Middle Tennessee men’s basketball (8-5, 2-0 CUSA) picked up its second Conference USA win of the season, taking down the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs (8-5, 1-1 CUSA) 88-51.
The Blue Raiders set the program record for made threes in a single game, knocking down 22 shots from behind the arc. MTSU did this while shooting 22-of-44 from three-point land for a season high of 50% against the nation’s fifth-ranked three-point defense by opponent percentage.
“Going back to the summer, we felt like we got a team that can shoot the ball,” McDevitt said. “Going 22-for-44 is really hard to count on every night, but I think once you’re taking high quality shots, nights like that can happen.”
The strong performance from deep led to multiple career highs, including graduate guard Alec Oglesby dropping 25 points on eight made three-pointers.
“[This is] just a blessing,” Oglesby said. “I just stay consistent everyday, control the controllables like Coach [McDevitt] says and then just stay in the gym.”
This was during Oglesby’s first career start with the Blue Raiders, after missing much of last season with a shoulder injury.
“The way he’s been playing, the way he’s been shooting, the way he’s been practicing, he’s healthy,” McDevitt said. “He’s been a little banged up with this or that over the last year but also the last couple months… [he] just wasn’t feeling 100%.”
Oglesby’s health trending up has allowed him the ability to gain confidence on the court, adding to the Blue Raiders’ rotation, McDevitt said.
Senior guard Tre Green also made an impact from the three-point line, cashing in a career-high 22 points with six made threes.
“I’m just proud of the way they were sharing it after shooting,” McDevitt said. “TG [Tre Green], may have made a couple in a row, was kind of open across from our bench in the second half. He ‘one-more’s’ it to Alec Oglesby for an even better three.”
Plays like that happened all night, and lead to better shooting percentages, McDevitt said.
Freshman center Luka Jovanovic stuffed the stat sheet with a career-high ten rebounds off the bench for the Blue Raiders. A native of Belgrade, Serbia, Jovanovic has started adjusting to college basketball, McDevitt said.
“That’s why he was plus-26 in plus-minus,” McDevitt said. “…These guys can tell you what you saw tonight is what you see almost daily in practice… in his effort to go after it.”
The offense came out strong for MTSU, with the group’s first five buckets coming from three. Oglesby and combo guard Kamari Lands each made two, while Jahvin Carter contributed a make to the early effort.
The early makes from three sparked a 16-2 run in favor of the Blue Raiders from the 18:54 mark to the 12:54 mark in the first half, giving MTSU a 19-6 lead.
Middle Tennessee rode this run to halftime to go into the break with a comfortable 39-22 lead over LA Tech.
The lead was extended in the second half on the back of two big runs for the Blue Raiders: a 16-5 run from 17:23 to 13:25 and a 20-9 run over the final 8:55 of regulation.
MTSU continued to ride outside shooting in the second half with 13 makes from deep in the final 20 minutes. Green had 14, including a three with 5:00 left to set the program record for team threes in a game.
The Blue Raiders didn’t let off the gas pedal after this milestone, as Green added another three and Marcus Whitlock Jr made two shots from three-point range in the final 1:10.
Middle Tennessee will be back in action on Jan. 4 in the Murphy Center, hosting Sam Houston State (8-5, 0-2 CUSA) to finish off a two-game homestand.
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