By: Ryley Collom, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications & Digital Media
RIVERSIDE--- The California Baptist University men's basketball team will continue its extended road stretch with away games at Middle Tennessee and Fresno State this coming week.
The Lancers are 5-5 to begin their season and are coming off a great showing at Viejas Arena against #23 San Diego State on Wednesday evening. CBU gave the #23 Aztecs all they could handle in the matchup, netting 45% of their field goals, the best mark against the top-ranked defense this season. The Lancers also became just the fifth team to score 75+ points at Viejas Arena in the past five years, adding to CBU's gritty road performance. CBU has also put together strong showings against ACC opponent SMU at the Acrisure Holiday Invitational and impressive wins over Kennesaw State and Fresno State in their non-conference slate.
CBU's week will begin on Monday evening as they travel to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to take on Middle Tennessee State. The matchup will be the second part of the scheduling initiative between the Western Athletic Conference and Conference USA, with part one taking place in Riverside in a win over Kennesaw State in early November. It will be the second all-time meeting between CBU and MTSU, with the only other game occurring in the CBI Tournament in 2022 when CBU lost 61-56 to the Blue Raiders in Dayton Beach, Florida.
MTSU has enjoyed a successful start to its 2024-25 campaign, boasting a 7-3 overall record and a 3-1 record at home in the Murphy Center. The Blue Raiders have impressive wins over UAB, South Florida, and Abilene Christian, and their losses have come at the hands of Murray State, Bradley, and Belmont. Middle Tennessee was picked to finish fourth in the Conference USA preseason poll, and its backcourt combo of Jestin Porter and Camryn Weston were both All-Conference honorees. Porter is the leader of the MTSU offense, averaging nearly 17 points per game while shooting over 40% from the perimeter. Porter and Weston have helped the Blue Raiders to have a top-50 scoring offense in the nation in the early going, averaging nearly 83 points per contest as a unit. Middle Tennessee is also a top-four team in the nation at defending the three-point stripe, only allowing the opposition to shoot 25% from distance.
The second part of the week will come on Saturday, December 21, as the Lancers head north to face the Bulldogs of Fresno State. This will be the second time CBU has faced Fresno State this season after facing them in the Third Place Game of the Acrisure Holiday Invitational over the Thanksgiving Break. In the first meeting, the Lancers bested the Bulldogs in a double OT thriller 86-81, led by some late-game heroics from Dominique Daniels Jr. and others. Daniels Jr. connected on a 35-foot triple with two seconds remaining in regulation to send the game into the first overtime and would score nearly half of his 29 points in the fourth quarter and overtime periods to lead CBU to victory in the desert clash.
The Bulldogs are 3-7 to begin the season and are in the middle of a five-game losing streak. Fresno State has been on the wrong side of a tough non-conference schedule that has included games against #23 San Diego State, BYU, Washington State, and UC Santa Barbara. The Mountain West squad will face the University of San Diego before hosting the Lancers.
CBU enters the week as one of the best teams in the NCAA at the charity stripe and taking care of the basketball. The Lancers boast a top 30 free throw percentage in the NCAA this season, converting 78.2% of their attempts. CBU has also taken care of the basketball at an exceptional rate to begin the season, ranking #1 in the WAC in the fewest turnovers per game and #38 in the nation with 10.2 per contest. CBU has posted single-digit turnovers in five games this season and less than 14 turnovers in all but one game this season.
Daniels Jr. has been the driver of the CBU offense this season and leads all WAC players in scoring while also being 12th in the nation, averaging 21.7 points per contest. He is also 14th in the country in field goals made with 76, 57th in free throws made, and 15th in the nation in total points with 217. Daniels Jr. scored a season-high 33 points in a loss at UCF on Dec. 1 while accounting for 70% of CBU's total offense in the game. He has surpassed the 20-point barrier in six of the ten games this season and has recorded double-digit outputs in every game for the Lancers.
GAME INFORMATION:
CBU at Middle Tennessee
DATE/TIME:Â Dec. 16 @4:30 PM PT
LOCATION:Â Murphy Center- Murfreesboro, TN
WATCH:Â ESPN+
CBU at Fresno State
DATE/TIME: Dec. 21 @2PM PT
LOCATION: Save Mart Center- Fresno, CA
WATCH: Mountain West Network
