Under the Radar Game of the Day: Middle Tennessee at UAB

Middle Tennessee at UAB, 1:00 PM Eastern, CBS Sports Network

For Jon Teitel’s latest Bracketology predictions, CLICK HERE

The Under the Radar Game of the Day heads to Birmingham, Alabama this afternoon as the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders attempt to move one step closer to guaranteeing themselves a bid to the NCAA Tournament regardless of what happens in the Conference USA tournament.  In addition, with a win today, the Blue Raiders can clinch the outright regular season championship in their conference.  The Blue Raiders currently sit at 14-1 in conference and 24-4 overall.  They have picked up wins over UNC-Wilmington, Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Belmont this season.  Unfortunately, they also have a handful of blemishes on their record including a home loss to Tennessee State and a road loss at UTEP.  Six players scored in double figures last time out (a win over Marshall) led by 25 from Jacorey Williams and 19 from Giddy Potts.

UAB had entered this season expecting to contend for the Conference USA championship.  Unfortunately for the Blazers, early injuries derailed the season and they now sit at 15-13 overall and 8-7 in Conference USA.  Even worse, they have lost five of their last six games and are heading in the wrong direction as they approach the conference tournament, which will be played in Birmingham.  Chris Cokley has been one of their more potent offensive players this year, but has not scored more than 11 points in the five most recent losses.  William Lee similarly did not pull down more than 7 rebounds in any of those losses.  The two of them need to score and rebound a lot more if the Blazers want to pull off the upset today.