Featured photo by Erin Douglas
Story by Calvin White
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HUNTSVILLE, Ala- Middle Tennessee men’s basketball’s (14-19, 7-9 CUSA) season comes to an end in the semifinals of the Conference USA semifinals after an 85-54 loss to Western Kentucky (21-11, 8-8) CUSA where the Hilltoppers rained one 3-pointer after another to bury the Blue Raiders and book their trip to the CUSA championship game.
“We picked a bad day to have a bad day,” MTSU head coach Nick McDevitt said. “We played a really talented Western team who played well and we did not play well. We had 18 turnovers and got outrebounded. They (WKU) started out shooting the ball well and we looked flustered.”
Anything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the Blue Raiders in the first half. MTSU turned the ball over 12 times and shot 10-of-29 from the field while Western Kentucky drained eight 3-pointers to put MTSU in a 46-27 halftime-hole.
The Blue Raiders went on multiple miniature scoring droughts in the first half that the Hilltoppers were able to take advantage of. Western Kentucky made three consecutive 3-pointers to take a 25-13 lead with 3:57 remaining in the first half.
“Starting the game off, I told the guys we needed to throw the first punch and we didn’t do that, we received the first punch,” Justin Bufford said. “I think coming out more aggressive on defense would’ve changed some things but who knows.”
WKU made 17-of-31 shots in the first 20 minutes. It did not matter if there was an MTSU defender in the area or not. A multitude of Hilltoppers buried shots from beyond the arc.
Outside of Jestin Porter, no other Blue Raider finished with more than eight points. MTSU could never get in a groove offensively throughtout the entire game, ultimately leading to an embarrassing loss to the rival Hilltoppers.
Four Hilltoppers finished in double- figure scoring, led by Don McHenry with 18 on 8-of-17 shooting. Western Kentucky performed on both ends of the court in elite fashion to advance to the CUSA championship game against UTEP.
Nick McDevitt will have to regroup and reload entering the offseason. Camryn Weston will be back next season after missing most of this season. The Blue Raiders’ lack of shooting cost them all season. WKU was able to sag off Jacob Johnson and apply more pressure on MTSU’s perimeter players like Elias King who finished the game 0-of-3 from the floor.
In today’s game, spacing is essential. If a team doesn’t have shooting, it doesn’t have spacing. McDevitt needs to make shooting a priority entering the offseason because it has cost MTSU against teams with long and athletic defenders.
MTSU finishes its season 14-19 overall and 7-9 in conference play. The Blue Raiders salvaged their season in the back-half of conference play but a 31-point loss to an archrival in postseason play will leave a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths.
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.
