MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – After a 14 day break from competition, Middle Tennessee men's basketball (9-4, 0-0) departs for Texas to begin Conference USA play at Rice (8-3, 0-1) on Thursday and at North Texas (7-5, 1-0) on Saturday.
 
Both games will be streamed on CUSA.tv. Fans can tune into the radio broadcast on WGNS 1450AM/100.5 FM/101.9 FM and The Game 2 94.9 FM/95.1 FM with Chip Walters on the call. For the game against North Texas, tickets are available on the Mean Green website.
 
The Blue Raiders' first two C-USA games of the season in Murfreesboro against UTSA and UTEP were postponed due to positive tests within the program. Last time out, MT fell at Chattanooga after a late-second half surge from the Mocs. Two Blue Raiders scored in double digits: Camryn Weston led the team with 16 points on 7-for-11 shooting, and Josh Jefferson added 13 points and tied his career high with four steals.
 
The Blue Raiders bench was solid in the loss, as Christian Fussell notched a career-high four field goals made. Freshman Teafale Lenard Jr. also blocked a career-high four shots in the game.
 
Game 14: Middle Tennessee (9-4, 0-0 C-USA) at Rice (8-3, 0-1 C-USA)
» Thursday, January 6, 2022
» 7 p.m. CT
» Tudor Fieldhouse
» Houston
 
Game 15: Middle Tennessee (9-4, 0-0 C-USA) at North Texas (7-5, 1-0 C-USA)
» Saturday, January 8, 2022
» 5 p.m. CT
» The Super Pit
» Denton, Texas
 
All-Time vs. Rice
» Thursday night's game is the 13^th meeting between the Owls and Blue Raiders. The series is deadlocked at 6-6 with Rice having won the last four contests. Middle Tennessee is 2-5 all-time at Tudor Fieldhouse, with the last  Blue Raiders win in Houston coming January 5, 2017.
 
All-Time vs. North Texas
» Saturday night's game in North Texas will be the 26^th meeting between North Texas and MT. The Blue Raiders hold a 15-10 all-time advantage over the Mean Green dating back to 2001. The Blue Raiders have a positive record in Denton with a 6-5 mark at The Super Pit heading into Saturday's game.
 
Blue Raiders Notes
» Donovan Sims is making his way up the all-time lists at Middle Tennessee. The Murfreesboro native is one 3-pointer away from eighth all-time in program history and two steals and six assists from ninth in those categories. He is also 43 minutes, three games played, and one game started to crack the top-10 in those areas.
» The Blue Raiders are third in Conference USA in blocked shots per game (4.7) and steals per game (8.7).
» Middle Tennessee has eight players scoring at least 6.0 points per game, the most of any team in the league.
» Josh Jefferson leads the Blue Raiders in scoring at 12.2 ppg. In his previous two games he is 10-for-17 (.588) from the floor and 8-for-15 (.533) from 3-point range.
» Sophomore Eli Lawrence is the leading rebounder for MT, bringing down 4.5 rebounds per game.
 
Scouting the Owls
» Two Owls are averaging double-digits points per game: Carl Pierre (14.5 ppg) and Travis Evee (14.3 ppg). The guard duo accounts for over 37 percent of Rice's total offense.
» 6'11 Sophomore Max Fiedler leads the Owls in both rebounding (8.8 rpg) and assists (3.6).
» Scott Pera is in his fifth season at the helm of the Owls. The 2020-21 campaign was Rice's first winning season under Pera.
» Through the first five games of the season, Rice went 4-1 with wins over Pepperdine, Southern, New Orleans, and a triple-overtime win against Evansville. Since then, the Owls are 3-4 after dropping their C-USA opener at North Texas.
 
Scouting the Mean Green
» North Texas is off to an 8-3 start overall and has held its last six opponents under 60 points, including a 75-43 win over Rice at the Super Pit on Saturday.
» Grant McCasland is in this fifth season as the head coach of the Mean Green. During that span he has compiled a 79-51 record earned 2019-20 Conference USA Coach of the Year recognition and led the Mean Green to the 2019-20 C-USA Regular Season Title and an upset of No. 4-seeded Purdue in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
» Junior guard Tylor Perry is leading North Texas in scoring at 14.2  points per game.
» Fifth-year forward Thomas Bell is leading UNT in rebounding, averaging 6.5 boards to go along with 12.1 points per game.