HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Middle Tennessee State's men's basketball team had shown marked improvement this season entering Friday's Conference USA tournament semifinal at Propst Arena.

None of that showed up Friday, however, as the seventh-seeded Blue Raiders lost 85-54 to rival and No. 3 seed Western Kentucky, ending a disappointing season at 14-19.

"We have been a much different team the last couple of months than we were in December and January . . . today we did not show that," MTSU coach Nick McDevitt said. "We picked a bad day to have a bad day. We did not play well. We had 18 turnovers and got outrebounded."

Western Kentucky was scorching from 3-point range in the first half, going 8 of 13 and finishing 11 of 21. The Hilltoppers also forced 12 turnovers before halftime in building a 46-27 lead.

WKU finished the half on a 9-0 run and started the second with a 17-7 run, all but putting the game out of reach.

"We looked very different today than we did Wednesday (a 70-67 upset over No. 2 seed Louisiana Tech)," McDevitt said. "Wednesday we looked the part of a team that could play (in Saturday's championship). Today we just weren't very good at really much."

Junior point guard Jestin Porter, who came on strong as the team's go-to scorer late in the season, led MTSU with 14 points. But he got little help offensively.

Porter, along with every player but senior guard Elias King, is eligible to return next season. How will the Blue Raiders take the next step after playing at a high level late in the 2023-24 season?

What does MTSU men's basketball need to improve?

MTSU started the season 6-13, and even when it performed better in the second half, there were inconsistencies that prevented it from getting more wins.

A big part of that, and the subpar season as a whole, was the loss of senior starting point guard Cam Weston. McDevitt said Weston's rehab from a torn ACL has gone well and he is eligible to return for a redshirt season.

"Once Cam went down, it forced a lot of maneuvering around, particularly with (Porter), who had to go from playing off the ball to having to figure out how to (both) play the point and score the ball," McDevitt said.

But the Blue Raiders have to find more pieces, where the loss of such a valuable player doesn't have the team playing from behind the 8-ball and needing weeks to catch up.

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A healthy Weston and a true shooter in Porter would give the Blue Raiders as good a backcourt as any team in CUSA next season. The late-season emergence of MTSU, led by junior center Jared Coleman-Jones and freshman Chris Loofe, is an encouraging sign.

"It's real important," McDevitt said. "You look at (Western Kentucky's) Rodney Howard today and (Louisiana Tech's) Daniel Batcho. When you got guys that are rim protectors at one end and are always open on the other, it's a relief to the perimeter players to know you can always throw it in the post."

Western Kentucky (21-11) advanced to play No. 5 seed UTEP (which upset No. 1 seed Sam Houston State on Friday) in Saturday's championship game at 7:30 p.m. CT (CBS Sports Network).

This article originally appeared on Murfreesboro Daily News Journal: MTSU men's basketball run over by Western Kentucky in CUSA semifinals