Porter and Middle Tennessee host UTEP
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (6-11, 0-2 CUSA) at UTEP Miners (9-8, 0-2 CUSA)
El Paso, Texas; Thursday, 9 p.m. EST
FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Miners -5.5; over/under is 127.5
BOTTOM LINE: Middle Tennessee visits the UTEP Miners after Jestin Porter scored 29 points in Middle Tennessee’s 60-51 loss to the Sam Houston Bearkats.
The Miners are 8-2 on their home court. UTEP is eighth in the CUSA in rebounding with 33.1 rebounds. Kevin Kalu leads the Miners with 5.4 boards.
The Blue Raiders are 0-2 in conference play. Middle Tennessee is ninth in the CUSA scoring 62.6 points per game and is shooting 40.4%.
UTEP averages 74.6 points, 8.8 more per game than the 65.8 Middle Tennessee gives up. Middle Tennessee averages 62.6 points per game, 6.9 fewer points than the 69.5 UTEP gives up.
The matchup Thursday is the first meeting this season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Tae Hardy is shooting 38.8% from beyond the arc with 1.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Miners, while averaging 14.7 points and 1.9 steals. Zid Powell is shooting 41.6% and averaging 10.5 points over the past 10 games for UTEP.
Porter is averaging 12.2 points for the Blue Raiders. Elias King is averaging 10.5 points over the last 10 games for Middle Tennessee.
LAST 10 GAMES: Miners: 4-6, averaging 68.5 points, 29.9 rebounds, 11.0 assists, 11.1 steals and 3.0 blocks per game while shooting 44.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 69.7 points per game.
Blue Raiders: 3-7, averaging 60.7 points, 34.4 rebounds, 10.0 assists, 5.8 steals and 4.9 blocks per game while shooting 40.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.3 points.
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.