Date: Thursday, February 9
Time: 7:00 p.m. CT
Teams: Middle Tennessee (20-4, 10-1) vs. Old Dominion (14-9, 7-4)
Location: Murfreesboro, Tenn.
Arena: Murphy Center (11,520)
TV: beIN
Middle Tennessee is back in the Murphy Center Thursday evening, playing host to third place Old Dominion on Mardi Gras Night. The Blue Raiders will be looking to start a new win streak after suffering their first conference loss of the year last Saturday night.
The Blue Raiders and Monarchs are meeting for the eighth time with MT holding an impressive 7-0 record all-time against ODU.
Middle Tennessee and Old Dominion last faced off in the Conference USA Championship Game last March with senior Reggie Upshaw delivering a pair of game-winning free throws to give the Raiders a 55-53 win.
The teams also met in Norfolk in the regular season with Head Coach Kermit Davis collecting his 400th career win by topping ODU 64-61 on their home floor.
Middle Tennessee (20-4, 10-1) boasts the second-best scoring defense (63.4) in the conference and have been the best scoring defense in conference play (60.8). The Blue Raiders have also been extremely efficient offensively and boast the 24th highest field goal percentage in the nation at 48.7 percent.
JaCorey Williams leads the Blue Raiders in scoring (17.5), rebounding (7.6) and field goal percentage (.528) and is coming off his second stretch this season of three consecutive double-doubles after his 24-point, 10-rebound performance at UTEP.
Old Dominion (14-9, 7-4) is the lone scoring defense in Conference USA better than MT at 61.1 points allowed per game, ranking sixth nationally.
The Monarchs are also eighth nationally in offensive rebounds per game (14.2) and have the best two offensive rebounders in the conference in Denzell Taylor (3.8) and Brandan Stith (3.0).
MT and ODU are set to tip at 7:00 p.m. on beIN Sports and will also be available on Facebook Live via the beIN College Sports Facebook page.
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