Talvin Hester's team handled its business with a 10-point victory over Western Kentucky on Thursday and a 6-point victory over Middle Tennessee on Saturday.

The Dunkin' Dogs are now 15-6 overall and 4-4 in C-USA play. Tech is only two games back in the loss column of first place.

Brooke Stoehr's team fell at Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee this week to fall to 11-8 overall and 4-4 in CUSA play.

Three Things We Learned

1 — Defense is the Ingredient for Success

The defensive end of the floor has always been the calling card for Talvin Hester's teams since he arrived in 2022-2023.

However, Tech has struggled on the defensive end at times throughout the season in 2024-2025 due injuries, rebounding issues, etc.

Hester stated throughout the week that he needed his team to get back to their defensive identity of allowing less than one point per possession and everything else would take care of itself.

Tech was able to do that against both Western Kentucky and Middle Tennessee this week and improved to 40-6 under Hester when doing so.

2 — Al Green and Jordan Crawford step up

Jordan Crawford and Al Green missed last week's road trip at Jacksonville State and Kennesaw State due to injury.

The bench duo returned Thursday night and made their impact felt in a big way.

Green scored 8 of his 11 points in the first half and finished 4/7 from the field in 23 minutes.

Crawford entered the game with 11 minutes remaining in the contest and finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 assists.

3 — Lady Techsters turnover issues

Brooke Stoehr's team is 4-0 at home in conference play. On the road, just the like men, the Lady Techsters are 0-4.

A big reason for that 0-4 start on the road is due to turning the basketball over too frequently.

The Lady Techsters have 32 assists to 80 turnovers on the road in league play.

Two Questions Going Forward

1 — Can the Dunkin' Dogs figure out their shooting issues from three-point range?

Louisiana Tech possesses the #1 offense in terms of efficiency in Conference USA during conference play.

However, the Bulldogs have struggled to shoot it from the outside only shooting 29.8% from 3-point range.

Outside of Jordan Crawford (60% on 5 attempts), Sean Elkinton (45%) and Al Green (42%), no one on the Tech roster is shooting above 33% in league play.

If Tech can start clicking again from the outside they'll become that much more dangerous offensively.

2 — Who is the best team in C-USA on the men's side?

It's a great question.

First off, KenPom ranks C-USA as its 9th best conference in the country. That's the highest the league has been ranked since it was 8th during the 2010-2011 season.

Middle Tennessee, UTEP, and Jacksonville State are currently tied atop the conference standings at 5-2.

The Blue Raiders, Miners, and Gamecocks were picked 4th, 5th, and 8th in the preseason poll.

With eight of the league's ten teams currently within two games its certainly going to be a dogfight to the finish line for the regular season crown.

One Prediction for Next Week

Lady Techsters get their first road conference win at Sam Houston State on Saturday.

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