Who’s Playing
Kennesaw State Owls @ Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Current Records: Kennesaw State 9-5, Middle Tennessee 10-5
How To Watch
What to Know
After three games on the road, Middle Tennessee is heading back home. They and the Kennesaw State Owls will face off in a Conference USA battle at 7:30 p.m. ET on Thursday at Murphy Center. The Blue Raiders are strutting in with some offensive muscle as they’ve averaged 78 points per game this season.
Middle Tennessee’s season wasn’t pretty last year but it’s starting to look like struggles are in the rearview. They opened the new year with a less-than-successful 73-63 loss to Liberty. The contest marked the Blue Raiders’ lowest-scoring match so far this season.
Essam Mostafa put forth a good effort for the losing side as he dropped a double-double on 14 points and 16 rebounds. Jestin Porter, on the other hand, was considerably less helpful: he went 0-5 from long range.
Middle Tennessee struggled to work together and finished the game with only eight assists. They were demolished by their opponents in that department as Liberty racked up 16.
Meanwhile, Kennesaw State’s game on Saturday was all tied up 36-36 at the half, but luckily for them it didn’t stay that way. They came out on top against Jax. State by a score of 83-71. The over/under was set at 154.5 points, so nice work oddsmakers; you were right on the money.
Kennesaw State got their win on the backs of several key players, but it was Simeon Cottle out in front who scored 28 points. Another player making a difference was Adrian Wooley, who went 8 for 14 en route to 20 points plus eight rebounds.
Middle Tennessee’s defeat dropped their record down to 10-5. As for Kennesaw State, they pushed their record up to 9-5 with the victory, which was their seventh straight at home.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the two teams are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Middle Tennessee hasn’t had any problem running up the score this season, having averaged 78 points per game. However, it’s not like Kennesaw State struggles in that department as they’ve been averaging 81.2. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
