PHOTOS: LSU women’s basketball advances to Sweet 16 with win over Middle Tennessee

The Tigers overcame a second-half deficit to cruise to a 27-point win in the second round against the Blue Raiders.

LSU’s women’s basketball team found itself in some danger once again in Sunday’s second-round NCAA Tournament matchup against Middle Tennessee.

The Tigers trailed at the half and by as many as nine points in the third quarter, but they stormed back. LSU outscored the Blue Raiders 41-20 in the final two quarters on its way to what was an ultimately dominating 83-56 win.

Now, they advance to the Sweet 16 for the 16th time and will face the winner of Monday’s game between No. 2-seeded UCLA and No. 7-seeded Creighton. In the meantime, here are the photos from Sunday’s win.

Instant Analysis: LSU women’s basketball pulls away in second half to beat Middle Tennessee, advance to Sweet 16

The Tigers are moving on to their 16th Sweet 16 in program history.

The Tigers struggled early once again, but like in the first round against Rice, coach Kim Mulkey’s team ultimately pulled away to win in the second round of the NCAA tournament against Middle Tennessee State on Sunday.

This time, it trailed at halftime but dominated the second half en route to an 83-56 win. Now, the Tigers will move on to face either No. 2-seeded UCLA or No. 7-seeded Creighton in the Sweet 16.

LSU led for nearly the entire first quarter and by as much as eight in the frame, but a Middle Tennessee three in the final seconds cut the lead to five entering the second quarter.

The Blue Raiders won the second frame, however. They went on a 14-2 run at one point to take a six-point lead — its largest at that point — with less than two minutes to play in the half.

LSU hit a shot to end a 1 of 8 shooting streak in the final minutes of the frame, but it still entered the locker room facing a 36-32 deficit. Middle Tennessee opened the second half hot and stretched its lead out to nine, but LSU quickly answered with a 10-0 run as it erased the deficit and tied the game.

The Tigers stayed hot and ultimately led by 10 entering the fourth after outscoring MTSU 27-13 in the third.

The fourth was more of the same. LSU outscored the Blue Raiders 24-7 in the final quarter as it completely took control. [autotag]Flau’Jae Johnson[/autotag] led the way in this one with 21 points, while [autotag]Angel Reese[/autotag] (20 points, 11 rebounds) and [autotag]Aneesah Morrow[/autotag] (19 points, 13 rebounds) both turned in double-doubles.

LSU shot just 43% in the game and only won the rebounding battle by two, but it forced 16 MTSU turnovers while only committing nine itself.

Now, the Tigers are moving on to their 16th Sweet 16 in program history and will await the winner of the game between the Bruins and Blue Jays, which is set for Monday night.

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Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

2023-2024 College Football Coaching Carousel

Texas A&M hires Duke’s Mike Elko as the coaching carousel continues to spin.

The end of the college football season is here and the coaching carousel is once again getting fired up. This season saw two early head coaching changes within the Big Ten to get an early jump on things, but more coaching changes are popping up as we close in on the end of another regular season around the nation.

We’ll keep track of all of the head coaching changes in our updated coaching carousel tracker to see what head coaches are out and who is replacing them. This will be updated daily as needed with the latest head coaching changes as jobs open up and are filled. As is so often the case in college football, one coaching vacancy being filled will lead to another opening popping up as a result.

As of Thursday, Dec. 8 there are 2 head coaching vacancies in college football, including 1 power conference job to fill. A total of 19 head coaching changes have been made this year.

Below is the updated chart for this year’s edition of the head coaching carousel in college football. After that is a bit more detail on each job opening, listed in alphabetical order.

Areas of concern ahead of Alabama’s Week 1 matchup against Middle Tennessee State

Roll Tide Wire provides its areas of conern ahead of Alabama’s Week 1 matchup against Middle Tennessee State.

The Alabama football team will kick off its 2023 season on Sept. 2 against the Middle Tennessee State Blue Raiders. The Crimson Tide are coming off an 11-2 season in 2022.

Alabama head coach Nick Saban brought in two new coordinators over the offseason. Several other assistant coaches were added to the coaching staff as well.

The Crimson Tide lost several key players to the NFL draft and others to the transfer portal but returned a lot of key pieces from last year. The expectations are high for Alabama heading into the 2023 season. However, there are still some issues that the team will have to address before being considered one of the best teams in the country.

Roll Tide Wire takes a look at some of the areas of concern for Alabama heading into Week 1 against Middle Tennessee State.

Ranking Alabama football’s 2023 opponents by helmets

Ranking Alabama’s 2023 opponents by their helmets!

It seems like the college football offseason lasts forever. Despite feeling adrift without Alabama football, don’t get too dejected, the Crimson Tide will be back on the gridiron in just 111 days when they take on Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 2 inside Bryant-Denny Stadium.

As we do our best to soak up the summer and manage our college football withdrawals, it’s a great time to look at each of Alabama’s 2023 opponents.

There are always conventional ways to look at opponents, whether it’s players, coaches, or schemes, but there is also nothing wrong with having a little fun and looking at each opponent in a different way.

With that being said, I thought it might be interesting to rank each of Alabma’s 2023 opponents by their respective helmets!

Let’s roll!

Middle Tennessee jars Miami with 98-yard TD pass

Middle Tennessee stunned Miami with a 98-yard scoring play

There is a storm brewing in south Florida and we’re not talking about the ongoing hurricane watch.

Rather, Middle Tennessee was ahead of the Hurricanes by two touchdowns when the four quarter started on Saturday.

Miami seemed to have the Blue Raiders where it wanted them … at the MSTU 2.

Chase Cunningham wasn’t about to play it safe. He dropped into the end zone and threw a deep ball that found DJ England-Chisolm.

The 5-foot-7, 150-pound  junior did the rest on the 98-yard touchdown play.

After the PAT, the Blue Raiders were up by 21, 38-17, 15 seconds into the fourth quarter.

The Blue Raiders came into the game as 26-point underdogs.

College Performers of the Week powered by Rapsodo: Middle Tennessee State

Two starts into the spring season, Middle Tennessee State is 2-0.

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Two starts into the spring season, Middle Tennessee State is 2-0. The Blue Raiders held off Utah Valley on Feb. 22 to win the Loyola Intercollegiate by one shot after having won the Pat Hicks Thunderbird Invitational earlier in the month to kick of the spring season.

Middle Tennessee State, ranked No. 81 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, went 29 under at Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, Arizona, a 54-hole total that was the fifth-lowest in program history.

Sophomore Kevin Jegers accounted for a big chunk of that red number, going 16 under on his own to win the individual title by three shots. Michael Barnard (sixth) and Owen Stamper (T-10) also made big contributions.

“Great win for the team,” head coach Mark McEntire said in a school release. “Happy to get the second victory of the spring. Congrats to Kevin Jegers as he broke the record last week and again this week. The guy is a stud. We’ve got a couple weeks off, but we look forward to getting back in action at the Schenkel middle of March.”

The victory continues Middle Tennessee’s strong play from the fall, which included a runner-up finish at the J.T. Poston Invitational and a T-3 at the Trinity Forest Invitational.

Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings: Men’s team | Men’s individual
College golf blog: The Road to Grayhawk

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A Conference USA school will soon unveil a $1 million state-of-the-art golf facility

Middle Tennessee State has unveiled a new golf practice facility at the Blue Raiders’ home course, expected to be complete by year’s end.

A day before the seventh annual Intercollegiate at The Grove, Middle Tennessee State has unveiled a new golf practice facility under construction at the Blue Raiders’ home course.

Built in partnership with and located at The Grove Club, the $1 million, 3,851 square-foot project broke ground Aug. 15 and is expected to be completed by the end of the year.

MTSU — a Conference USA member based in Murfreesboro, which is less than an hour outside of Nashville — secured all of the funding for the project from private donors.

MTSU golf floor plan
The new golf facility at The Grove is projected to be finished by the end of the year. MT Athletic Communications

“This project is a huge step forward for Middle Tennessee Athletics, moving both of our golf programs to the forefront in college golf in terms of facilities,” MTSU athletic director Chris Massaro said in a school release Sunday. “The Grove is an elite golf course, and we believe that the addition of an elite facility gives Blue Raider golfers one of the best places in the country to call home. Our donors provided tremendous support in making this facility possible, and for that we can’t thank them enough.

“Our new golf facility is going to be an outstanding asset, and would also not have been possible without the resources and help of The Grove and its staff, former coaches Whit Turnbow and Brennan Webb for their foresight in starting this project, and the current head coaches of both of our golf programs in Mark McEntire and Chris Adams.”

The new facility features several amenities that will give MTSU golfers the opportunity to practice year-round.

There will be three indoor hitting bays as well as an indoor putting green with multiple slope changes. Two of the indoor hitting bays will include TrackMan simulator studios featuring more than 90 different courses that can be played virtually.

Other features include a players lounge, locker rooms, coaches offices, storage facilities, training facilities and a study area.

All practice areas will have synthetic turf that is installed by Goat Turf.

MTSU Grove facility 2
MT Athletic Communications

“From a collegiate golf standpoint, having a home course that is a top-ranked golf course with what will be the finest training facility in the state is a game-changer on many levels,” McEntire said. “Not only will this help with recruitment, gaining the ability for year-round play and training gives our players a definite edge.”

“I think we are extremely fortunate to have this type of facility on such a great course and to be able to use it for practice whenever we need to, during nice weather but especially during those winter months,” Adams added on. “I have seen a lot of nice facilities, but I truly believe that when completed this will be one of the top facilities around. To have this exceptional facility on an outstanding, championship golf course – it just doesn’t get any better.”

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