Featured photo by Erin Douglas
Story by Calvin White
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HUNTSVILLE, Ala- With its back against the wall, Middle Tennessee men’s basketball (14-18) held Louisiana Tech (22-10) without a made basket for the last 4:50 of the game and gutted out a 70-67 win over the 2-seeded Bulldogs in the quarterfinal round of the Conference USA Tournament at Propst Arena at the Von Braun Center.
The game started off as a defensive slugfest but the scoring eventually picked up for both teams. Jestin Porter and Elias King combined for three points at halftime but Jalen Jordan and Jared Coleman-Jones steadied the Blue Raiders through the first 20 minutes to only trail 32-27 at halftime.
Porter exploded for 18 points in the second half, taking advantage of any chance the Louisiana Tech defense gave him to slice his way to the basket or step back for an open 3-pointer.
“I just told my team to stay with me,” Porter said. “I knew it was going to come to me, which it always does. I’m never the type of guy to go play under my game like that, so I just let it come to me.”
After picking up his play midway through the season, Coleman-Jones went on a stretch in conference play where he recorded double-double after double-double. Tonight, he battled with CUSA Newcomer of the Year Daniel Batcho and tallied 16 points, 10 rebounds and four assists on 4-of-11 shooting and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line.
“He’s one of the hardest matchups in the league because he’s a big who can step out and shoot 3s and he can play inside,” Louisiana Tech head coach Talvin Hester said of Coleman-Jones. “He’s one of the better offensive bigs in the league.”
MTSU held CUSA Player of the Year Isaiah Crawford and Tahlik Chavez to a combined 9-of-34 shooting. Crawford was forced to take a lot of tough shots late in the shot clock while also being guarded by the likes of Justin Bufford and Jacob Johnson. Bufford and Johnson made Crawford a non-threat towards the end of the game.
Crawford had the ball in his hands on the final possession of the game with Louisiana Tech trailing by three with 10 seconds remaining after forcing a 5-second violation from MTSU. Bufford forced Crawford into a missed layup, Crawford got his own rebound then Bufford walled up and contested Crawford’s final 3-pointer that fell short and secured the Blue Raider victory.
“Really proud of our team,” MTSU head coach Nick McDevitt said. “That was a heck of a win. Louisiana Tech is really good. They are so balanced with their players on the offensive and defensive end. I thought we stayed locked in on the defensive end. Offensively, for the most part, we did a good job of taking care of the ball. They’re a very good rebounding team, so it’s hard to get offensive rebounds. I just thought we had a really good ‘next play’ mentality for the entire game.”
The raw emotion from MTSU head coach Nick McDevitt symbolized a coach who knew his team had performances like this tucked deep inside and was just waiting to pull one out. Every time the Blue Raiders moved the ball for an open 3-pointer that fell through the net or got a big defensive stop, McDevitt was the first person in the gym pumping his fist and turning to the MTSU fans raising his arms telling them to stand up.
Three months ago, almost any Blue Raider fan would have said that they had given up hope. Then, MTSU won seven of its last 12 to end the regular season and finished one game out of fourth place in CUSA. The record might not have reflected it, but as of late, the Blue Raiders aren’t a typical 7-seed.
“We lost to a good basketball team,” Hester said. “I said before the game that this Middle Tennessee team is one of the hottest teams in the league. They fought back from being at the bottom of the league to one game out of fourth place so they were up at the top of the standings competing for something that we were competing for.”
MTSU has saved its season from being a complete and utter failure. But right now, the Blue Raiders are somewhere between falling short of expectations and making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2017.
McDevitt’s squad will play the winner of the Western Kentucky/New Mexico State game on Friday at 2:00 in the semifinals. This is the third straight season that MTSU will play in the semifinals after its last five CUSA Tournament games have been decided by three or fewer points or gone to at least one overtime period. For the past two seasons, the Blue Raiders have been eliminated by the team that went on to win the tournament.
Last season, the Blue Raiders fell 68-65 to the Florida Atlantic team that won CUSA and made the Final Four. In 2022, MTSU lost 102-98 in triple-overtime to UAB. If history holds true, and so far, it has in 2024, MTSU will put on a show in the conference tournament.
Calvin White is the sports editor for MTSU Sidelines. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, and follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on X and Instagram at @mtsusidelines. Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
