logo
Middle Tennessee visits Western Kentucky following Lander's 30-point game

Middle Tennessee visits Western Kentucky following Lander's 30-point game

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (16-8, 7-4 CUSA) at Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (14-10, 5-6 CUSA)
Bowling Green, Kentucky; Saturday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Western Kentucky takes on Middle Tennessee after Khristian Lander scored 30 points in Western Kentucky's 85-83 loss to the Jacksonville State Gamecocks.
The Hilltoppers are 11-2 on their home court. Western Kentucky scores 77.8 points while outscoring opponents by 2.6 points per game.
The Blue Raiders are 7-4 in CUSA play. Middle Tennessee is second in the CUSA scoring 36.7 points per game in the paint led by Essam Mostafa averaging 10.8.
Western Kentucky averages 77.8 points, 7.1 more per game than the 70.7 Middle Tennessee allows. Middle Tennessee averages 75.8 points per game, 0.6 more than the 75.2 Western Kentucky allows to opponents.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tyrone Marshall is averaging 10.5 points and 6.5 rebounds for the Hilltoppers. Lander is averaging 2.0 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
Jestin Porter is scoring 16.3 points per game and averaging 2.4 rebounds for the Blue Raiders. Mostafa is averaging 13.7 points and 8.3 rebounds over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Hilltoppers: 4-6, averaging 74.8 points, 31.3 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 8.9 steals and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 42.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 74.5 points per game.
Blue Raiders: 6-4, averaging 71.2 points, 32.5 rebounds, 13.4 assists, 5.9 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 44.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 70.4 points.
___

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Clemson baseball adds All-American outfielder Ryan Wideman from transfer portal for 2026 season
Clemson baseball adds All-American outfielder Ryan Wideman from transfer portal for 2026 season

Yahoo

timea day ago

  • Yahoo

Clemson baseball adds All-American outfielder Ryan Wideman from transfer portal for 2026 season

CLEMSON — Clemson baseball landed Ryan Wideman, an All-American outfielder, out of the transfer portal on June 11. Wideman, 6-foot-5, 204 pounds, batted .398 with 20 doubles, 10 home runs, 68 RBIs and 45 stolen bases in 60 games with Western Kentucky. He was named Conference USA player and newcomer of the year and first-team all-conference. He also earned All-American honors from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and Perfect Game. He has one year of eligibility remaining. Wideman played a key role in Western Kentucky's first run to the NCAA Tournament since 2009. He likely will slot in to replace star center fielder Cam Cannarella, who is projected to be taken in the first or second round of the 2025 MLB Draft, which will be held July 13-14. Advertisement Wideman also is draft eligible and could opt for the majors depending on where he is selected. He is ranked No. 155 in the top 200 draft prospects. MORE: Five games that will decide if Dabo Swinney, Clemson return to College Football Playoff Before Western Kentucky, Wideman spent two seasons at Georgia Highlands College, where he hit .423 with 22 home runs total and earned junior college All-American honors in 2023 and 2024. Wideman joins Ty Dalley, Tyler Lichtenberger and Bryce Clavon as Clemson's transfer hitting additions. All will be needed to replace key contributors like Cannarella, Dominic Listi, Andrew Ciufo and Josh Paino. Advertisement Clemson has hosted an NCAA regional for three straight seasons and suffered an early exit in 2025. It was the sixth time in seven years that it was eliminated as NCAA regional hosts since 2011, and the 11th time in its past 12 regional appearances that it has failed to reach the super regional. The Tigers are landing key hitters and pitchers via the portal because of expiring eligibility, the portal and the MLB draft. They have not reached the College World Series since 2010. Derrian Carter covers Clemson athletics for The Greenville News and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at dcarter@ and follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DerrianCarter00 This article originally appeared on Greenville News: Clemson baseball lands All-American Ryan Wideman from transfer portal

Delaware, Missouri State Add To Conference USA's Growing Inventory Of New FBS Teams
Delaware, Missouri State Add To Conference USA's Growing Inventory Of New FBS Teams

Forbes

time03-06-2025

  • Forbes

Delaware, Missouri State Add To Conference USA's Growing Inventory Of New FBS Teams

Delaware and Missouri State officially join Conference USA on July 1 and will increase league membership to 12 and FBS membership to 136. The Blue Hens and Bears will make it five schools in three seasons to have elevated from the FCS to the FBS and join CUSA. Jacksonville State and Sam Houston State made the move in 2023 and Kennesaw State in 2024. The five former FCS schools came from as many different conferences and are the most recent to elevate to the higher subdivision. UD was in the Coastal Athletic Association (formerly Colonial Athletic Association), MSU came from the Missouri Valley Conference, Kennesaw State was in the Big South, Jacksonville State had two years in the Atlantic Sun following an 18-year stint in the Ohio Valley Conference, and Sam Houston State had two seasons in the WAC after a 33-year run in the Southland Conference. Delaware and Missouri State will also make it seven schools to join CUSA in the aforementioned timeframe as previously independent Liberty and New Mexico State came on board in 2023, and at a time when independents have virtually disappeared. (Only Notre Dame and UConn will be on their own in 2025, though in entirely different spheres.) The Flames left the Big South to join the FBS in 2018 and were independent for five seasons before joining CUSA. The Aggies have had a nomadic time of it this century having been a member of four conferences, including two stints in the Sun Belt, and have twice been independent. Taking on five schools from the FCS and two from the independent ranks was necessary for Conference USA given the wheels that were set in motion in autumn 2021 when Charlotte, FAU, North Texas, Rice, UAB and UTSA announced they were departing for the American Athletic Conference effective 2023. That was the year Marshall, Old Dominion and Southern Miss decided to leave for the Sun Belt. Hence, CUSA had to quickly re-make itself, which it did by filling the gaps around holdovers FIU, Louisiana Tech, Middle Tennessee, UTEP and Western Kentucky. In the not-so-distant past, teams that moved up from the FCS usually took their lumps while finding their footing in college football's highest level. Because of how Conference USA has restructured and with Western Kentucky the only holdover having achieved notable success (10 bowl appearances in 11 years, one top 25 finish) as a league member, opportunities have been abundant for the FBS newbies and the former independents to achieve immediate success. Below are examples. The Gamecocks won the conference championship last season as a second-year FBS and CUSA member. Their lone conference loss was at Western Kentucky in the regular-season finale before blasting (52-12) the Hilltoppers a week later for the title. Rich Rodriguez led the program's transition to the FBS and went 27-10 in three seasons (13-3 in two years of CUSA play) before returning to West Virginia. Charles Kelly, an assistant at JSU in the 1990s, takes over. If not for a mid-season loss to Western Kentucky, the Bearkats would have played JSU for the conference title. As it turned out, Sam Houston State was the only CUSA team to win double-digit games (10-3) last season. Coach K.C. Keeler, who succeeded College Football Hall of Famer Tubby Raymond at Delaware – Keeler was a Blue Hens linebacker under Raymond -- in 2002 and ran the program for 11 years before taking over at Sam Houston State, returned to the I-95 corridor in December to coach Temple. Phil Longo returned to Huntsville to run the program. He was the Bearkats' OC for three seasons (2014-16) under Keeler before serving in the same role with Ole Miss, North Carolina and Wisconsin. The Aggies' inaugural CUSA campaign of 2023 resulted in a championship game appearance, a slugfest (49-35) of a defeat to Liberty, which was in its first season with the conference. Jerry Kill's team went 10-2 in the regular season – their loss to the Flames was followed by bowl loss to Fresno State – for the program's first double-digit win season since 1960 when the school was a member of the Border Intercollegiate Athletic Association with, among others, Arizona and Arizona State. Tony Sanchez took over Kill and enters his second season as coach. The 2023 conference championship win over New Mexico State noted above sealed a New Year's Six Bowl for the Flames, who improved to 13-0 and ascended to No. 18 in the AP poll. Jamey Chadwell's first year at the helm in Lynchburg concluded with a Fiesta Bowl blowout loss (45-6) to Oregon, and a No. 25 ranking. True, Kennesaw State went 2-10 last year in its inaugural FBS season. Both wins, however, were in conference play, including against Liberty, and a pair of losses were in overtime. Not too bad for a school that did not field a football program until 2015 and was led by Brian Bohannon from day one before his awkward departure late last season. Former North Carolina Central head coach and NFL assistant, Jerry Mack, takes over. In the larger picture as far as Conference USA is concerned, Delaware and Missouri State coming on board should only aid the long-term health of the league, if indeed there is such a thing as 'long-term' in college football. CUSA, though, has done a nice job of continuing to build itself in a rather unique manner and with 11 states represented in what will be a 12-team league for the fast-arriving 2025 college football season.

Texas A&M needs to pursue Western Kentucky star transfer OF
Texas A&M needs to pursue Western Kentucky star transfer OF

USA Today

time03-06-2025

  • USA Today

Texas A&M needs to pursue Western Kentucky star transfer OF

Texas A&M needs to pursue Western Kentucky star transfer OF Texas A&M's 2025 offseason is critical for second-year head coach Michael Earley, whose job was saved last week after Athletic Director Trev Alberts made his final decision to give the young skipper a second chance, which was both shocking and relieving to the Aggie fan base. On Monday, the transfer portal officially opened. Earley is well aware of the program's needs, knowing that eight players have now entered the portal, which includes pitchers Isaac Morton, Kyrin LeBlanc, Austin Vargas, Houston Thomlinson, and Blayne Lyne. At the same time, catchers Jacob Galloway and Hayden Crites, combined with outfielder Nathan Tobin, rounded out the losses. While Tobin and LeBlanc look like the only significant losses due to their potential, Earley will also lose star infielder Wyatt Henseler, while Jace LaViolette will more than likely declare for the 2025 MLB Draft given his status as No. 15-ranked prospect. However, with third baseman Gavin Grahovac and freshman outfielder Terrence Kiel II guaranteed to return, the 2026 lineup will still lack juice at the plate, meaning landing another star hitter is mandatory if the Aggies hope to be viewed as contenders for the NCAA Tournament next summer. As soon as the portal opened, Western Kentucky star Ryan Wideman entered his name after slashing .398 with 68 RBIs and 10 home runs. While Texas A&M's 30-26 (11-19 SEC) record last season resulted in missing the postseason for the first time since 2006, gaining talented players from the transfer portal has not been an issue in the previous two offseasons. However, Earley still has a lot to prove in terms of offseason recruiting. Landing Wideman would be a great start and likely provide momentum moving forward. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store