March Madness will come two months early to the midstate today.
Already flirting with its best regular season in program history, MTSU travels to Vanderbilt in hopes of knocking off the Commodores to take its 2011-12 season into the stratosphere.
Tipoff is 1 p.m. at Memorial Gym.
After seeing the potential importance of the matchup long ago, MTSU coach Kermit Davis said he?s elated the game has finally arrived.
?It was a hard thing to win 12 in a row to get to this game, which has been anticipated for a long time,? Davis said. ?People in the media have been asking me about this game for about three or four weeks.
?It?s great for basketball in our area. At the end of January to have two teams with those kinds of records playing, tickets are going to be in high demand and it?s just great.?
It took two hot streaks for the game to match its potential hype. MTSU (20-2, 9-0 Sun Belt) has won 12 games in a row and reached 20 wins for the first time in 21 years. Vanderbilt (15-5, 5-1 SEC) has won nine of its last 10 games, including a 65-47 dismantling of Tennessee on Tuesday.
Both teams are briefly stepping away from their conference races. The Blue Raiders are 9-0 atop the Sun Belt for their best league record in team history, while Vanderbilt is behind only Kentucky in the SEC.
?Anytime we take on this challenge of playing a local team, it?s a big game for them because of us being sort of the SEC team and that sort of thing,? Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. ?We know that will require our preparation and readiness to be even more at a high level.?
MTSU?s postseason r?sum? already includes winning non-conference games over Ole Miss and UCLA and conference front-runners Akron (Mid-American), Belmont (Atlantic Sun) and Loyola Marymount (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference).
But a win today would greatly improve MTSU?s chances at breaking the Top 25 for the first time in program history and ultimately ending its 23-year NCAA tournament drought.
?We have to go in there with confidence. We did that to beat UCLA and Ole Miss, and we?ll have to do the same thing at Vanderbilt,? MTSU senior LaRon Dendy said. ?I hear a lot of people, and everyone?s saying this is a big game. We are going in there with winning on our mind. We know how big of a game this is for us, for the fans and for everyone who?s doubting us.
?For us, this is kind of like shocking the nation. Everybody thinks we?re going to lose. Going into Vanderbilt, I think it would shock everyone if we did win. But we know we can take care of business there.?
Vanderbilt has won 15 of the last 16 over MTSU in the series. The Blue Raiders last beat the Commodores at Murphy Center in 1995.
Unlike past matchups, MTSU might have a lineup to compete toe-to-toe with the Commodores.
Dendy, a 6-foot-9 Iowa State transfer, leads a deep squad that touts 10 players averaging at least 12 minutes per game. They will face Vanderbilt?s trio of guard John Jenkins, small forward Jeffery Taylor and 6-11 center Festus Ezeli.
?(Jenkins and Taylor) are two great players. At their positions, they?re the best in the SEC,? Davis said. ?(Taylor) is the best 3-man in the SEC, and (Jenkins) is the best 2-guard in the SEC. We?ve been a really good defensive team, and we have to be really physical with them.?
Ezeli expects a high-energy atmosphere at Memorial Gym.
?Every game is a big game. I expect (MTSU) to come out fired up,? Ezeli said. ?It?s in-state rivals ... not rivals, but we?re in-state. So it?s going to kind of be a rivalry game.?
Already flirting with its best regular season in program history, MTSU travels to Vanderbilt in hopes of knocking off the Commodores to take its 2011-12 season into the stratosphere.
Tipoff is 1 p.m. at Memorial Gym.
After seeing the potential importance of the matchup long ago, MTSU coach Kermit Davis said he?s elated the game has finally arrived.
?It was a hard thing to win 12 in a row to get to this game, which has been anticipated for a long time,? Davis said. ?People in the media have been asking me about this game for about three or four weeks.
?It?s great for basketball in our area. At the end of January to have two teams with those kinds of records playing, tickets are going to be in high demand and it?s just great.?
It took two hot streaks for the game to match its potential hype. MTSU (20-2, 9-0 Sun Belt) has won 12 games in a row and reached 20 wins for the first time in 21 years. Vanderbilt (15-5, 5-1 SEC) has won nine of its last 10 games, including a 65-47 dismantling of Tennessee on Tuesday.
Both teams are briefly stepping away from their conference races. The Blue Raiders are 9-0 atop the Sun Belt for their best league record in team history, while Vanderbilt is behind only Kentucky in the SEC.
?Anytime we take on this challenge of playing a local team, it?s a big game for them because of us being sort of the SEC team and that sort of thing,? Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. ?We know that will require our preparation and readiness to be even more at a high level.?
MTSU?s postseason r?sum? already includes winning non-conference games over Ole Miss and UCLA and conference front-runners Akron (Mid-American), Belmont (Atlantic Sun) and Loyola Marymount (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference).
But a win today would greatly improve MTSU?s chances at breaking the Top 25 for the first time in program history and ultimately ending its 23-year NCAA tournament drought.
?We have to go in there with confidence. We did that to beat UCLA and Ole Miss, and we?ll have to do the same thing at Vanderbilt,? MTSU senior LaRon Dendy said. ?I hear a lot of people, and everyone?s saying this is a big game. We are going in there with winning on our mind. We know how big of a game this is for us, for the fans and for everyone who?s doubting us.
?For us, this is kind of like shocking the nation. Everybody thinks we?re going to lose. Going into Vanderbilt, I think it would shock everyone if we did win. But we know we can take care of business there.?
Vanderbilt has won 15 of the last 16 over MTSU in the series. The Blue Raiders last beat the Commodores at Murphy Center in 1995.
Unlike past matchups, MTSU might have a lineup to compete toe-to-toe with the Commodores.
Dendy, a 6-foot-9 Iowa State transfer, leads a deep squad that touts 10 players averaging at least 12 minutes per game. They will face Vanderbilt?s trio of guard John Jenkins, small forward Jeffery Taylor and 6-11 center Festus Ezeli.
?(Jenkins and Taylor) are two great players. At their positions, they?re the best in the SEC,? Davis said. ?(Taylor) is the best 3-man in the SEC, and (Jenkins) is the best 2-guard in the SEC. We?ve been a really good defensive team, and we have to be really physical with them.?
Ezeli expects a high-energy atmosphere at Memorial Gym.
?Every game is a big game. I expect (MTSU) to come out fired up,? Ezeli said. ?It?s in-state rivals ... not rivals, but we?re in-state. So it?s going to kind of be a rivalry game.?
