MTSU Turns Season Around, Earns No. 1 Seed Ahead Of C-USA Tournament

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Donovan Sims. Photo: Courtesy of Middle Tennessee Athletics

MTSU’s men’s basketball team has had a season for the record books. The Blue Raiders turned its season from a losing one to finish 13-5 in conference and 22-9, earning the No. 1 seed in the Conference USA East.

Led by 2022 C-USA Coach of the Year Nick McDevitt, the Blue Raiders started off 9-6 before going on a 13-1 run. The team dropped its final two games in close matchups to Charlotte and Old Dominion.

As the top seed, alongside North Texas, MTSU will have a double-bye, opening the championship in the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 10. This year’s championship features all 14 teams and begins Tuesday, March 8 at Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas.

North Texas has been predicted to be the C-USA’s autobid to the NCAA Tournament, which means that MTSU will need to win out to make it to the dance.

Josh Jefferson led the Blue Raiders in scoring this season, playing and starting in 29 times and averaging 14.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg and shooting 40% from the field. He was named to the All C-USA Second Team. Another ket player for MTSU is freshman Teafale Lenard Jr. who played in all 31 games this season having 106 rebounds, 27 steals and blocking an outstanding 42 shots. He was named to the All C-USA Freshman team. Along with Lenard Jr., DeAndre Dishman will be extremely important for the Blue Raiders defense. Dishman averaged 4.7 rpg, stole the ball 35 times and blocked 20 shots.

All of these players will need to play their best basketball over the week when facing some of the toughest programs in the nation.

The Blue Raiders will take on the winner between University of Texas El Paso and Old Dominion on Thursday at 7 p.m. CT and can be watched on Stadium.

Steven Boero
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