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Missouri State

Alize Johnson

Hungry Bears Seek Road Win at Bradley

January 21, 2018

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 22 - Missouri State Bears (15-6, 5-3 MVC) at Bradley Braves (14-7, 4-4 MVC)
Date and Time Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 | 7:00 p.m.
Location Carver Arena (11,442) | Peoria, Ill.
Tickets Bradley Game
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television KOZL-TV (Tom Ackerman, Ray Giacoletti) | Missouri State Television Network | ESPN3
Series Missouri State leads 37-20 | Last Meeting: BU 77, MSU 68 (2/22/17)
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Bradley | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next The Bears return to JQH Arena on Saturday, Jan. 27 to play arch rival Southern Illinois at 5 p.m. on "Black Out" day and Men's Basketball Alumni Day.

Missouri State (15-6, 5-3 MVC) looks for its first Valley road victory in four tries Tuesday when the Bears travel to Bradley for a 7 p.m. game at Carver Arena in Peoria.

Series History
  • The series between the Bears and Braves began when MSU joined The Valley for the 1990-91 season. Missouri State leads the rivalry, 37-20, with seven wins in the last nine meetings.
  • The clubs split the regular-season series last season with the Bears winning the opener, 76-62, in Springfield (Jan. 21). The Bears used a 10-0 run late in the second half to gain their 100th win at JQH Arena. Dequon Miller led the home side with a career-high 24 points, while Chris Kendrix scored 17, and Alize Johnson posted 13 points and 13 rebounds. Donte Thomas led BU with 17 points.
  • In the rematch in Peoria (Feb. 22), the Braves won a 77-68 decision at Carver Arena. Miller again scored a career high for MSU with 26 points, with Johnson and Jarrid Rhodes scoring 13 apiece. Bradley used a 14-2 run late in the second half to secure the win. Luuk van Bree scored 17 for BU.
The Ten Count
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) ranks 2nd nationally in rebounds per game (11.9), and leads the nation in defensive rebounds per game (8.62).
  • The Bears jumped to No. 5 in the NCAA rankings in 3-point field goal defense, with opponents making good on just 29.0 percent (130 of 448) of their long range shots (6.19 per game).
  • Jarrid Rhodes (Sr., Palmetto, Fla.) is averaging 10.5 points per game in two previous meetings against Bradley, also making 5-of-9 (.556) from 3-point range against the Braves.
  • Jarred Dixon (Jr., Kansas City, Mo.) is this week's Coors Player of the Week after he averaged 14.0 points during a 2-1 week for Missouri State. Dixon posted a team-best 35.7 minutes per game, made 13-of-29 (.448) field goals and contributed 5 assists and 3 steals on the week with 8 rebounds. He led MSU in scoring (15) and assists (4) at Drake.
  • Dixon now ranks 76th on MSU's career scoring list and needs just  4 points to reach 700 in his 84-game career.
  • The Bears are averaging 40.5 rebounds per game, the team's best of its Division I era (since 1982-83) and most since 1979-80 (43.8). The club's best carom average of the DI era is 39.0 in 1995-96.
  • Ryan Kreklow (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) has knocked down a 3-pointer in three straight games. He has 107 career triples and needs just 5 more to move into the program's all-time top 10 in that category.
  • The Bears committed just 8 turnovers in Saturday's game at Drake, matching a season low. It was also the fewest turnovers by Missouri State in a road game this season and fewest overall since 4 vs. Oral Roberts on Dec. 14, 2016.
  • Reggie Scurry (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.) has been MSU's first substitute off the bench in 14 games this season and has 2 starts.
  • Obediah Church (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) is just 5 blocked shots away from matching Danny Moore (1996-99) for the top spot on MSU's career block list. Church leads the MVC with 2.0 blocks per game and has 162 career rejections.
  • Alize Johnson reached 600 career rebounds in Saturday's game at Drake, making him just the 17th Bear to reach that milestone. He is also the first two-year MSU player since Mike Robinson (650 from 1978-80) to reach 600 boards.
  • The Bears (62.3 ppg.) and Braves (62.7 ppg) rank 13th and 14th, respectively, in the NCAA scoring defense rankings.
  • MSU eclipsed 500 bench points for the season in Saturday's game at Drake. For the year, the Bears are averaging 24.2 points per game from their reserves and are 12-4 when outscoring the opponents' bench.
Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 103-112 (.479) in his seventh season at MSU and 105-135 (.438) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 50-66 in MVC games (34-24 at home, 16-42 on the road), 4-6 in MVC Tournament games and 49-40 against all non-conference foes (32-13 at JQH Arena, 12-15 away and 5-12 at neutral sites). In all games, he is 66-37 at home, 28-57 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. Lusk is 9-3 all-time against Bradley (3-3 at Carver Arena).
  • 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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