LADY RAIDER BB Middle Tennessee (9-3) vs Northern Kentucky (2-6) Wed. 12-20 6:30pm Murphy Center, ESPN+

[MTFAN61]

Chance for a good tune up before the holiday & a tough opponent on the road at GCU 12-30.
To get an idea about NKU they will be playing a common opponent tonight when they take on Tennessee Tech in Cookeville before coming to Murfreesboro Wednesday. Tonight's game will be on ESPN+ for those interested.

 

[MTOleBlue]

I'm sure the coaching staff will be watching that TTU-NKU game intently tonight. They have a poor record but have played a respectable schedule with wins over Marshall and Kentucky State, losses to Indiana State, EKU, Pittsburgh, UTC, Cleveland State, and Illinois. That's the 88th ranked SOS in the country.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Final: Tennessee Tech 77, Northern Kentucky 59. Some good lessons to be learned from that game film, I'm sure!

 

[MTFAN61]

Similar victory for Tech to MT's last win over SFA. Tech won it by halftime with 18 point lead & cruised to victory in 2nd half.
Thing I noticed Tech played hard, but missed a lot of easy lay ups in 1st half. They basically just out worked & out hustled NKU.
I could see us getting a comfortable lead, & Rick getting frustrated about focus issues. Hopefully a good chance for more quality minutes for Sifa, Iullia, & Dodgen

 

[SpaceRaider]

Lady Raiders set to host Norse - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Middle Tennessee is set to host the Northern Kentucky Norse on Wednesday evening, its final home game before the new year. Tipoff is scheduled

goblueraiders.com

 

[SpaceRaider]

12/20/2023 | 6:30 p.m.


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[MTOleBlue]

Hoping tonight is a good opportunity to see our bench play lots of minutes. NKU is not very good, though they did just get two of their better players back in the lineup (injuries, etc.)

 

[blueboro007]

LR up 42-23 at half. Got down 9-2 to start but outscored them 40-14 after that. Pretty good crowd.

 

[MTFAN61]

Great boost from IulliaI to get things going. Was going to message "once again Wheeler struggling from the outside" & then she starts scorching the nets. Once she gets that one shot down she's good to go.

 

[blueboro007]

Man, Courtney can’t hit a donkeys butt with a banjo tonight

 

[blueboro007]

61-35 after 3 qtr

 

[blueboro007]

Up 76-40 under 4:00. Clear the bench please.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Wheeler was... quite good... tonight. 34 points! Iullia was fantastic too. Loved to see this type of performance.

 

[blueboro007]

And CRI actually emptied the bench in the last 2 minutes

 

[MTFAN61]

Nice crowd from locals tonight despite the holiday break. If just a few hundred students out of an enrollment of 20,000 would come out for a game we could have some impressive crowds. Anyway 3,500 or so die hards is still pretty good.

 

[MidTennFootball]

Truth is, he should have started using the bench at the start of the 4tb. At this point you accept it for what it is and hope Matt won't be the same way

 

[MidTennFootball]

Nice crowd from locals tonight despite the holiday break. If just a few hundred students out of an enrollment of 20,000 would come out for a game we could have some impressive crowds. Anyway 3,500 or so die hards is still pretty good.

Totally agree, but there alot of P5 programs that would love to have a single game attendance of that number. Until Middle starts to advance in the tourney, they've probably hit the ceiling of they can accomplish from a fan participation standpoint.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

Lady Raiders conquer Norse on both ends of the court to wrap up 2023 in the Glass House - Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee women's basketball took an early punch on the nose, but hit back with a flurry of their own afterwards, striking back from

goblueraiders.com

 

[MTFAN61]

Totally agree, but there alot of P5 programs that would love to have a single game attendance of that number. Until Middle starts to advance in the tourney, they've probably hit the ceiling of they can accomplish from a fan participation standpoint.

You're right. Looked at some of the top 10 teams attendance such as Colorado, Baylor, & USC. MT's attendance is very comparable to these schools & we don't even have a top 25 ranking, yet.

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[SpaceRaider]

 

[MidTennFootball]

You're right. Looked at some of the top 10 teams attendance such as Colorado, Baylor, & USC. MT's attendance is very comparable to these schools & we don't even have a top 25 ranking, yet.

 

[MTOleBlue]

I imagine this year will be like years past where our crowds continue to grow throughout the year as we move through CUSA play. The team is fun to watch and, unusually for MT major sports, actually wins most of the time lol

 

[SpaceRaider]

View embedded media

Grabovskaia has breakout game against Northern Kentucky | Sidelines

mtsusidelines.com

 

[MTFAN61]

Took a few minutes to check the records of our conference mates before our true conference season begins. This year appears to be a bit weaker for CUSA opponents than in the past . Looks like our strongest opponent will once again be WKU, they currently have CUSA's second best record behind MT at 8-6.
I'm going out with an early prediction of going somewhere between 14-2 to 16-0 for this conference season.
I was very disappointed with Jada's injury & felt it would hamper the team's development. However CRI has really bought into Grabovskaia's usage off the bench. Her confidence is growing as is her surprising ability to impact a game. Even when things aren't going great for Boldyreva I'm glad to see the trust coach is putting in her. I believe having 2 impact post players is making MT a more complete team even compared to last year's 28-5 squad.
Any thoughts on the Raiders possibly going 26-4 or 27-3 this year?

 

[MTBig Blue]

Took a few minutes to check the records of our conference mates before our true conference season begins. This year appears to be a bit weaker for CUSA opponents than in the past . Looks like our strongest opponent will once again be WKU, they currently have CUSA's second best record behind MT at 8-6.
I'm going out with an early prediction of going somewhere between 14-2 to 16-0 for this conference season.
I was very disappointed with Jada's injury & felt it would hamper the team's development. However CRI has really bought into Grabovskaia's usage off the bench. Her confidence is growing as is her surprising ability to impact a game. Even when things aren't going great for Boldyreva I'm glad to see the trust coach is putting in her. I believe having 2 impact post players is making MT a more complete team even compared to last year's 28-5 squad.
Any thoughts on the Raiders possibly going 26-4 or 27-3 this year?

Question is, will this team be prepared this go-around for the NCAA tourney? That's the elephant in the room for this program right now.

 

[crassyblue]

There will be a time that we need both post in the game to counter better rebounding teams or foul trouble. I wish he would get some game practice in with that combo. I wanted some of that last year. Just like using the bench more, it seems to make sense to give it a shot at times.

 

[MTOleBlue]

Question is, will this team be prepared this go-around for the NCAA tourney? That's the elephant in the room for this program right now.

I think we are in better shape than we have been in years past. This year there have been multiple NCAA caliber teams who we have beaten or come close (DePaul, Princeton, Tennessee, Michigan, etc.) whereas those type of teams in years past we got all discombobulated and didn't come close to winning. Having Iullia off the bench becoming such a force already in her first year is going to help big-time because a strong post presence is what wins you games when there are good shooting guards on the wings.

 

[blueboro007]

In her very short time on the floor, I was somewhat impressed by the way Dora Van Rijs looked. She seemed to handle the ball well and move quickly. Hope she continues to get a few minutes to see if she can develop into someone we can use if needed. Has anyone seen her in practice and, if so, how does she look?

 

[MidTennFootball]

In her very short time on the floor, I was somewhat impressed by the way Dora Van Rijs looked. She seemed to handle the ball well and move quickly. Hope she continues to get a few minutes to see if she can develop into someone we can use if needed. Has anyone seen her in practice and, if so, how does she look?

Honestly believe Middle has the bench to go 10 deep, but never gonna happen with Rick running the show

 

[MTFAN61]

Wish we had a rematch with Belmont. Our concentration level seemed to improve after that game.