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MSU Hosts Rival Salukis on Black Out Day at JQH

MSU Hosts Rival Salukis on Black Out Day at JQH

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GAME 23 - Missouri State Bears (15-7, 5-4 MVC) vs. Southern Illinois Salukis (13-9, 5-4 MVC)
Date and Time Saturday, January 27, 2018 | 5:00 p.m.
Location JQH Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Mo.
Tickets Southern Illinois Game
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television ESPNU (Chuckie Kempf, Dino Gaudio) | ESPN3
Series Southern Illinois leads 45-27 | Last Meeting: SIU 85, MSU 84 (ot) (1/28/17) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Southern Illinois | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next The Bears host Illinois State Tuesday, Jan. 30 at 7 p.m. to close out the month | Tickets
Promotions $15 Lower-Level chairback tickets (game-day sale only) | Black Out | Black Out T-shirts for first 1,000 fans and first 1,000 students | Men's Basketball Alumni Reunion | Coaches vs. Cancer |  Tickets

Missouri State returns to JQH Arena on Saturday afternoon to take on long-time rival Southern Illinois on Black Out Day at JQH Arena. The Bears put a 9-1 home ledger on the line against the Salukis for the nationally-televised game on ESPNU.

Series History
  • The Bears and Salukis first met in 1957 in a rivalry that has seen SIU take a 45-37 lead.  The Bears are 23-15 at home against the Salukis, including a 6-3 mark at JQH Arena.
  • SIU has won five straight in the series, including regular-season sweeps the last two seasons.
  • Last year, the Salukis stole a 75-67 win at JQH Arena (Jan. 7) behind 22 points by Mike Rodriguez and 17 second-chance tallies. The Bears shot 49.1 percent from the field, but couldn't erase an 8-point halftime deficit. Jarred Dixon and Dequon Miller led MSU with 15 points apiece, while Obediah Church and Alize Johnson scored 11 apiece.  BOX SCORE
  • In the rematch in Carbondale (Jan. 28), Sean O'Brien went 11-for-13 from the field to lead SIU to an 85-84 overtime win. The Bears led by a dozen at the half, but 11-1 and 10-0 runs by SIU led the home team's comeback. O'Brien finished with 24 for SIU, while MSU got 26 points and 4 treys from Alize Johnson, 15 from Dequon Miller and 14 by Jarred Dixon. BOX SCORE
The Ten Count
  • Both teams will be participating in the NABC's annual Suits and Sneakers event as part of today's game. The week unites coaches across the country to raise funds and awareness about the fight against cancer and promotes the American Cancer Society as a source of inspiration and hope for those in the fight against cancer. #SuitsAndSneakers
  • Obediah Church (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) is just 1 blocked shot 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 166 career rejections.
  • Bears' head coach Paul Lusk scored 1,610 points as a player at Southern Illinois from 1992-95 and played in three NCAA Tournaments for the Salukis. He also served as an assistant coach at SIU for the 2003-04 season. Other former Saluki players who have recently served at Missouri State include assistant coaches Brad Korn (1999-2004), Derrick Tilmon (1997-2000), Kent Williams (1999-2003) and Kyle Smithpeters (2004-06). Current SIU head coach Barry Hinson was 169-117 (.591) in 9 seasons (1999-2008) as head coach of the Bears.
  • The Bears are averaging 40.3 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.
  • Ronnie Rousseau III (Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio) is coming off team highs with 10 points and 4 assists at Bradley. It was Rousseau's fourth consecutive start and just his second double-figure scoring effort in Valley play (16 at Illinois St.).
  • Jarrid Rhodes (Sr., Palmetto, Fla.) has knocked down a 3-pointer in 8 of 9 conferences and has multiple treys in 5 of those. In league play, he is 19-of-43 (.442) from long range with 2.1 threes per game, which ranks 5th in the MVC.
  • Jarred Dixon (Jr., Kansas City, Mo.) eclipsed 700 career points in Tuesday's game at Bradley. He now ranks 74th in program history in scoring and would move up seven spots on that list with his next 20 points. Teammate Alize Johnson (814 points) ranks 44th in career scoring. His next 20 points would push him up to No. 39.
  • Missouri State is a statistical anomaly when it comes to turnovers. The Bears lead the MVC in fewest turnovers (12.18 per game), but rank last in the Valley in turnover margin (-1.7). MSU opponents are averaging just 10.5 turns per game, which would rank a team in the top 10 in the nation. The Bears collect just 4.9 steals per game (10th in MVC).
  • In its last four losses, Missouri State has averaged just 10 free throw attempts per game, but shooting .700 at the line.
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) continues to lead the MVC in rebounding for the second year in a row and ranks 5th nationally with 11.5 boards per game. His 8.32 defensive rebounds per game leads all Division I players. .
Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 103-113 (.477) in his seventh season at MSU and 105-136 (.436) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 50-67 in MVC games (34-24 at home, 16-43 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, 28-58 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. Lusk is 7-7 all-time against SIU, including a 4-2 mark at JQH 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.

MVC Standings
 
Loyola Chicago 7-2 17-4
Drake 6-3 12-10
Missouri State 5-4 15-7
Bradley 5-4 15-7
Southern Illinois 5-4 13-9
Indiana State 5-4 10-11
Illinois State 4-5 10-11
Evansville 3-6 13-9
Northern Iowa 3-6 11-10
Valparaiso 2-7 11-11
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