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Missouri State

Ryan Kreklow

Bears Looking for Breakout Trip to First-Place Loyola

February 01, 2018

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 25 - Missouri State Bears (15-9, 5-6 MVC) vs. Loyola Ramblers (18-5, 8-3 MVC)
Date and Time Saturday, February 3, 2018 | 1:00 p.m.
Location Gentile Arena (4,963) | Chicago, Ill.
Tickets Loyola Game
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television CBS Sports Network (Darren Goldwater, Bob Wenzel)
Series Loyola leads 6-4 | Last Meeting: MSU 64, LUC 59 (12/22/17) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Loyola | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next The Bears travel to Indiana State on Tuesday, Feb. 8 for a 6 p.m. (Central) game in Terre Haute before returning to JQH Arena to play Evansville on Saturday, Feb. 10 (2 p.m.) on Hall of Fame Weekend | Tickets
Promotions Evansville game on Feb. 10: Hall of Fame Weekend | $5 Upper-level tickets | Tickets

The Missouri State Bears look to snap a four-game MVC skid Saturday when they travel to league-leading Loyola for a 1 p.m. tipoff on CBS Sports Network. The Bears are looking for their first-ever series sweep of the Ramblers since the Chicago program joined the conference in 2013-14.

Series History
  • Loyola leads the all-time series, 6-4, including a 5-4 edge in Valley games (3-2 at Gentile Arena).
  • The clubs have split the regular-season series each of the past two seasons. Last year, the Ramblers took a 77-71 decision on Jan. 15 at Gentile Arena with Alize Johnson scoring 20 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the loss. LUC was led by Aundre Jackson who scored 22 points off the bench. Loyola used the momentum of a six-point possession with four minutes left to secure the win. In the rematch at JQH Arena on Jan. 31, MSU used a 16-0 run midway through the second half for an 82-81 overtime win. Four Bears were in double figures, including 15 points by Jarred Dixon, 14 from Alize Johnson and 12 by Obediah Church. Loyola was led by Doyle (21 points) and Jackson (17).
  • Earlier this season at JQH Arena (Dec. 22), the Bears won the Valley opener, 64-59, with Alize Johnson posting game highs 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Bears knocked down 8 treys (5 by Johnson). Reggie Scurry added 18 points for MSU with Ryan Kreklow contributing 10. Cameron Krutwig went 7-of-8 from the field for 18 points for the Ramblers. BOX SCORE
The Ten Count
  • During Missouri State's current four-game losing streak, the Bears and their opponents have posted identical totals in fouls (66), assists (51), turnovers (37), blocked shots (14) and 3-point field goals (28). The biggest discrepancy is in rebounding where all four opponents have out-rebounded the Bears -- collectively 153-136 (-4.2).    
  • In three previous games against the Ramblers, Alize Johnson is averaging 19.3 points and 11.0 rebounds per game, converting 7-of-15 (.467) 3-point attempts against Loyola in two seasons.
  • Led by Mustafa Lawrence (Fr., Newark, N.J.) and J.T. Miller (Sr., Clinton, N.C.) with 12 points apiece, Missouri State's bench accounted for 30 points -- half of the club's offensive output -- in Tuesday's game against Illinois State.
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) continues to lead the MVC in rebounding for the second year in a row and ranks 6th nationally with 11.5 boards per game. His 8.33 defensive rebounds per game is 4th among all Division I players.
  • On Jan. 27, Obediah Church (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) blocked 2 shots against Southern Illinois to become Missouri State's all-time leader in shot rejections, surpassing Danny Moore (167 from 1996-99) for the top spot. Church leads the MVC with 2.0 blocks per game and now has 171 career rejections. His 47 blocks this season rank 32nd nationally.
  • Since 2010, every team that has led the MVC in field goal percentage defense has earned a spot in the NCAA Tournament. The Bears (.396) currently rank second in the league (18th nationally), just behind Bradley (.392).
  • Led by Obediah Church's 18 slams, the Bears have accumulated 53 dunks (2.2 per game) this season. Reggie Scurry (13) and J.T. Miller (10) have helped the Bears post their second-best dunk total in the last 10 years (56 in 2015-16).
  • Jarrid Rhodes (Sr., Palmetto, Fla.) is averaging 12.3 points per game over the Bears' last 4 games. During that span, he has converted 9-of-10 (.900) free throws and extended his career FT pct. in MVC games to .935 (29-of-31).
  • Over the last 12 games, Alize Johnson has recorded 10 double-doubles and snagged double-figure rebounds 11 times. In that span, he has averaged 16.5 points and 12.8 rebounds per contest. He enters the weekend ranked 3rd in the nation in double-doubles with 16, just one shy of his 2016-17 total (17).
  • Jarred Dixon (Jr., Kansas City, Mo.) has logged 7.4 points and 3.0 assists per game in his career against Loyola (5g).
  • Tanveer Bhullar (Sr., Etobicoke, Ontario) reached 300 career points in Tuesday's game against Illinois State. The graduate transfer from New Mexico State has played in 81 career games with two trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 103-115 (.472) in his seventh season at MSU and 105-138 (.432) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 50-69 in MVC games (34-26 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 66-39 at home, 28-58 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. Lusk is 4-5 all-time against Loyola and 1-3 at Gentile 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 8-3 18-5
Bradley 7-4 17-7
Southern Illinois 7-4 15-9
Illinois State 6-5 12-11
Drake 6-5 12-12
Evansville 5-6 15-9
Missouri State 5-6 15-9
Indiana State 5-6 10-13
Valparaiso 3-8 12-12
Northern Iowa 3-8 11-12

 
 
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