Southern Miss Preview

Middle Tennessee heads down to Hattiesburg, Mississippi this weekend hopeful to win two against Southern Miss and build their first winning streak of the season. The Golden Eagles are 5-6 (1-3 in conference) on the year. They finished 13th in C-USA last year, were picked to finish 13th this year, and currently are tied for 12th (so almost 13th) in the early conference standings.

Junior forward Tyler Stevenson is the team's leading scorer (12.6) and rebounder (7.1), ranking 20th and 5th in the conference respectively. The team's rebounding percentage ranks in the top third of college basketball, and although they have shot the ball poorly on the year, they are heating up of late, ranking 2nd in 3P% and 3rd in FT% in the conference within C-USA play.

Southern Miss has had trouble taking care of the basketball, ranking in the 320's in KenPom's turnover percentage and non-steal turnover percentage. MTSU is even worse in TO% (335th), but do rank 17th in the nation in TO% defense. Given neither of these teams have shot the ball well, and they both are effected by turnover and or rebounding margins, whoever finishes with the most shots could determine the victor of each game.

MTSU had a very encouraging performance against FIU in their second game last weekend. The offense looked really good, especially in the first half, despite the team being short handed on short rest. They reestablished the belief that this team can compete in C-USA this year despite looking underwhelming several times in nonconference. Taking care of business against a team like USM is essential for those beliefs though, as it will give them more wiggle room in games against teams at the top of the conference.

The school announced today that both games this weekend will be broadcasted by ESPN+. Friday's game will start at 7 pm CT and Saturday's will begin at 5 CT. Follow along for analysis on twitter @GoMiddle_Oliver.