Jayce Johnson

Early in February the MTSU men’s basketball team, which had struggled to find many wins, scored back-to-back victories over Charlotte in Murfreesboro.

In the first game, on Feb. 5, the Blue Raiders pulled off a 66–65 win. However, the team’s leading scorer, junior guard Dontrell Shuler, suffered a season-ending injury in the game.

Despite being down its leading scorer, Middle Tennessee made it back-to-back wins over Charlotte with a dominant performance on Saturday, taking a 73–60 victory.

“I was really proud of our team over the last two days—two gutsy, gritty performances by our group,” head coach Nick McDevitt said.

A couple of sophomores led the team in scoring in the second game effort.

Elias King scored 15 points and was a perfect 4-for-4 from 3-point range.

Fellow sophomore Tyler Millin also hit a couple of treys in the second half, finishing with 13 points to set a new career high himself.

“Our shot quality was high,” McDevitt said.

These games would end up being the final ones for the season at home for the Blue Raiders. Two games against Louisiana Tech set for Feb. 19 and 20 would be cancelled due to weather conditions.

The high-scoring Herd at Marshall ran away from the Blue Raiders in two games Feb. 12 and 13. The Blue Raiders got hot and opened up a 17–2 lead in the first game, but could only keep up with the lightning fast pace of Marshall for so long before the Herd took control in a 107–79 win.

“Once they started scoring we just lost some of that intensity on both ends, and when a team that good starts seeing the ball go in its hard to slow them back down,” McDevitt said.

MTSU battled in the second game after a tough showing against Marshall the night before, but fell in the end by a final score of 96–85.

Junior guard Jalen Jordan scored 22 points in the first game, and, less than 24 hours later, topped that effort with a 25-point game, going 7 for 7 from beyond the arc.

February concluded for the team in Norfolk with a pair of losses against Old Dominion. MTSU gave the ball away 16 times in the first game, leading to 19 points off turnovers, as the home squad built a 20-point lead midway through the second half before the Blue Raiders started a comeback. But the team could not overcome the deficit, and ODU came away with a 67–61 win in game one.

MTSU, with an overall record of 5–15, will end the regular season with a pair of games against Florida Atlantic.

Coming up for the MTSU Men’s Team:

Florida Atlantic
Thursday, March 4
5 p.m.
Boca Raton, Florida

Florida Atlantic
Friday, March 5
5 p.m.
Boca Raton, Florida

___

The Lady Raiders wrap up February with a record of 13-6.

The team took a nine-game conference road win streak into Charlotte early in the month, but the 49ers snapped the streak in an 82–72 game.

The Lady Raiders had three players score 20-plus points in the game, but it wasn’t enough to offset Charlotte, who also won the rebounding battle 48–31 and shot 81 percent from the free-throw line.

“Charlotte played with more energy and did a good job all around. To win on the road you must do the little things: hit free throws, battle on the boards, knock down open shots. We usually do those things, but we didn’t today. We didn’t do the things necessary to win the game,” Lady Raider Head Coach Rick Insell said.

MTSU had a 20-day break before it would play in its next game, a Feb. 26 home tilt against Old Dominion. The Monarchs didn’t let MTSU ease back into the action, either, winning at the Murphy Center 74-57.

Other than junior Anastasia Hayes, who added to her Conference USA Player of the Year resume with 32 points, the Lady Raiders struggled to score consistently.

“We have to get back into game shape,” Hayes said. “We have to work on our defense, execute our plays and focus on rebounding on the offensive and defensive end.”

The team did bounce back, and earned a 74–70 win against Old Dominion on Feb. 27.

Hayes is on the mid-season watch lists for the Wade Trophy—the most prestigious national player of the year award in college women’s basketball—as well as the Naismith Award and the Dawn Staley Award. She is also a semifinalist for the Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year.

The Lady Raiders will host Marshall for two games in Murfreesboro before the Conference USA tournament.

Coming up for the MTSU Women’s Team:

Marshall
Thursday, March 4
6 p.m.
Murfreesboro

Marshall
Friday, March 5
6 p.m.
Murfreesboro