1986–87 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team

The 1986–87 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball team represented Middle Tennessee State University during the 1986–87 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Blue Raiders, led by first-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 22–7, 11–3 in OVC play to finish atop the regular season standings. In the OVC tournament, they were upset by Austin Peay in the semifinals, but did receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament. As the No. 12 seed in the West region, they were defeated by No. 5 seed Notre Dame, 84–71, in the opening round.^[2]

1986–87 Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders men's basketball

OVC Regular season champions
NCAA tournament, First Round
Conference	Ohio Valley Conference
Record	22–7 (11–3 OVC)
Head coach	Bruce Stewart (3rd season)
Home arena	Murphy Center
Seasons ← 1985–86 1987–88 →

1986–87 Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball standings
v t e	Conf				Overall
Team	W		L	PCT	W		L	PCT
Middle Tennessee	11	–	3	.786	22	–	7	.759
Akron	9	–	5	.643	21	–	9	.700
Eastern Kentucky	9	–	5	.643	19	–	11	.633
Austin Peay †	8	–	6	.571	14	–	14	.500
Morehead State	8	–	6	.571	14	–	14	.500
Murray State	6	–	8	.429	13	–	15	.464
Youngstown State	4	–	10	.286	11	–	17	.393
Tennessee Tech	1	–	13	.071	7	–	20	.259
Tennessee State	-	–	-	–	15	–	12	.556

† 1987 OVC tournament winner Rankings from AP poll^[1]

Roster edit

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Name	Height	Weight	Year	Previous school	Hometown
G		Duane Washington	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	Sr

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site (attendance) city, state
Regular season
Dec 20, 1986*		at Marshall	L 85–87	3–1	Henderson Center Huntington, West Virginia
Dec 29, 1986*		vs. Michigan UAB Classic	W 85–83	5–1	Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Birmingham, Alabama
Dec 30, 1986*		at UAB UAB Classic	L 91–93 ^OT	5–2	Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Birmingham, Alabama
OVC tournament
Mar 6, 1987*		Austin Peay Semifinals	L 83–87	19–6	Murphy Center Murfreesboro, Tennessee
NCAA tournament
Mar 12, 1987*	(12 E)	vs. (5 E) No. 18 Notre Dame First round	L 71–84	22–7	Charlotte Coliseum Charlotte, North Carolina
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. E=East Source^[3]^[4]. All times are in Central Time.

^ sports-reference.com 1986-87 Ohio Valley Conference Season Summary
^ "Rivers Gives Irish Jump Start". Orlando Sentinel. March 13, 1987. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ "2019-20 Middle Tennessee Men's Basketball Media Guide" (PDF). Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
^ "1986-87 Men's Basketball Schedule". Middle Tennessee State University Athletics. Retrieved May 21, 2023.