MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Middle Tennessee State men’s basketball team is blowing through the Sun Belt Conference this season just like it did last year.
In the process, the Blue Raiders continue to build an impressive resume that could serve them well for the postseason, should they not win the league tournament in early March and earn the Sun Belt’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
The latest entry came here Saturday when MTSU picked up a 72-53 win over chief rival Western Kentucky in front of a season-best 10,105 at Murphy Center and a national television audience. It was the seventh win in a row and 11th in the last 12 games for the surging Blue Raiders (18-4 overall, 10-1 in Sun Belt), who used a 19-3 run midway through the second half to blow Saturday’s game wide open.
“We talk about all the time trying to re-create your identity, not only from year to year, but week to week and from game to game,” said 11th-year MTSU coach Kermit Davis, whose 20-2 start last season coupled with this year’s 18 wins in 22 games makes for the best back-to-back starts to a season in program history.
And while injury-plagued WKU (11-11, 5-6) is down by its tradition-rich standards, beating the Hilltoppers for the sixth time in seven games is yet another brick in the wall for MTSU.
“All things help for us at our level,” said Davis, whose team is one of only two teams to beat No. 23 Ole Miss this season heading into Saturday action. “I can sense more national media responding to our team, so it’s out there. We don’t have to be perfect, but we just have to do the things like we did today.”
Still sticking in the back of the Blue Raiders’ minds, though, is not making the NCAA Tournament last season, even though their resume eventually boasted a 27-win season, including going 14-2 in the Sun Belt Conference. Adding insult to injury in not getting the NCAA at-large bid and settling for the NIT was that chief rival Western Kentucky, came out of nowhere to win the league tournament and earn the league’s automatic NCAA tourney bid, despite having a losing record.
“It doesn’t take much in this league to detract from a wealth of a couple of months of really good work,” Davis said.
Which makes Saturday’s win -- and every other league win, for that matter – crucial to MTSU, which entered this week with a national RPI (Ratings Percentage Index) at No. 36, according to NCAA.com.
But after leading from the get-go and seemingly cruising to victory, MTSU watched the Hilltoppers pull within 42-36 with 14:01 to play on a 3-pointer by sophomore guard Kevin Kaspar. From there, though, MTSU went on a 19-3 run, widening the lead to as many as 23 points before settling into the 19-point win.
“We knew it was a big game coming into it,” said MTSU senior guard Bruce Massey, who had 10 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals. “No matter what the records are, when Western and Middle Tennessee play, you know it is going to be a hard-fought game, so we just wanted to out-tough them.”
Massey is one of 13 upperclassmen on a roster that is the second-most experienced in the country. Fellow senior guard Marcos Knight had a game-high 15 points and junior forward Neiko Hunter added 13 points.
“We can go to different guys to play well,” Davis said. “That is kind of the strength of our team, that different guys can play.”
Count defense as a team strength, too. The Blue Raiders went into Saturday’s game ranked 33rd in the country in defensive efficiency, according to NCAA stats.
In fact, WKU coach Ray Harper now feels MTSU is the best halfcourt defensive team his team has faced this season, and that includes playing No. 5 Louisville and No. 19 Virginia Commonwealth.
“I don’t think they can put the full-court pressure on you like Louisville or VCU,” Harper said of MTSU, “but at the same time I think they are better if a game settles into a half-court game than any one of those guys.”
WKU again played without senior guard Jamal Crook, the team’s leading scorer who has missed 11 straight games with a foot injury. Kaspar was the only Hilltopper to score in double digits with 14 points.
As for Harper, he has seen enough of the Blue Raiders to know they are NCAA tourney worthy, even if they don’t get the league’s automatic bid.
“They are 10-1 in the league for a reason,” Harper said. “They do it every night. And they have done it every night all season long.
“That’s why they should be in the NCAA Tournament, whether they win (the tournament) in Hot Springs (Ark.) or not.”
MTSU and WKU will close the regular season in a rematch on March 2 in Bowling Green, Ky. MTSU returns to league action Thursday at Florida International; WKU returns home the same night to face Troy.
