MURFREESBORO, TN – Toledo wasn't able to recover from a 15-2 Middle Tennessee spurt midway through the first half on Tuesday evening as the Rockets suffered an 80-70 setback to the Blue Raiders at the Murphy Center.

Senior forward Steve Taylor Jr. topped Toledo (2-2) with 17 points, 10 rebounds and five assists. Senior guard Jonathan Williams was the only other Rocket to score in double figures with 12 points, with all of his scoring coming in the second half. Redshirt freshman center Luke Knapke also added a season-high nine points and seven rebounds.

Senior forward JaCorey Williams paced the Blue Raiders (3-1) with 18 points, while senior forward Reggie Upshaw contributed 16 points, five rebounds and a team-best three blocked shots.

UT shot just 32.3 percent in the first half and finished the contest with a 43.1 shooting mark. Middle Tennessee posted a 51.5 FG%, including a 58.6 conversion rate in the opening 20 minutes.

The Blue Raiders out-rebounded the Rockets by a 40-32 margin and held a 44-28 advantage in points in the paints and a 14-2 edge in fast-break points.

"Middle Tennessee is extremely long and athletic and their matchup zone caused us to turn the ball over too many times," said Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk of his team's 14 miscues. "We weren't aggressive enough. We were too timid with our passes which led to layups in transition. We're not moving the basketball well enough, and it's something that will be corrected."

The Blue Raiders' Williams scored the game's first six points, but the Rockets reduced their deficit to 10-8 on Knapke's layup at the 14:45 mark. Sophomore forward Taylor Adway's jumper trimmed the hosts' lead to 21-18 with 8:18 remaining in the half, but the Blue Raiders scored nine straight points to take a double-digit lead to take control.

Toledo returns to action on Friday, Nov. 25 when it opens the Challenge in the Music City with a 6:00 p.m. (ET) matchup vs. Evansville.