Under the Radar Game of the Day: Belmont at Middle Tennessee, 7:00 PM Eastern, ASN
Tonight’s UTR Game of the Day comes from Murfreesboro, TN, home of the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders. MTSU enters play tonight with a solid record of 6-2, including having taken home the championship at the Great Alaska Shootout and having picked up an overtime win this past weekend in Nashville against Auburn. Other than a season-opening loss at Murray State, the Blue Raiders’ only slip up so far this season was a home game on December 2 to VCU, which they lost by 6 points. Reggie Upshaw has led the way for Kermit Davis’ squad so far this season, including a very strong 21 point and 13 rebound effort in the Auburn win. He also picked up 4 assists, 3 steals and a block in that game. Giddy Potts also bears keeping an eye on for MTSU, as his stat line this season includes 17 points and 14 rebounds in a win against South Alabama.
Tonight, the Blue Raiders welcome in the preseason pick to win the Ohio Valley Conference, Coach Rick Byrd’s Belmont Bruins. Belmont was a team that we here at HOOPS HD though might have at-large bid potential heading into the season. However, a 7-4 start with the only win of note having come at Marquette has probably dashed those hopes. Although none of the Bruins’ four losses were bad by any means (at Arizona State, Evansville, BYU and Valpo), the Bruins really needed to pick up at least two wins in those four games to put enough solid numbers on their resume before OVC play begins. The good news is that the season is far from over, and if they can dominate the rest of their schedule, including picking up a road win over a solid team tonight, Belmont will certainly prove that they will be a very tough out in March. Of course, they have the added bonus of playing in the OVC, which gives its top two seeds byes into the conference tournament semifinals and plays the entire tournament in Belmont’s backyard in Nashville. In other words, this is one team that really should not have to worry too much about putting together an at-large bid resume — they really should not need it.
OTHER HIGHLIGHTED GAMES
-WEST VIRGINIA VS MARSHALL (Charleston, WV). This is a rivalry game in the sense that it has all the bitterness that most rivalries have and then some, but it’s not in the sense of it being a huge mismatch in terms of the status of the two programs.
-Hampton @ SMU (Buy Game)
-Norfolk State @ Evansville (Buy Game)
-Cal Poly @ USC (Buy Game)