LADY RAIDER BB MIDDLE TENNESSEE (3-1) vs TENNESSEE TECH (4-0) Tuesday Nov. 19 6:30 pm Murphy Center, ESPN+

[MTFAN61]

Old rival Tennessee Tech brings an unblemished 4-0 record into the Murphy Center Tuesday night. Tech's most impressive victory thus far has been a 48-46 road victory at Chattanooga. The Golden Eagles have a combination of youth & experience this year. Their team sports 5 freshmen & 6 upperclassmen.
While not the equivalent length of Middle Tennessee the Lady Techster's roster includes 5 players between 6' 0" & 6' 2" in overall height.
Looking at Tech's schedule MT will represent the Golden Eagles most difficult game thus far. They do have an upcoming road contest with Colorado which will be their loan Power 4 opponent.

 

[SpaceRaider]

11/19/2024 | 6:30 p.m.
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[MTOleBlue]

Should be a fun one. I expect a big win but you never know with old school rivals.

 

[MTFAN61]

Tech is definitely a step up fron Alcorn, but not the quality of GCU either. Thinking a 15-20 point margin at home.
Prediction,
Middle Tennessee: 72
Tennessee Tech: 53

 

[SpaceRaider]

Golden Eagle women travel to Middle Tennessee Tuesday

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women’s basketball team has a chance to open the season with a 5-0 start for the first time since 1992-93 and the fourth time in program history. However, it won’t be easy though as the Golden Eagles (4-0) head to Murfreesboro to take Middle Tennessee...

www.ttusports.com

 

[jakeboldenbrp]

Watched back their 48-46 road win at Chattanooga on 11/7. A lot of good defense played. 50 total turnovers between the two teams (29 for TTU, 21 for Chatt). Some were from poor passing, but I would give both teams' man defense credit. Chattanooga was at their best when they pressed TTU with a 1-2-1. When Chatt sped up TTU's guards they made some poor passing decisions. When TTU got into their half court offense they ran a lot of 4 out and tried to find their star post Anna Walker (#4, 6'0"). They ran a few sets to get their 3 point shooters open, but those were few and far between (2/10 from 3).

Tennessee Tech has allowed 55 ppg in their 4-0 start, thats 1st in the OVC and top 50 in the country. Granted their D1 opponents have a combined 4-8 record, but the 34% Opp FG is also top 50. They play a good man defense and will force you to shoot contested shots. I believe they will overhelp on Boldyreva because they lack size (their tallest player listed at 6'2"). That means we're always a swing pass away from an open 3. If Anastasiia doesn't have a big game, I'm counting on Gregory to repeat her hot shooting from Sunday.

Offensively, Anna Walker was the star of their Chattanooga game (14 points, 13 rebounds) and is their second leading scorer at 11.3 ppg. She's not scared to shoot from 3, but does most of her damage in the post. Last year against MT she was forced to shoot more from range because of our length down low (2/9 from 3). The Lady Golden Eagles return Reghan Grimes (#33, 5'10" G) from local Ravenwood HS. The Junior is TTUs leading scorer with 12.8 ppg and scored 20 points against North Alabama last week where she shot 4/5 from deep, despite being a below average 3-point shooter (career 23% 3FG). Eastern Illinois Senior transfer Taris Thornton (#25, 6'0" F) has come off the bench in all 4 contest but has been an efficient scorer averaging 11.8 ppg in 23.8 minutes on 55% FG shooting. Her biggest weakness is the free throw line (11/20 on the season).

Similar to Alcorn State in that they have their go-to players but they have 5 players averaging double-digits so they have balance if someone is off. The recipe for running away with this one will be to dominate the paint like you did last year (26-20 points in the paint, 38-33 rebounding). Force TTU to hit the three. They shot 4/24 from deep in their contest last year and they are currently shooting 30% from 3 as a team this year. Same goes for the Lady Raiders, they will leave the weakside shooter open tonight to deal with Boldyreva. Knock down the open shots and get some confidence in our shooters ahead of the big Florida swing next week!

 

[MTOleBlue]

Great summary, thanks for posting!

 

[blueboro007]

31-25 LR at half. Again, sloppy and shooting is suspect. Seem to miss Savannah Wheeler as we appear to be out of sync in several of our games

 

[blueboro007]

50-39 after 3. TTU well coached but this should not be that close IMO

 

[blueboro007]

AB not having a good game. These smaller girls have her flummoxed

 

[blueboro007]

Final 69-52

 

[Hop45]

Tech has a good team. Point guard play was good and one was a freshman. Their bigs could also shoot outside. Made us work for everything.

 

[MTFAN61]

Would not be surprised to see Tech competing for conference crown. We had another excellent defensive performance, & Scott coming to play saved us tonight. Tech made our bigs look sloppy & out of sync. They had super quick hands, & were smartly double teaming whenever we tried to go down low. Didn't feel like Gregory had a 20 point night, but her free throw shooting was deadly perfect. Take 10 for 10 every night. Boldyreva & Arike shot from 3 way too much, & were missing badly. Could tell frustration sat in with both due to a number of missed layups, but Arike had 9 rebounds & Boldyreva 6 big blocks. So despite both of them getting frustrated they fought all night.
This was a good win, & another good opponent who showed us something different. Gave us more things to prepare for going forward with tournament around the corner.

 

[MTFAN61]

Just reviewed the MT players minutes usage for the Tech game. Blue Raider notes showed Boldyreva, Scott, & Gregory all with 40 minute games. Blakely tallied 39 minutes. For bench substitutions Harrison got 1 minute, & Grannum 2 Minutes. And that's it. Bench points were 8 for Tech, & 0 for MT.
I know we've discussed it over & over, but it's hard for me to imagine a team going very far nationally when the head coach apparently only has 4-5 players out of a roster of 15 he thinks are worthy of being on the court.
Tech is not a top 40 team, but looking at our lack of rotation tonight you would have thought TTU was in the top 10.
In CUSA this pattern of using an extremely limited bench will work fine, & we'll probably win 25 or more games again this year, but once again I can't see this philosophy of play allowing us to go very far when it's national tournament time. Wish CMI could have a little more influence, but until coach retires this is our circumstance. Would love to see what Matt & company could do with what looks like a great roster next year. However if coach comes back I think we can all anticipate more of the same. Pick out 5 that he likes, & let the rest ride the bench for the most part all year. And if that happens it will be a shame.

 

[blue rai]

Just reviewed the MT players minutes usage for the Tech game. Blue Raider notes showed Boldyreva, Scott, & Gregory all with 40 minute games. Blakely tallied 39 minutes. For bench substitutions Harrison got 1 minute, & Grannum 2 Minutes. And that's it. Bench points were 8 for Tech, & 0 for MT.
I know we've discussed it over & over, but it's hard for me to imagine a team going very far nationally when the head coach apparently only has 4-5 players out of a roster of 15 he thinks are worthy of being on the court.
Tech is not a top 40 team, but looking at our lack of rotation tonight you would have thought TTU was in the top 10.
In CUSA this pattern of using an extremely limited bench will work fine, & we'll probably win 25 or more games again this year, but once again I can't see this philosophy of play allowing us to go very far when it's national tournament time. Wish CMI could have a little more influence, but until coach retires this is our circumstance. Would love to see what Matt & company could do with what looks like a great roster next year. However if coach comes back I think we can all anticipate more of the same. Pick out 5 that he likes, & let the rest ride the bench for the most part all year. And if that happens it will be a shame.

Can’t really disagree with anything you say. Guess we will have to be content with a HOF coach who wins 25 games a year and conference championships. Wish we had this problem with some others sports!

 

[jakeboldenbrp]

When Arike transferred in, we were under the impression she would be playing limited minutes (25 minutes/game) with her history of concussions. So far she’s broken her career-high in minutes (38 vs. Grand Canyon) and is averaging over 31 minutes/game. She mentioned in last night’s presser that it is wearing on her body but admits she could be better about managing that fatigue. I can’t help but tie that to her shooting at the moment. Otherwise, this team desperately needs scoring from the 4. TTU was willing to let Arike shoot from deep and added an extra defender in the paint. I loved Monson in her limited minutes. TTU had a good scout and guarded Monson all the way out to the 3 point line and it’s not figure Boldyreva got 2 easy layups in that short amount of time. However, the philosophy of this team is defense first and Arike is great on that end.

 

[Hop45]

Just reviewed the MT players minutes usage for the Tech game. Blue Raider notes showed Boldyreva, Scott, & Gregory all with 40 minute games. Blakely tallied 39 minutes. For bench substitutions Harrison got 1 minute, & Grannum 2 Minutes. And that's it. Bench points were 8 for Tech, & 0 for MT.
I know we've discussed it over & over, but it's hard for me to imagine a team going very far nationally when the head coach apparently only has 4-5 players out of a roster of 15 he thinks are worthy of being on the court.
Tech is not a top 40 team, but looking at our lack of rotation tonight you would have thought TTU was in the top 10.
In CUSA this pattern of using an extremely limited bench will work fine, & we'll probably win 25 or more games again this year, but once again I can't see this philosophy of play allowing us to go very far when it's national tournament time. Wish CMI could have a little more influence, but until coach retires this is our circumstance. Would love to see what Matt & company could do with what looks like a great roster next year. However if coach comes back I think we can all anticipate more of the same. Pick out 5 that he likes, & let the rest ride the bench for the most part all year. And if that happens it will be a shame.

Monson got in for a few minutes in the first half, too, but no one else played.

 

[MTFAN61]

Arike's presser info on conditioning is very apt. I believe it applies to not only her, but for some of our other starters as well. First thing to go for a tired shooter is their legs. Arike's 1st three early in the game was all net. After that it was brick after brick. Boldyreva's shooting from deep is also down from last year. Another sign of conditioning issues it seems we're having more missed layups than normal. All those things are pointing towards player fatigue becoming a factor. That being said I believe scheduling A&M just prior to the holiday tournament was a mistake. That gives us 3 games in 6 days. Victories against Florida A&M & Purdue are definitely for the taking. However the Iowa St game is very concerning when your starters are playing 40 minutes. With our limited bench play it's easy to foresee that our starters legs will be totally gone by the 3rd period of play against the Cyclones.