Middle Tennessee State University men’s basketball put itself in a hole multiple times against Louisiana Tech before falling 85-74, in front of a rowdy crowd.
The Blue Raiders’ loss came down to shooting volume, foul trouble and defensive mismatches.
“LA Tech is good, they’re good but they just looked like they wanted it more than us and that’s on me,” MTSU head coach Nick McDevitt said. “We need to be better than we were and ended up 11, it felt more than that.”
LA Tech attempted more shots than MTSU and at the end percentages were nearly the same, but the pure volume was the difference. The Bulldogs knocked down three more three pointers which was huge in the road victory.
In the first half, Middle Tennessee fell behind by nine points in the first four minutes of play and clawed its way back. The Blue Raiders tied the game with over a minute left in the first half.
In that minute, LA Tech gained a six-point lead off a three pointer by guard Al Green and free throws by guard Sean Newman Jr.
Getting the game tied was a good spot for the team and then LA Tech was soon able to take control again, with it hard to pinpoint what went wrong, guard Jestin Porter said.
MTSU in the second half saw the hole they were within get larger, down by 18 points at its deepest.
Foul trouble was everywhere, both LA Tech and MTSU’s starting centers, Daniel Batcho and Essam Mostafa fouling out respectively. Both teams had three more players in foul trouble with three or more fouls by the end of the game.
The physicality was expected from all angles with statistically the two best big men in Conference USA squaring off, but the crowd’s impact wasn’t. The 3,505 in attendance was the most for a Thursday night game all season with a large part being MTSU Greek life.
The foul trouble changed the defensive game for Middle Tennessee. With Batcho on the bench, the Bulldogs brought in forwards Sean Elkinton and Will Allen.
The shorter Elkinton allowed LA Tech to have more options on ball screens as he shot the deep ball better than Batcho.
The defense wasn’t there on ball screens at times and there is a right way to play it and a wrong way, McDevitt said.
“With the way Elkinton shoots, when you are on a two-man ball screen if your hard hedging, he just picks and pops a wide open three,” McDevitt said. “I’m sure to someone 12 rows in the stand it’s not a blatant mistake but from the scouting report we worked on from the last couple days, it’s a mistake.”
The loss kept MTSU in the thick of CUSA standing, currently in the third spot behind Liberty and half a game ahead of Kennesaw State.
With Jacksonville State lost at home for the first time all season and the Blue Raiders had a chance to be tied for first place, but playing with that energy was disappointing, McDevitt said.
Middle Tennessee’s next game is against a hot Sam Houston team that sits at 4-10 in conference play but rides a three-game win streak.
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