UTSA will be seeking its first conference win of the season when it faces MTSU in a Conference USA matchup on Thursday night. The Roadrunners have lost five of their last six games, including a 90-67 setback against UAB on Saturday. MTSU bounced back from a loss to Charlotte with a 65-60 win over Western Kentucky on Saturday.
MTSU has been struggling with consistency this season, going 9-5 through its first 14 games. The Blue Raiders have split their last four games after beating Belmont in overtime as 1-point underdogs in early December. Their losses came as 4.5-point favorites against Chattanooga and 2.5-point underdogs against Charlotte. They have also added wins against Murray State and Western Kentucky as single-digit favorites. The Blue Raiders trailed Western Kentucky for most of the game before taking over down the stretch. They were led by sophomore guard Teafale Lenard Jr., who scored 19 points on 8 of 15 shooting. Junior guard Eli Lawrence posted a double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds.
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The Blue Raiders have been decent offensively, ranked inside the top 160 in all four of KenPom’s key metrics. Their strength has been their offensive rebounding, and they will have a slight advantage in that category on Thursday. Their weakness has been their 3-point shooting, as they are knocking down just 30.9% of their attempts from the perimeter. They are facing a UTSA defense that is No. 340 in adjusted efficiency. Senior forward Deandre Dishman leads MTSU with 12.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game, while junior guard Eli Lawrence is adding 11.2 points and 4.0 rebounds. Junior guard Elias King is chipping in 9.7 points per game off the bench.