MTSU men’s basketball (11-10, 5-5 CUSA) fell to Western Kentucky University (12-10, 5-6 CUSA) 65-60, in a tightly contested battle based in the paint.
The 100 Miles of Hate rivalry between MTSU and WKU lived up to its name when the Blue Raiders and Hilltoppers faced off for the first time this year.
“The game changed after about the first seven or eight minutes in the first half, you could tell they were just going to be really physical with our perimeter players,” head coach Nick McDevitt said.
The increase in perimeter pressure from the Hilltoppers shut down MTSU’s deep threat with the team shooting 4-of-19 from behind the arc. Three-point attempts make up 54% of the Blue Raiders’ total shot attempts.
The change to living in the paint for Middle Tennessee caused problems for the Blue Raiders’ guards. Jahvin Carter, Tre Green and Marcus Whitlock Jr. combined for nine points while Alec Oglesby and Sean Smith had zero points.
When Western is playing that tough perimeter defense, driving aggressively to the basket can help kick start the perimeter offense, McDevitt said.
The offense started hot especially for senior Kamari Lands, who scored 15 points in the first four minutes. Lands finished with a career high of 25 points.
“Coach tries to emphasize on me a lot using my size and strength,” Lands said. “Nine times out of ten, I might have somebody smaller than me, just been trying to work on that. I just feel like I came in the game, confident, aggressive and assertive.”
The rest of the first half was a slow scoring effort for Middle Tennessee, who only scored five baskets after the under 16-minute media timeout.
Western Kentucky after the first media timeout went on two different runs, scoring eight and 10 points to ultimately lead by seven at halftime.
When the defense gets tough, then the offense has to respond by getting tough, McDevitt said.
“You do have to set harder screens,” McDevitt said. “You do have to cut hard. You guys are kind of tugging and grabbing and holding a little bit. Well, if you’re slow, nobody looks like it hindering your progress…But when you try to take off and somebody’s holding you, it’s clear to everybody we’re just holding them back.”
The second half brought a back-and-forth battle as MTSU tied the game midway through the half and then cut down the Hilltoppers lead to two points with a minute left. With just over a minute left, Green hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to three points before Western Kentucky closed out the game at the free throw line.
MTSU scored in the 60-point range for the last three or so games and that puts a lot of pressure on the defense to hold teams below that to win games, even if the team has the best ranked defense in Conference USA, McDevitt said.
Middle Tennessee’s attention now turns to hosting Florida International University (10-11, 3-7 CUSA at the Murphy Center as the Blue Raiders look to end a three-game losing streak. Tipoff is set for Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. CDT.
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