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Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (8-14, 2-5 CUSA) at Liberty Flames (14-9, 3-5 CUSA)
Lynchburg, Virginia; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Middle Tennessee visits the Liberty Flames after Jalen Jordan scored 22 points in Middle Tennessee’s 88-65 loss to the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers.
The Flames are 8-2 in home games. Liberty ranks fifth in the CUSA in rebounding with 35.0 rebounds. Joseph Venzant paces the Flames with 7.0 boards.
The Blue Raiders are 2-5 in conference matchups. Middle Tennessee ranks third in the CUSA with 9.6 offensive rebounds per game led by Jared Jones averaging 2.1.
Liberty averages 75.3 points, 8.0 more per game than the 67.3 Middle Tennessee gives up. Middle Tennessee averages 6.7 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.2 more made shots on average than the 5.5 per game Liberty allows.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kyle Rode is averaging 13.1 points for the Flames. Zach Cleveland is averaging 15.1 points, six rebounds and 4.8 assists over the last 10 games for Liberty.
Jones is averaging 9.4 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Blue Raiders. Elias King is averaging 2.2 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games for Middle Tennessee.
LAST 10 GAMES: Flames: 4-6, averaging 70.1 points, 31.6 rebounds, 15.5 assists, 5.9 steals and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 42.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 71.0 points per game.
Blue Raiders: 3-7, averaging 64.4 points, 35.4 rebounds, 10.2 assists, 5.7 steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 41.7% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 67.3 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.