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BASKETBALL Middle Tennessee (8-19, 5-9) vs. Charlotte (6-19, 3-11) 5PM, Saturday, February 23, 2019

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...The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders host the Charlotte 49ers in Saturday college basketball.

The Charlotte 49ers were denied a second straight win in a 73-60 loss at Old Dominion as a 13 point underdog a week ago. Charlotte is at the bottom of the CUSA standings with a competitive defense unable to carry an offense that struggles to score. Milos Supica was the 49ers top weapon with 16 points followed by Jon Davis who contributed 13 points, two yanks and four helpers. Malik Martin gave Charlotte 12 points and five rebounds while Cooper Robb and Dravon Mangum with nine and six points and a combined nine boards.

The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders have dropped consecutive contests after a 98-93 loss at Marshall as a 7.5 point underdog.

Middle Tennessee has not been the conference power we have been accustomed to seeing with the team getting outscored 74-67. Antonio Green topped MT with 31 points and four pulls with Reggie Scurry adding another 24 points and nine boards. Donovan Sims gave the Blue Raiders 12 points and six boards followed by Karl Gamble who tossed in eleven points and hauled in 13 rebounds.

Charlotte 49ers are 19-39 ATS in their last 58 road games and Charlotte 49ers are 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall and Charlotte 49ers are 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 vs. Conference USA.

The Blue Raiders are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 games overall and they are 6-0 ATS in their last 6 vs. Conference USA. Charlotte 49ers are 2-5-1 ATS in the last 8 meetings and Charlotte 49ers are 0-4-1 ATS in the last 5 meetings in Middle Tennessee. Despite the struggles of the 49ers they can’t be overlooked.....
 
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Strong effort. I believe we are locked into going to the conference tourney now. If we could win out, we could go up a pod I think.
 
Strong effort. I believe we are locked into going to the conference tourney now. If we could win out, we could go up a pod I think.

We haven’t clinched our spot yet. UTEP is 2 games behind us and would own head to head tiebreaker if they swept our upcoming two games. Best we can do is the 11 seed. Pods were set after the first 14 games.
 
UTEP just lost to Rice. It went to 2 overtimes but Rice came back. If we beat Rice next week, we are in no matter what UTEP does. Again, if we win out, none of this matters. :)
 
UTEP blows 17 point halftime lead and loses to Rice in 2OT. Blue Raiders are now just one win or one UTEP loss away from clinching a spot in Frisco. I think Charlotte can actually still qualify for Frisco by winning its last three games combined with us winning at Rice.
 
I really enjoyed watching last night...I think we are at our best when Green is more selective as he was last night. Sims is a creator. And even Junior hit a few outside shots.

Really hope we finish the season strong.
 
No doubt Green can score with a crazy fast release. In my opinion, he really needs to grow and develop his game to be a more complete player. I think Sims is already a more complete player than Green at this point. If Green can practice some discipline and slow down just a little to take care of the ball, choose better shot selection, and make good passes for assists, he would be flat out dominant each game. Plus, he would make the team better. To use coachspeak, he needs to play within himself, and let the game come to him.
 
17 assists on 33 made baskets.. single digit turnovers.. all good things! Took care of business at home..

Granted it was against a team of questionable quality, but it was really good to see the team take care of the things they were supposed to. Despite MT being in the bottom pod, MT looks like a quality competitor in the 2nd pod type team. Games such as this are good experience for the team to continue to develop chemistry and grow overall in the system they are trying to run. Seeing that Asst to TO ratio finally look good at the end of the game was a key development in my opinion.

Obviously, the roster has the team at somewhat of a disadvantage, but they really appear to be growing and making progress overall as a team. They play hard, don't quit, rebound, and seem to continue to improve. I didn't think they would be showing this type of growth until next year. For what it's worth, I think CNM and the team are ahead of schedule....at least from an expectations perspective. With a more full roster next year, the Blue Raiders just might be a pretty good team that is continuing to grow.
 
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