well? Again, surprising they are struggling with all that talent. I know they are missing their injured PG, but darn they still have a lot of talent.
 
Don't know as much about the freshman guard but Lee was both highly recruited and highly ranked and had several "power" offers including to UA-Tuscaloosa. Wish MT could get to the point that we could occasionally beat out an in-state $EC school for a player but I'll doubt it ever happen - especially with Davis and his "try not to be something we're not" recruiting philosophy (which I'll give him credit - has been working for him over the last few years).
 
MTFNBY5 said:
Don't know as much about the freshman guard but Lee was both highly recruited and highly ranked and had several "power" offers including to UA-Tuscaloosa. Wish MT could get to the point that we could occasionally beat out an in-state $EC school for a player but I'll doubt it ever happen - especially with Davis and his "try not to be something we're not" recruiting philosophy (which I'll give him credit - has been working for him over the last few years).
Click to expand...

As much as I would like the idea of MT landing top nationally ranked recruits from recruiting battles vs Louisville, Florida, Indiana etc etc, it's really difficult to make any of those complaints when MT just won the C-USA Conference Championship outright. This was done by Kermit and team pretty much dominating the conference all season with only a limited number of off nights and one conf loss. To top it off, this isn't just 2 or 3 seasons of great success either. Although, 2 or 3 seasons would be great by most any teams' measure. For Kermit and the Blue Raiders, this success is going on, what? 5 or 6 years now? Incredibly impressive considering that previously MT was hitting right at 20 years with no postseason play. All in all with this amount of success, Kermit can continue to bring in players just how he sees fit. Kermit is getting his system and culture in place and dialed in.
 
dukewayne said:
As much as I would like the idea of MT landing top nationally ranked recruits from recruiting battles vs Louisville, Florida, Indiana etc etc, it's really difficult to make any of those complaints when MT just won the C-USA Conference Championship outright. This was done by Kermit and team pretty much dominating the conference all season with only a limited number of off nights and one conf loss. To top it off, this isn't just 2 or 3 seasons of great success either. Although, 2 or 3 seasons would be great by most any teams' measure. For Kermit and the Blue Raiders, this success is going on, what? 5 or 6 years now? Incredibly impressive considering that previously MT was hitting right at 20 years with no postseason play. All in all with this amount of success, Kermit can continue to bring in players just how he sees fit. Kermit is getting his system and culture in place and dialed in.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. He's getting players that can win in his system and I don't care where they come from.
 
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