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Missouri State

Alize Johnson

Bears Travel to UNI for Regular-Season Finale

February 22, 2018

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 31 - Missouri State Bears (17-13, 7-10 MVC) at UNI Panthers (14-15, 6-11 MVC)
Date and Time Saturday, Feb. 24, 2018 | 1:00 p.m.
Location McLeod Center (6,650) | Cedar Falls, Iowa
Tickets UNI Tickets
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television ESPN3 (Eric Braley, Kevin Lehman) | MVC TV Network | ESPN3
Series Missouri State leads, 44-31 | Last Meeting: MSU 62, UNI 55 (1/4/18) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | UNI | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next The Bears head to St. Louis for the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Scottrade Center, March 1-4.

Missouri State looks to finish the 2017-18 regular season on a high note Saturday when the Bears tackle the UNI Panthers in Cedar Falls at 1 p.m.

Series History
  • Missouri State leads the all-time series between the teams, 44-31. The Bears are 19-16 all-time in Cedar Falls and have won three of the last four meetings overall. MSU hasn't swept UNI since 2003.
  • Last season the Bears took the Valley opener over UNI, 68-64 at McLeod Center (12/28/16) with Ryan Kreklow sinking four straight foul shots in the last 14 seconds to seal the win. Alize Johnson added 12 points and 10 boards. Jeremy Morgan scored 28 for UNI. In the rematch in Springfield (2/12/17), Morgan hit 5 threes and scored a game-high 18 points in a 55-52 UNI victory. The Bears dominated the boards, 41-24, but shot just 36 percent from the field. Jarred Dixon and Miller scored 12 apiece for MSU. Finally, in the MVC Tournament quarterfinals in St. Louis (3/2/17), the Bears upset third-seeded UNI, 60-54, behind 20 points and 17 rebounds by Johnson and a 10-for-10 effort at the line by Dixon. MSU finished with a 50-25 rebounding edge.
  • Earlier this season (Jan. 4) Alize Johnson scored 24 points and snagged 20 of his team's 51 rebounds to help MSU to a 62-55 win. It was Johnson's second 20-20 game of the season and his 10th double-double. Missouri State also got 13 points off the bench from J.T. Miller and 9 points from Jarrid Rhodes. UNI got 18 points and 10 rebounds from Tywhon Pickford. Box Score
The Ten Count
  • Missouri State's 39.1 rebounds per game this season is the club's best of its Division era (since 1982-83). The 1995-96 Bears grabbed 39.0 caroms per game, while this year's average is the team's highest since 1979-80 (43.8).
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) enters the weekend ranked 2nd nationally in total rebounds (349), 6th in rebounding average (11.6), 4th in defensive rebounds (8.53) and 3rd in double-doubles (19) -- all tops in the MVC.
  • For the second straight season, MSU boasts 6 players who have made 20 or more 3-pointers. As a team, the Bears have dropped in 200 threes (213) for the ninth time in program history. Last year's club made a record 270 triples.
  • Mustafa Lawrence (Fr., Newark, N.J.) is averaging 11.0 points with 20 3-pointers over the last 7 games, including five games scoring in double figures. He scored a total of 14 points in the team's first 23 games this season and 77 in the seven games since.
  • Senior Jarrid Rhodes (Palmetto, Fla.) is coming off a 20-point effort against Bradley, his second in three games. He has scored in double figures 8 of the last 10 games and is averaging 14.0 points over the Bears' last 5 contests.
  • Alize Johnson's 36 career double-doubles is second-best career total in the MVC in the last 20 years. Only Evansville's Egidijus Mockevicius (57) has more double-doubles in that span.
  • Ryan Kreklow (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) is just 1 three-pointer away from landing in the program's all-time top 10. He has 111 career 3-pointers and would catch Allen Phillips (1998-2000), Dale Lamberth (2005-08) and Dequon Miller (2015-17) in the log jam for the No. 10 position with one more trey. (see p. 36)
  • Wednesday's loss to Bradley was MSU's seventh this season by four points or less -- and fifth in conference play. The Bears have played in 46 games (22-24) decided by four points or less over the last five seasons.
  • Alize Johnson is 57 points shy of becoming the school's 29th 1,000-point scorer (fifth two-year player). He reached 700 career rebounds on Wednesday, placing him No. 7 (1 behind Lou Shepherd, 1964-68) on the program's career list.
  • The Bears have fouled out of just 2 games this season (1 in conference play), by far the fewest on record in program history. Since disqualifications were first tracked in 1973, the lowest total by any MSU team was 6 in 2010-11.
  • Missouri State has attempted just 476 free throws this season, the fewest by the Bears since 1982-83 (473).
  • UNI ranks 7th nationally in scoring defense (63.1), tops in the MVC. MSU (66.0) ranks 28th in the same category.
Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 105-119 (.469) in his seventh season at MSU and 107-142 (.430) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 52-73 in MVC games (35-28 at home, 17-45 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 67-41 at home, 29-60 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. Lusk is 5-9 vs. UNI during his career, including a 1-5 mark at McLeod Center.
  • 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
Team Conf. W-L Tot. W-L RPI Rank
Loyola-Chi. 14-3 24-5 33
So. Illinois 11-6 19-11 87
Illinois St. 10-7 16-13 86
Drake 10-7 16-14 135
Bradley 9-8 19-11 95
Missouri St. 7-10 17-13 125
Indiana St. 7-10 12-17 181
Evansville 6-11 16-14 140
N. Iowa 6-11 14-15 145
Valparaiso 5-12 14-16 185

 
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