After losing some of their best players this past offseason, the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders were expected to take a step back this year and miss the NCAA tournament. Kermit Davis, who has become one of the best mid-major head coaches in the nation, has had other ideas. Riding some big production down low by Reggie Upshaw Jr. and Perrin Buford, along with some consistent bench production, the Blue Raiders have now arrived to the Conference USA final, shocking the UTEP Miners in the semis today.
Buford and Upshaw Jr. both combined for 10 points, while Upshaw also grabbed 7 rebounds. However, it was the play of DeVante Jones off of the bench that shocked Texas-El Paso, going 5-9 for 17 points. Milwaukee native Darnell Harris also contributed with 8 points and 8 rebounds off of the sidelines.
Middle Tennessee may be one of the hottest teams in the country, but it's hard to excuse UTEP for blowing this massive opportunity once again. The Miners have been falling flat in the past few years in late season games, to controversial head coach Tim Floyd's chagrin. Leading scorer Vince Hunter had a rough night shooting, with a 4-13 shooting ratio for 9 points, although he was a monster on the boards for 14 rebounds. Due to the rough night from the UTEP backcourt, they relied on their bigs down low, as Cedrick Lang and Julian Washburn combined for 26 points.
UTEP had led for most of the game, but it was a run in the final ten minutes fully led by MTSU's DeVante Jones that doomed the Miners to elimination. Texas-El Paso 2nd leading scorer Earvin Morris came off of the bench to lead a mini run to cut it to 2 with 14 seconds left, and on the other end of the court, Darnell Harris made 1-2 from the line, giving the Miners one last chance to tie. However, CJ Cooper and Omega Harris both missed 3-point attempts, and the Blue Raiders had survived.
Middle Tennessee will try to seal the deal tomorrow in the Conference USA final to continue the cementing of Kermit Davis' legacy as a Blue Raider head coach.