Featured photo by Khori Williams
Story by Calvin White
MURFREESBORO, Tenn- In its first game of the 2023-2024 season, Middle Tennessee men’s basketball crushed Northern Kentucky 74-57 in the Murphy Center behind suffocating defense and red-hot outside shooting.
Early in the game, it was obvious that head coach Nick McDevitt wanted to apply pressure defense as long as he could. Nine different players touched the floor in the first seven minutes of the game for the Blue Raiders.
MTSU’s full-court pressure defense forced 18 NKU turnovers and led to 17 points off of those turnovers.
“I thought there in the first half, we played with an edge, particularly on the defensive end of the floor,” McDevitt said. “We just had a couple of breakdowns. And outside of that, we defended it about as hard and well as you can. It allowed us to get out in transition in the first half because we were getting stops.”
MTSU knocked down 10 3-pointers, including four from Elias King. 10 made 3-pointers in a game is not a number that the Blue Raiders produced often last season. If that trend continues, MTSU’s improved shooting will stretch the floor and allow for a more dangerous offense.
Six Blue Raiders knocked down a 3-pointer, led by Elias King with four. Camryn Weston credits the long hours that the team spends in the gym to improve their shooting.
“We’re always in the gym,” Weston said. “This group right here is always in the gym. Even when I come in early in the morning, I’ll see someone else in the gym with me. Somebody’s always there working on their shot or working with one of the coaches. We’re just always working to try and get better.”
Weston finished 14 points, five assists, two steals and only one turnover. The senior guard has been the premier floor general for the Blue Raiders the last two seasons. Pairing Weston’s ability to facilitate the offense with the improved shooting, MTSU will be a force on offense.
“I came out with the mindset to not be like last year or the previous years,” Weston said. “I just wanted to make this year a statement year. Whether that’s improving what I was terrible at last year or the year before, I just wanted to get better at it this year.”
In his fifth season in Murfreesboro, Jalen Jordan made his first appearance in front of the Murphy Center fans against NKU. Jordan redshirted in 2019-20 but started 19 of the 20 games he appeared in in 2020-21 but there were no fans due to COVID-19. The redshirt senior then missed the next two seasons with a knee injury.
Simply checking into the game was something that Jordan has been looking forward to for a long time before making his first appearance in 971 days.
“I can’t even describe that feeling,” Jordan said of checking into the game. “It was long overdue and it was just indescribable. I was nervous but I’m happy that I’m back on the court and get to play with my brothers.”
MTSU showed flashes of a team that can live up to the preseason expectations that it received. It’s only one game, but the Blue Raiders are off to a hot start to the 2023-2024 season.
Calvin White is the sports editor for MTSU Sidelines. If you have information for a story, you can contact him at wcw3f@mtmail.mtsu.edu. For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com. Also, follow us on Facebook and Instagram @mtsusidelines, or on X @MTSUSidelines.
