Game 26 - Middle Tennessee Game Notes (.pdf)
MUREFREESBORO, Tenn. – Heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, the University of South Alabama women’s basketball team will head out on the road to take on Sun Belt Conference East Division leader Middle Tennessee Wednesday night at the Murphy Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. The game versus MTSU begins a stretch that will see USA play three of its next four games away from home.
Live stats and live streaming of the contest between the Lady Jags and the Blue Raiders can be accessed at www.USAJaguars.com. The game can also be seen at ESPN3.com.
South Alabama and Middle Tennessee have already met one time this season, with the Blue Raiders taking that meeting 60-39 in Mobile. MTSU’s forced 19 Jaguar turnovers and its full-court pressure took its toll as the Lady Jags struggled to get into their offense after getting the ball across the midcourt stripe. The 39 points were and still are a season-low for the club.
“(In the first meeting) we certainly allowed Middle Tennessee to disrupt us in terms of their pressure, not from a standpoint that it forced a bushel of turnovers, but in that we took entirely too long to get into our offense,” South Alabama head coach Rick Pietri said. “We were constantly playing with short shot clocks and as a result, we weren’t able to get a lot of great looks. When we did get the looks, we didn’t put them down at a reasonable rate. I thought we defended them reasonably well.
“One thing that we are hoping is a significant difference for us this time is that the last time we played them, we were coming off a Thursday night road game against Louisiana-Monroe and we only had one day to prepare for them. This time we have had a week in between games and hopefully this time we will be better prepared for the different looks they give you in terms of how they pressure you and how they guard you in the half court. I thought we were reasonably prepared defensively. I didn’t think we were prepared adequately offensively. With a little more preparation time now, hopefully we’ll be able to get some good things done on the offensive end, while still doing a reasonable job defensively.”
South Alabama (14-11, 7-9 SBC) does come into the game on Wednesday with a little bit of momentum as it picked up a 53-39 victory over Louisiana-Lafayette in its annual “Pink Zone” game a week ago. With the score tied late in the first half, but used a 16-0 combined run over the final 2:43 of the period and a first 3:05 of the second half to break open the game. In the victory, the Lady Jags set a new season-high with nine blocks. The contest versus the Blue Raiders will be USA’s first game in seven days as the Jags did not play this past weekend.
Mary Nixon led all scorers with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the victory. The senior guard has now recorded double figures in five of her last six games. She currently ranks 16th in the Sun Belt in scoring (11.4) and third in three-point shooting, knocking down 40 percent of her long-range attempts. Nixon is also shooting 42.2 percent from the field.
Fellow senior guard Mansa El also had a solid outing versus the Ragin’ Cajuns, finishing with 10 points, eight rebounds and six assists. El sits just outside of double figures with 9.2 points per outing.
Freshman post player Brianna Wright continues her strong play as the Greenville, Miss., native comes into the contest versus MTSU averaging 8.3 ppg and 5.3 rpg. Wright is shooting 50.8 percent from the field - fifth-best in the league - and has recorded double figures in six of her last nine games. In the three games in which she hasn’t registered double digits during the current stretch, Wright has had eight points twice and nine points in the other. Wright set a new career-high with four blocks versus ULL.
South Alabama continues to rank among the conference leaders in several categories. USA leads the SBC in three-pointers per game (6.1), while also ranking second in scoring defense (54.2), field-goal defense (.388), rebounding defense (35.4) and third three-point field-goal defense (27.2).
After holding ULL to 39 points, USA has now held nine opponents this season below 50 points – including six league foes.
Middle Tennessee (18-7, 13-3 SBC) comes into the midweek match up after suffering its second-straight loss, a 51-43 setback at UALR. MTSU also dropped a 74-70 overtime decision to Troy back on Feb. 10. Despite the consecutive losses, the Blue Raiders still lead the East Division by two games over Western Kentucky.
The three SBC losses mark just the third time in head coach Rick Insell’s tenure that the Blue Raiders have had more than two conference losses in a season. The loss to UALR also marked the first time since the 2007-08 season that MTSU has had back-to-back losses in league play.
Under Insell, the Blue Raiders hold a 100-12 record at the Murphy Center, but even more impressive, in its previous 70 SBC home games, Middle Tennessee has lost just three times (67-3).
MTSU is led by its all-conference trio of Ebony Rowe, Kortni Jones and Icelyn Elie. Rowe ranks second in the conference in both scoring (21.0) and rebounding (10.7). The junior forward also ranks 14th nationally in scoring and has 14 double-doubles this season - 13th in the NCAA. Her 55.1 field-goal percentage not only leads the SBC, but is 16th-best in the latest NCAA rankings.
“One of the things you have to watch out for when you play Middle Tennessee is that one of their best offensive weapons is their ability pull down the offensive rebound,” Pietri noted. “Ebony Rowe is a sensational rebounder. When a shot’s missed, she’s going to get it. Icelyn Elie is also a great rebounder. They are both great finishers when they get the offensive rebound. In guarding (MTSU), it’s not enough to just challenge the shot, but you better finish the possession by rebounding.”
Rowe leads the Sun Belt with 5.3 offensive rebounds a game, while Elie is fourth with 3.1.
Elie - who also ranks among the top 10 in scoring with 14.1 ppg (ninth) - is knocking down 46.9 percent of her attempts and is pulling down 7.1 rpg. Elie is also a threat from the outside as she has 22 three’s this season.
Jones is tied for fifth in the league in scoring (15.1 ppg) with Arkansas State’s Jane Morrill and leads the SBC in assists (4.5). She is averaging 2.4 treys per game - also tied for second in the conference - and is sixth with 2.1 steals per game.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
NOTES: The meeting between South Alabama and Middle Tennessee will be the 25th meeting between the two programs in the all-time series. The Blue Raiders hold a commanding 20-4 advantage in the series and have won 18-straight. Under head coach Rick Pietri, USA is 2-19 in the series and 1-8 in Murfreesboro. USA’s last win in the series came back during the 2002-03 season when the Lady Jags defeated the Blue Raiders 72-58 in Mobile. MTSU won the first meeting this season (60-39) in Mobile. Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Insell is 16-0 versus USA during his time in Murfreesboro. USA’s last win in the series in Murfreesboro came back during the 2000-01 season. Under Insell, the Blue Raiders hold a 100-12 record at the Murphy Center, but even more impressive, in its previous 70 SBC home games, Middle Tennessee has lost just three times (67-3).
-- USA --
