University of Memphis Athletics
University of Memphis
Middle Tennessee
Tigers Begin Road Spell at MTSU
Dec 06, 2025 | Women's Basketball
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Memphis women's basketball is back in action after seven days off, taking on Middle Tennessee on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the first of three consecutive road games.
The Tigers (4-5) are amid a 33-day spell away from Elma Roane Fieldhouse, which began on November 25. They won two consecutive home games against ETSU (Nov. 22) and Louisiana (Nov. 25) before the Cayman Islands Classic, where they fell to Florida and St. John's.
Chaé Harris leads the team with 16.6 points per game, knocking down 24 of the team's 48 three-pointers. Daejah Richmond, who has started the last six games, leads the squad with 1.8 steals per contest.
Memphis is looking to win at the Murphy Center for the first time since 1996. The Blue Raiders have won the last six matchups in total, holding a record of 11-5. These teams faced off twice in November 2023, once as a scheduled, regular season matchup in Murfreesboro as well as in the final game of the Bad Boy Mowers Battle 4 Atlantis. MTSU won their home game, 67-47, and pulled away late to win, 64-57, in Nassau.
It will be a reunion between the Tigers and Blue Raiders' head coaches, as Alex Simmons and Rick Insell share a life-long basketball courtship. Insell coached Simmons at Shelbyville Central High School, winning the Tennessee State Championship in 2001, 2003 and 2004. She was a three-time All-State selection, four-time All-District choice and was named as the Mid-State Player of the Year in 2003 under Insell, who coached there for 28 seasons before going to Murfreesboro.
Simmons was also an assistant under Matt Insell, now associate head coach at MTSU, at Ole Miss from 2014 until taking the head coaching job at Gardner-Webb in 2018.
MTSU (3-5) typically plays just eight rotation players, five of them being freshmen. They play one of the slowest tempos in the nation, a stark contrast with the Tigers who rank fifth in pace nationally. Freshman forward Blair Baugus leads the team in points (12.8), rebounds (8.8) and minutes (35.5).
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