# 2016–17 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team

The 2016–17 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team represented Middle Tennessee State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Blue Raiders, led by 15th-year head coach Kermit Davis, played their home games at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee and were members of Conference USA. They finished the season 31–5, 17–1 in C-USA play to win the regular season championship. In the C-USA tournament, they defeated UTSA, UTEP, and Marshall to win the C-USA Tournament. As a result, they received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 12 seed in the South region, they defeated Minnesota in the first round before losing in the second round to Butler.

## Previous season

The Blue Raiders finished the 2015–16 season 25–10, 13–5 in C-USA play to finish in second place. They defeated Charlotte, Marshall, and Old Dominion to win the C-USA tournament. As a result, they earned the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As a No. 15 seed in the Tournament, they upset No. 2 seed and No. 2-ranked Michigan State in the first round to become only the eighth No. 15 seed to win an NCAA Tournament game. In the Second Round they lost to eventual Final Four participant, Syracuse.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Notes |
| Darnell Harris | 0 | F | 6'8" | 231 | Senior | Milwaukee, WI | Graduated |
| Perrin Buford | 2 | G/F | 6'6" | 220 | Senior | Decatur, AL | Graduated |
| Joshua Phillips | 3 | F | 6'8" | 230 | Junior | Hendersonville, TN | Left the team for personal reasons |
| Jacob Ivory | 5 | G | 5'9" | 168 | Sophomore | Jackson, MS | Left the team for personal reasons |
| Jaquawn Raymond | 10 | G | 6'4" | 200 | RS Senior | Statesboro, GA | Graduated |

### Incoming Transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| Antwain Johnson | 2 | G | 6'1" | 185 | Sophomore | Malone, FL | Junior college transferred from Chipola College. |
| Calvin Davis | 10 | G | 6'1" | 190 | Junior | Charlotte, NC | Junior college transferred from Cape Fear CC. |

### Recruiting class of 2016

College recruiting information :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Davion Thomas #51 PF | Columbus, GA | Northside High School | 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) | 200 lb (91 kg) | Jan 11, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: 75 ||||||
| Tyrik Dixon SG | Bentonville, AR | Southwest Christian Academy | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 175 lb (79 kg) | Apr 9, 2016 |
| Star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved August 3, 2016. ||||||

## Preseason

The Blue Raiders were picked to finish in second place in the preseason Conference USA poll. Giddy Potts and Reggie Upshaw Jr. were selected to the preseason All-Conference USA team.

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Exhibition ||||||
| 11/03/2016* 7:30 pm | | North Alabama | W 96–65 | | Murphy Center (1,830) Murfreesboro, TN |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| 11/11/2016* 11:00 am | | Milligan College | W 102–64 | 1–0 | Murphy Center (6,020) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 11/15/2016* 6:30 pm | | Murray State | W 87–81 | 2–0 | Murphy Center (4,507) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 11/19/2016* 6:30 pm | | Tennessee State | L 63–74 | 2–1 | Murphy Center (4,830) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 11/22/2016* 6:30 pm | | Toledo | W 80–70 | 3–1 | Murphy Center (3,984) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 11/25/2016* 7:30 pm | | vs. UNC Wilmington Challenge in Music City | W 68–63 | 4–1 | Nashville Municipal Auditorium (1200) Nashville, TN |
| 11/26/2016* 7:30 pm | | vs. Toledo Challenge in Music City | W 73–70 $^{OT}$ | 5–1 | Nashville Municipal Auditorium (850) Nashville, TN |
| 11/27/2016* 5:30 pm | | vs. Evansville Challenge in Music City | W 66–55 | 6–1 | Nashville Municipal Auditorium (500) Nashville, TN |
| 11/30/2016* 7:00 pm | | at Ole Miss | W 77–62 | 7–1 | The Pavilion at Ole Miss (1000) Oxford, MS |
| 12/03/2016* 7:00 pm | | at South Alabama | W 67–55 | 8–1 | Mitchell Center (2,612) Mobile, AL |
| 12/08/2016* 6:30 pm, CBSSN | | Vanderbilt | W 71–48 | 9–1 | Murphy Center (9,606) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 12/14/2016* 7:00 pm | | at Belmont | W 79–66 | 10–1 | Curb Event Center (2,469) Nashville, TN |
| 12/17/2016* 6:00 pm, ASN | | at VCU | L 77–80 | 10–2 | Siegel Center (7,637) Richmond, VA |
| 12/21/2016* 6:30 pm | | Georgia State | L 56–64 | 10–3 | Murphy Center (4,502) Murfreesboro, TN |
| Conference USA regular season ||||||
| 01/01/2017 3:00 pm, CI | | UAB | W 60–49 | 11–3 (1–0) | Murphy Center (4,227) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 01/05/2017 7:00 pm, beIN | | at Rice | W 80–77 | 12–3 (2–0) | Tudor Fieldhouse (1,513) Houston, TX |
| 01/07/2017 2:00 pm | | at North Texas | W 79–68 | 13–3 (3–0) | The Super Pit (2,263) Denton, TX |
| 01/12/2017 7:00 pm, beIN | | Marshall | W 69–57 | 14–3 (4–0) | Murphy Center (4,598) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 01/14/2017 7:00 pm, ASN | | WKU | W 91–76 | 15–3 (5–0) | Murphy Center (6,806) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 01/19/2017 6:00 pm | | at FIU | W 65–52 | 16–3 (6–0) | FIU Arena (1,401) Miami, FL |
| 01/21/2017 6:00 pm | | at Florida Atlantic | W 86–57 | 17–3 (7–0) | FAU Arena (1,344) Boca Raton, FL |
| 01/26/2017 6:30 pm, ESPN3 | | Southern Miss | W 72–56 | 18–3 (8–0) | Murphy Center (5,498) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 01/28/2017 5:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Louisiana Tech | W 71–61 | 19–3 (9–0) | Murphy Center (7,805) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 02/02/2017 7:00 pm | | at UTSA | W 69–59 | 20–3 (10–0) | Convocation Center (1,080) San Antonio, TX |
| 02/04/2017 8:00 pm, ASN | | at UTEP | L 54–57 | 20–4 (10–1) | Don Haskins Center (6,803) El Paso, TX |
| 02/09/2017 7:00 pm, beIN | | Old Dominion | W 64–51 | 21–4 (11–1) | Murphy Center (6,209) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 02/11/2017 5:00 pm, CI | | Charlotte | W 70–55 | 22–4 (12–1) | Murphy Center (5,720) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 02/16/2017 8:00 pm, CBSSN | | at WKU | W 78–52 | 23–4 (13–1) | E. A. Diddle Arena (4,385) Bowling Green, KY |
| 02/18/2017 5:00 pm, ASN | | at Marshall | W 97–86 | 24–4 (14–1) | Cam Henderson Center (7,620) Huntington, WV |
| 02/26/2017 12:00 pm, CBSSN | | at UAB | W 66–64 | 25–4 (15–1) | Bartow Arena (3,371) Birmingham, AL |
| 03/02/2017 6:30 pm, ESPN3 | | FIU | W 70–67 | 26–4 (16–1) | Murphy Center (5,510) Murfreesboro, TN |
| 03/04/2017 5:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Florida Atlantic | W 93–59 | 27–4 (17–1) | Murphy Center (8,806) Murfreesboro, TN |
| Conference USA tournament ||||||
| 03/09/2017 11:30 am, ASN | (1) | vs. (9) UTSA Quarterfinals | W 86–70 | 28–4 | Legacy Arena (3,654) Birmingham, AL |
| 03/10/2017 11:30 am, CBSSN | (1) | vs. (4) UTEP Semifinals | W 82–56 | 29–4 | Legacy Arena (3,299) Birmingham, AL |
| 03/11/2017 7:30 pm, CBSSN | (1) | vs. (6) Marshall Championship | W 83–72 | 30–4 | Legacy Arena (3,956) Birmingham, AL |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| 03/16/2017* 3:00 pm, TNT | (12 S) | vs. (5 S) Minnesota First Round | W 81–72 | 31–4 | BMO Harris Bradley Center (17,303) Milwaukee, WI |
| 03/18/2017* 6:10 pm, TBS | (12 S) | vs. (4 S) No. 21 Butler Second Round | L 65–74 | 31–5 | BMO Harris Bradley Center (18,045) Milwaukee, WI |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. S=South Source. All times are in Central Time. ||||||

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | Not released |
| Coaches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | 25 | RV |
*AP does not release post-NCAA tournament rankings