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Missouri State

Reggie Scurry

Bears Wrap Non-Conference Slate Tuesday at Home

December 17, 2017

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 13 - Missouri State Bears (9-3) vs. Wright State Raiders (7-4)
Date and Time Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 | 7:00 p.m.
Location JQH Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Mo.
Tickets Wright State Game
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television ESPN3 (Corey Riggs, Kelby Stuckey) | Wright State Game
Series First-ever meeting | Last Meeting: none
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Wright State | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next The Bears begin MVC play Friday at home against Loyola at 8 p.m. | Loyola Tickets
Promotions All bleacher tickets for Wright State and Loyola games are just $5 at JQH Arena Box Office

After an eight-day hiatus, the Bears (9-3) return to JQH Arena on Tuesday (7 p.m.) to take on Wright State in the club's final non-conference game of the regular season. Bleacher tickets are just $5 for the Wright State game.

Series History
  • This is the first-ever meeting between the Bears and Raiders.
  • Wright State (Horizon League) head coach Scott Nagy returns three starters from a 20-12 team.

The Ten Count
  • This is Missouri State's final non-conference game of the regular season. The Bears are shooting for 10 non-conference wins before Christmas for just the fourth time since 2000 (2006-07, 2009-10, 2013-14).
  • Obediah Church (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) is 19 blocked shot behind MSU career leader Danny Moore (1996-99) for the top spot on the     program's career list. He has 148 career rejections and also needs just 16 points to reach 500 for his career.
  • Ryan Kreklow (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) is just 2 3-pointers away from 100 for his career. He would become the 15th Bear to achieve that milestone. He is also 18 points from 500 for his career (72 games).
  • Junior Reggie Scurry (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.) has scored 8 or more points off the bench in 10 straight ball games and is averaging 10.2 points -- in just 15.6 minutes -- in that span. Scurry's .598 field goal percentage ranks third in the Missouri Valley.
  • Jarrid Rhodes (Sr., Palmetto, Fla.) has scored in double figures four straight games and is averaging 11.8 points in that span. He is coming off a team-high 14 points at Oral Roberts.
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) has 6 double-doubles on the young season which ranks 9th nationally.
  • Johnson is just 27 rebounds away from 500 for his career (45 games). His 10.6 rebounds per game is the sixth-best in MSU program history.
  • MSU has out-rebounded 11 of 12 opponents this season with double-figure offensive rebounds in all 12 games. MSU enters the week ranked 18th nationally in rebound margin (+9.3).
  • Bears' head coach Paul Lusk is 3 wins away from 100 at Missouri State and 1 win away from 100 for his coaching career, including his one season at Dubuque.
  • Fifth-year center Tanveer Bhullar (Sr., Etobicoke, Ontario) is just 6 points away from 300 for his career (77 games). The New Mexico State transfer has played in the NCAA Tournament two of the last three years.
  • Jarred Dixon (Jr., Kansas City, Mo.) is coming off a career-high 7 assists at Oral Roberts. The point guard is just 7 assists away from 150 for his career (75 games).
  • Wright State is forcing 17.55 turnovers per game -- the 26th-best in the NCAA -- with senior guard Justin Mitchell averaging 2.1 steals.

Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 97-109 (.471) in his seventh season at MSU and 99-132 (.429) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 45-63 in MVC games (30-24 at home, 15-39 on the road), 4-6 in MVC Tournament games and 48-40 against all non-conference foes (31-13 at JQH Arena, 12-15 away and 5-12 at neutral sites). In all games, he is 61-37 at home, 26-54 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. He has never coached against Wright State.
  • The 46-year-old Lusk took the reins as MSU's 17th head coach on April 1, 2011. He came to Springfield after seven seasons at Purdue (2004-11), including his last three as associate head coach there.  Now in his 17th season in the coaching profession, Lusk has previous assistant coaching stops at Southwestern Illinois (1996-97), Missouri Southern (1999-2002) and Southern Illinois (2003-04) in addition to a one-year head coaching stint at (Div. III) Dubuque (2002-03). Lusk has played or coached in 10 NCAA Tournaments.
  • Lusk finished third in the MVC Coach of the Year voting in 2014 and was a finalist for the Skip Prosser Man of the Year Award that same year. He was also named one of the Top 25 high-major assistants by FoxSports.com in 2010, and CollegeSportsMadness.com named him MVC coach of the year in 2012. He is a member of the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame after scoring 2,743 points during a highly-touted prep career at Wesclin High in New Baden, Ill. He went on to play 107 college games at Iowa and Southern Illinois, earning All-MVC second-team honors in 1994 for the Salukis.
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