1988–89 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team

1988–89 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball
1988–89 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball
OVC regular season & tournament champions
NCAA tournament, second round
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	23–8 (10–2 OVC)
Head coach	Bruce Stewart (5th season);
Home arena	Murphy Center

1988–89 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf.				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
†	10	–	2	.833	23	–	8	.742
Murray State	10	–	2	.833	19	–	11	.633
Austin Peay	8	–	4	.667	18	–	12	.600
Morehead State	5	–	7	.417	15	–	16	.484
Eastern Kentucky	4	–	8	.333	7	–	22	.241
Tennessee Tech	3	–	9	.250	10	–	20	.333
Tennessee State	2	–	10	.167	4	–	24	.143

† 1989 OVC tournament winner Rankings from AP Poll^[1]

The 1988–89 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team represented Middle Tennessee State University during the 1988–89 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Blue Raiders, led by fifth-year head coach Bruce Stewart, played their home games at the Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and were members of the Ohio Valley Conference. They finished the season 23–8, 10–2 in OVC play to win the regular season championship. In the OVC tournament, they defeated Eastern Kentucky and Austin Peay to receive the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 13 seed in the Southeast region, they defeated Florida State in the first round before losing in the second round to Virginia.

Roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G		Chris Rainey	5 ft 11 in (1.8 m)	—	Sr
F		Randy Henry	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	—	Sr

Head coach

Bruce Stewart

Assistant coach(es)

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible
(W) Walk-on

Injured
Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Non-conference regular season
Nov 28, 1988*		Kennesaw State	W 93–56	1–0	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Dec 3, 1988*		at Wright State	L 71–88	1–1	WSU Physical Education Building Dayton, Ohio
Dec 5, 1988*		at Akron	L 65–81	1–2	James A. Rhodes Arena Akron, Ohio
Dec 8, 1988*		Tennessee Wesleyan	W 143–68	2–2	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Dec 10, 1988*		Alabama State	W 111–83	3–2	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Dec 17, 1988*		at Chattanooga	W 88–87	4–2	McKenzie Arena Chattanooga, Tennessee
Dec 20, 1988*		Louisiana Tech	W 91–87	5–2	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Dec 22, 1988*		Arkansas State	W 93–92 ^2OT	6–2	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Dec 27, 1988*		vs. Clemson Far West Classic Quarterfinal	L 77–81	6–3	Memorial Coliseum Portland, Oregon
Dec 29, 1988*		vs. Chicago State Far West Classic	W 85–71	7–3	Memorial Coliseum Portland, Oregon
Dec 30, 1988*		vs. Colorado Far West Classic	W 107–105 ^OT	8–3	Memorial Coliseum Portland, Oregon
Jan 4, 1989*		at Alabama State	L 96–102	8–4	Dunn Arena Montgomery, Alabama
Jan 7, 1989*		Akron	W 99–94	9–4	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Regular season
Jan 9, 1989		Tennessee State	W 89–60	10–4 (1–0)	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Jan 12, 1989*		at Louisiana Tech	L 71–72	10–5	Thomas Assembly Center Ruston, Louisiana
Jan 16, 1989		at Tennessee Tech	W 79–77	11–5 (2–0)	Eblen Center Cookeville, Tennessee
Jan 21, 1989		Eastern Kentucky	W 82–67	12–5 (3–0)	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Jan 23, 1989		Morehead State	W 108–68	13–5 (4–0)	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Jan 28, 1989		at Austin Peay	W 95–84	14–5 (5–0)	Winfield Dunn Center Clarksville, Tennessee
Jan 30, 1989		at Murray State	L 67–71	14–6 (5–1)	Racer Arena Murray, Kentucky
Feb 4, 1989		at Tennessee State	W 104–71	15–6 (6–1)	Gentry Complex Nashville, Tennessee
Feb 8, 1989*		Wright State	W 83–51	16–6	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Feb 11, 1989		Murray State	W 85–84	17–6 (7–1)	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Feb 13, 1989		Austin Peay	W 111–105 ^OT	18–6 (8–1)	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
Feb 18, 1989		at Morehead State	L 99–101	18–7 (8–2)	Ellis Johnson Arena Morehead, Kentucky
Feb 20, 1989		at Eastern Kentucky	W 81–63	19–7 (9–2)	McBrayer Arena Richmond, Kentucky
Feb 25, 1989		Tennessee Tech	W 89–68	20–7 (10–2)	Murphy Athletic Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
OVC tournament
Mar 5, 1989*	(1)	vs. (5) Eastern Kentucky Semifinals	W 81–64	21–7	Nashville Municipal Auditorium Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 9, 1989*	(1)	vs. (3) Austin Peay Championship	W 82–79	22–7	Nashville Municipal Auditorium Nashville, Tennessee
NCAA tournament
Mar 16, 1989*	(13 SE)	vs. (4 SE) No. 16 Florida State First Round	W 97–83^[2]	23–7	Memorial Gymnasium Nashville, Tennessee
Mar 18, 1989*	(13 SE)	vs. (5 SE) Virginia Second Round	L 88–104^[3]	23–8	Memorial Gymnasium (13,453) Nashville, Tennessee
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. SE=Southeast Source^[4]^[5]^[6]. All times are in Central Time.

Rankings

References

^ sports-reference.com 1988-89 Ohio Valley Conference Season Summary
^ "THE BUCK STOPS SEMINOLES IN NCAA OPENER; BLUE RAIDER PLAYS PERFECT GAME". Deseret News. March 17, 1989. Retrieved March 22, 2020.
^ "Cavaliers, Sooners Fill It Up, Spring Into Round of 16". The Washington Post. March 18, 1989. Retrieved March 30, 2025.
^ "2019-20 Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. Retrieved April 20, 2020.
^ "1988-89 Men's Basketball Schedule". Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. Retrieved February 10, 2023.
^ "1988-89 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 24, 2020.

[1] sports-reference.com 1988-89 Ohio Valley Conference Season Summary

[2] "THE BUCK STOPS SEMINOLES IN NCAA OPENER; BLUE RAIDER PLAYS PERFECT GAME". Deseret News. March 17, 1989. Retrieved March 22, 2020.

[3] "Cavaliers, Sooners Fill It Up, Spring Into Round of 16". The Washington Post. March 18, 1989. Retrieved March 30, 2025.

[4] "2019-20 Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. Retrieved April 20, 2020.

[5] "1988-89 Men's Basketball Schedule". Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. Retrieved February 10, 2023.

[6] "1988-89 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders Schedule and Results". Sports Reference. Retrieved April 24, 2020.

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Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball
Venues	Alumni Memorial Gymnasium (1950–1972) Murphy Center (1972–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1913–14 1914–15 1915–22 1922–23 1923–24 1924–25 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25