The Missouri State Bears, having won two of three Missouri Valley Conference home games in the past week, hit the road again to take on the league-leading Drake Bulldogs Saturday night in Des Moines, Iowa. It’ll be the first meeting of the season between the Bears and Bulldogs and Missouri State’s second MVC road test. The game will be televised in Springfield on Mediacom. The Bears opened their homestand with a 91-80 comeback win over Bradley Wednesday (Jan. 2), suffered through a woeful first half in a 50-49 loss to Creighton Saturday (Jan. 5), and then jumped out of the blocks early to roll past Wichita State 71-47 Tuesday (Jan. 8). The Bears’ had a 79-71 loss at Southern Illinois Dec. 30 in the league opener for both teams.

 The Bears have opened their Valley slate after six busy weeks of non-league action. The Bears played right up to a short Christmas break when they split four games in the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic, beating Texas-Pan American 64-53 (12/17) and Bethune-Cookman 63-49 at home (12/19) before losing to Alabama 81-73 (12/22) in the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas in the semifinals and falling to Purdue 72-70 (12/23) in the third-place game. Coupled with a 66-54 loss at Utah (12/15), the Bears had five games in nine days right after fall semester final exams. The Bears played twice a week and a half before Utah, losing 70-51 at Arkansas (12/3) and beat UNC Wilmington 73-66 at home (12/5). MSU opened its season with a 57-53 loss at Toledo, rolled past Harding (86-67) and UNC Greensboro (79-52) Nov. 16-17 to win the Price Cutter Classic at Hammons Student Center. The Bears then turned back Saint Louis (60-56) at home Nov. 21, and won at Winthrop (73-69) Nov. 25 before the two-game split to open December.

 Last Game: The MSU Bears caught lightning in a bottle from the opening tip and were in charge for 40 minutes on their way to a nationally-televised (ESPN2) 71-47 MVC win over the Wichita State Shockers Tuesday in Hammons Student Center. Senior forward Dale Lamberth, coming off the bench for the first time this season after 15 straight starting assignments, lit up the Shockers as he hit 10-of-18 from the field, including 6-of-9 from three-point range, for a career-high 27 points. Lamberth had help in the attack with three other Bears scoring in double figures and Missouri State reached double digits in three-point field goals for the third time in the past four games, connecting on 11-of-23 from long range. The Bears further aided their cause with a perfect night (10/10) from the foul line for the first time in two years. The Bears got seven of their treys the first half as they ran out to leads of 13-0, 16-2 and 29-10. MSU led 36-22 at the half, expanded that to 20 points four minutes into the second half, and led by a many as 27 three times late in the contest. Spencer Laurie chipped in with 13 points for Missouri State, Deven Mitchell scored 11, Justin Fuehrmeyer had 10 and Chris Cooks, making his first Missouri State start, got eight. It was also the first MSU starting assignment for Dex Manswell who had two points, five rebounds, three blocked shots and two steals in the contest. Phillip Thomasson and Gal Mekel scored 11 each to lead the Shockers. Missouri State finished at .455 (25/55) from the field and WSU hit just 20 percent the first half and finished the night .281 (16/57). The Bears had a 39-38 rebound advantage with Mitchell and Cooks collecting eight each and the Bears blocked seven shots and came up with seven steals.

 Missouri State is in its 96th season of intercollegiate basketball and the Bears are coming off a 22-11 season which saw them finish third in the Missouri Valley Conference regular season race with a 12-6 mark, reach the semifinals of the State Farm MVC Tourney and play in the National Invitation Tourney. It was the Bears’ third straight NIT appearance. This is the Bears’ third year as Missouri State (previously Southwest Missouri State).

  The four-game week of the Las Vegas Classic in December concluded a busy Missouri State non-league slate in which the Bears visited five states before Christmas. Starting with the trip to Drake, the Bears have three of their next four on the road, followed with a Jan. 15 home game vs. Indiana State and trips to Evansville and Wichita State to close out the month. The team’s only remaining non-conference test is a home game in O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters Feb. 22 or 23, with the opponent to be announced in early February.

 Hammons Student Center Farewell, JQH here next year: The 2007-08 season is the Bears’ 32nd and final year of basketball in Hammons Student Center. The new $67 million, 11,000-seat JQH Arena is being constructed just east of HSC and will be ready for the opening of the 2008-09 Missouri State Bears and Lady Bears basketball season.

 The Coaches: Barry Hinson (Oklahoma State, ’83) is 161-108 in his ninth season at MSU and 197-131 in his 11th year overall as a college head coach. He’s 14-3 vs. DU. Hinson is fifth on the all-time MSU coaching win list, needs three wins to catch Eddie Matthews for fourth, needs three wins for 200 as a college head coach and is the sixth head coach to post 100 wins at MSU.

 Keno Davis (Iowa, ’95) is 13-1 in his first year at Drake and overall as a college head coach. He’s 0-0 vs. Missouri State. Davis was a Drake assistant for the past four years under his father, former head coach Tom Davis.

 Series Record: MSU leads, 28-7. The Bears have won 10 in a row from Drake, sweeping the Bulldogs home and away five years in a row after losing three of four to Drake (2000-02). That stretch came on the heels of an earlier 10-game MSU winning streak against Drake.

 Drake: The Drake Bulldogs have been the upstart surprise of the Valley thus far under first-year head coach Keno Davis, losing at nationally-ranked St. Mary’s in their second game of the season two months ago and then rolling up 12 straight victories for a 13-1 record and a 4-0 Valley start. It’s the best start in school history. Along the way, the Bulldogs own wins over UW-Milwaukee, Duquesne, Iowa State and Iowa plus Wichita State, Evansville, SIU and Indiana State in league play. The Bulldogs have won their last 11 straight at home and are holding their foes to under 40 percent shooting from the field in the win streak. Sophomore Josh Young leads the Valley in scoring at 17.0 with Leonard Houston right behind at 14.5 and Jonathan Cox also in double figures at 11.5. Cox is the league’s second best rebounder at 8.4 and Brent Heemskerk leads the Valley in field goal accuracy at .778. Drake’s wide-open attack leads the league in scoring margin (17.7), steals (10.0/game), turnover margin (+5.85/game) and three-point field goals (9.38/game).

 Affiliation: Missouri State is in its 26th year in Division I and 18th in the MVC. The Bears are 497-288 in Div. I and 185-122 in regular season Valley play since 1990. MSU has been second five times and third five times in its best MVC finishes. MSU had eight straight 20-win, postseason tourney teams (1986-93), with three NIT clubs and five NCAA teams in that span. The Bears returned to postseason play in the 1997 NIT, and in 1999 had their first NCAA trip since 1992, advancing to the Sweet 16. The Bears upset Wisconsin and Tennessee and fell to top-ranked Duke in the East regional semifinals. MSU got to the second round of the NIT in 2000 and 2005 and reached the NIT quarterfinals in 1986, 1993 and 2006.

 All-Time: The UNI game 1/11/04 was the 1,400th win in Bears’ basketball history. The 1,300th was 11/18/98 at Missouri and the Bears’ 2,000th game was 1/13/99 vs. Bradley. This is the 96th season of Bear basketball. MSU is 1,481-795 (.650) all-time; 27th among Division I schools in all-time wins and 13th in all-time winning percentage. The Bears have had 76 winning seasons, 15 losing years, four seasons at .500, 26 years with 20 or more wins, and 29 postseason teams. Missouri State first played intercollegiate basketball in 1908-09. This is the 100th year since the Bears first played but there were not teams in the 1911-12, 1912-13, 1943-44 or 1944-45 seasons.

nAhearn to NBA Development League:

Blake Ahearn, the all-time leading free throw shooter in Division I history, has begun his first professional season with the National Basketball Association Development League Dakota Wizards, Bismarck, N.D.

  Ahearn, a fourth round pick in the 10-round D League draft, joins a Dakota team which is the reigning D League champ. Ahearn has had four 20-point games, is averaging 13.8 for the team’s first 16 (9-7) regular season games and is at .924 (61/66) from the foul line.

 Ahearn led MSU in scoring and was an MVC all-league first teamer as a junior and senior. He set school and Valley records for consecutive free throws made with 60 in a row once each in his freshman and sophomore seasons. His .975 free throw percentage (117/120) as a freshman set a new Division I single season percentage mark, and his final figure of .946 (435/460) established a new NCAA career record. Ahearn graduated from MSU in August with a degree in marketing.

 22 straight years: The Missouri State men’s and women’s basketball teams have had notable Division I success, with one or both having advanced to postseason play 22 years in a row. The men’s team played in the NIT in 1986, 1991, 1993, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2006 and 2007 and in the NCAA in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1999. The women’s team was in the NCAA from 1991 through 1996, 1998 through 2001, 2003, 2004 and 2006; in the WNIT 2002 and 2005, winning the 2005 WNIT title.

Show-Me Bears: With six members of the Bears’ 14-man roster from the state of Missouri, 2007-08 marks the first time in five seasons there haven’t been at least 10 Missourians on the team. The ’72-73 roster had 25 players, 20 from Missouri, including one from each of the seven Springfield high schools, the only time on record a Bears’ team has had players from all seven local high schools.

BruiNotes:

Personnel:MSU presently has a 14-player squad, with seven lettermen and two starters back from last year. Squadman Ryan Jehle is a redshirt freshman. Chris Cooks is a junior transfer from Redlands (Okla.) JC, Wade Knapp is a junior transfer from Dodge City (Kan.) CC, and, of the three true freshmen, Kyle Weems and David Cline are redshirting this season. Guard Tomas Brock, a freshman from Mt. Vernon, Mo., had been participating as a redshirt but joined the active roster to add more depth in the backcourt following the Dec. 9 injury to Lamont Austin. Transfer Will Creekmore has just joined the squad and will be eligible in December of 2008 (see below).

nLamberth graduates: Senior forward Dale Lamberth was one of 23 Missouri State student-athletes in a graduating class of 1,264 who received MSU degrees at Fall Semester Commencement exercises Dec. 14 at Hammons Student Center. Lamberth, a recreation and leisure studies major, was with the Bears in Utah when his degree was conferred.

nCreekmore transfers: Freshman forward-center Will Creekmore has left the basketball program at Boston University to transfer to Missouri State for the start of the 2008 spring semester. Creekmore, a 6-foot-9, 235-pounder from Tulsa (Okla.) Thomas Edison High, will sit out a full year to regain his athletic eligibility and will have three seasons to compete for the Bears when he becomes eligible after the 2008 fall semester at MSU.

  Creekmore played in four of Boston’s first eight games this season. He averaged 12 minutes a game and totaled 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Terriers of coach Dennis Wolff.

  At Edison, Creekmore was a four-year varsity starter for the Eagles of head coach Michael Parish. Creekmore won all-state honors as a senior. He was a two-time Tulsa World All-Metro pick and a three-time all-district and all-conference selection. He averaged 23 points, 17 rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks per game his final year, shooting 68 percent from the field and 57 percent from three-point range. He was the state’s leading scorer and rebounder in Class 5A as a senior and the state’s top rebounder as a junior.

nBears add three prep standouts: A Missouri prepster and two high schoolers from out of state have committed to join the Missouri State basketball program for 2008-09.

  The trio includes Damen Bell-Holter, a 6-foot-9, 240-pound center from Ketchikan (Alaska) High; Ken Holdman, a 6-foot, 170-pound guard from Tulsa (Okla.) East Central High; and Isaiah Rhine, a 6-10, 225-pound center from Versailles (Mo.) High.

  Bell-Holter is in his third season as a starter for the Ketchikan Kings of Coach Doug Nausid. KHS knocked off Juneau last year in the regional finals to go to the state tournament and Bell-Holter was a first team all-conference choice in the Alaska Southeast League.

 Holdman is a two-year starter at East Central for Coach Brian Morgan and his team also reached the state tournament in 2007, losing in the state finals to Carl Albert in Class 5A. East Central also won the Green County Conference title and Holdman was a second team all-conference, second team all-district and Oklahoma all-star selection.

  Rhine is also looking to make his senior season his third year as a starter for the Versailles Tigers of coach Kent Chamberlain. Rhine won all-conference, all-district, and all-area laurels as a sophomore and junior and was a Class 3 all-state second team selection last year. He has also played AAU basketball for two summers for the Missouri Titans.

nPrice Cutter History: The Bears’ win in this year’s Price Cutter Classic was MSU’s fifth in a row and 15th in the 21-year history of the event. MSU is 36-6 all-time in Price Cutter play, with 15 titles and six runner-up finishes (1987-90-93-99-01-02). The Bears won the meet five years in a row (1994-98) in their previous longest stretch of titles, and matched that with this year’s classic win (2003-07). Blake Ahearn, Tyler Chaney and Nathan Bilyeu last year joined Ben Kandlbinder (94-98) and Ryan Bettenhausen (95-99) as the only Bears to play on four Price Cutter title teams and Deven Mitchell and Drew Richards joined that select group this year. The selection of Richards to the all-tourney team this year was a repeat for him from last year. Kandlbinder is the only player to be on the all-tourney team four times and Scott Brakebill (99-00-01) was the only other three-time pick until Ahearn (04-05-06) and Bilyeu (04-05-06) last year. Ahearn (04-05), Kandlbinder (94-95) and Danny Moore (96-98) are the only players to win tourney MVP honors twice.

nMVP Deven: Deven Mitchell had new career highs of 24 points in the first game of the Price Cutter Classic and then matched that total the second night. He averaged 8.0 rebounds for the weekend, had five steals and five blocked shots and hit .727 (16/22) from the field and .889 (16/18) from the line to dominate all-tournament selection and Most Valuable Player voting in the meet.

nBusy December: Although their 7-5 mark after December didn’t match the 10-2 records the Bears had after 12 games each of the past two seasons, the Bruins have faced a challenging early schedule, including two SEC schools, a Big 10 team and a Mountain West club. The schedule has also been uneven, with eight days off after the Winthrop game, two games in three days, 10 days off after the UNC Wilmington game and then five games in nine days. The Bears are 8-1 at home but are 1-4 on the road and 0-2 in neutral site games in Las Vegas.

nPlayin’ ’em close: Close was the order of the day for the semifinal and final day games in Las Vegas. The Bears’ game vs. Alabama was tied six times with 17 lead changes and the game vs. Purdue game was tied 16 times with 11 lead changes. All four tourney games in Las Vegas were tied at the half. MSU-Alabama was 31-31 at the break and the Bears led with two minutes to play before the 81-73 loss. Iowa State-Purdue was 37-37 at the half before ISU came back for 83-80 win in the other semifinal. Bears-Purdue was 32-32 at the half before PU claimed a 72-70 win in the third place game, and Iowa State and Alabama were 40-40 at the half in the championship game before the Tide got away late and won, 83-68.

nBanged-Up Bears: Starting center Drew Richards (illness) and starting guard Shane Laurie (injury) did not suit up for the Wichita State contest (Jan. 8) in the latest collection of ailments affecting Bear regulars. The first three games of the Las Vegas Classic saw MSU lose a starting player in the first 10 minutes of each contest. In each case, the player was through for the evening but came back to start the next game. Forward Dale Lamberth had a right side muscle injury early in the Texas-Pan American game but started two nights later vs. Bethune-Cookman. Center Drew Richards suffered a partially dislocated jaw early in the Bethune-Cookman game but came back to start three days later against Alabama. And, Lamberth suffered a cut to his head early in the Alabama game and had to have a dozen stitches to close the wound but came back to start the next night vs. Purdue. Guard Justin Fuehrmeyer got banged in the ribs in practice Jan. 4 but was in the starting lineup Jan. 5.

nVegas Ofer: Don’t ask Bears’ coach Barry Hinson to schedule another trip to Las Vegas any time soon. The Bears’ 0-2 venture to Nevada this season came after an 0-3 finish in a Las Vegas tournament in 2001-02. All five losses were single-digit setbacks, two were in overtime, and the closest games--a one-point OT loss and a two-point loss--came at the hands of the same school; Purdue.

nDale’s big night: The 27 points by Dale Lamberth vs. Wichita State (1/8) marked the highest point total for a Missouri State player since Blake Ahearn had 32 vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (12/3/05) and the most points for a Bears’ non-starter since Allen Phillips came off the bench to score 28 vs. Creighton in the semifinals of the MVC Tourney (2/28/99).

nLowest in HSC: The 15-point first half against Creighton (1/5) was the Bears’ lowest scoring half in a game since they got 14 points at Purdue on Dec. 23, 1991, and their lowest scoring half in their 32-year history in HSC, covering 486 regular season games. The Bears’ previous Hammons scoring low for a half was 19 against Arkansas on Dec. 18, 1983.

nShootin’ the treys: In connecting on a .616 (11/18) percentage from three-point range for the game at SIU (Dec. 30) while hitting 8-of-23 two-point tries, the Bears had more threes than twos in a contest for just the third time in 665 games since the three-point field goal was added in 1986-87. The other such occasions included MSU school records of 14 threes (with 12 two-pointers) at UNC Wilmington 12/9/06 and 14 threes (with 11 two-pointers) at Drake 2/18/95. The Bears came back with 10 treys in the win over Bradley (1/2), marking their first two games with 10 or more threes this season and the first time they’d put double-digit treys back-to-back in games since doing it twice last year. The Bears popped in 11 threes vs. Wichita State to make it three of four games with double-digit threes. The Bears are shooting .468 (37/79) from three their last four games.

nNo HSC clean slate: The loss to Creighton was the Bears’ first home defeat of the season ended their last hope for a perfect season in Hammons in what is their final year in HSC before moving to JQH Arena in 2008-09.

nFuehrmeyer hot: Justin Fuehrmeyer has been hot from long range of late, hitting .469 (15/32) past the arc his last eight games after hitting just one three his first nine outings. At SIU (12/30), he hit a career-best five treys for a career-high 19 points. Fuehrmeyer opened up from long range with the best week of his young Missouri State career in the four games of the Las Vegas Classic. After missing his first nine three-point tries of the season and hitting 1 of his first 17, he hit two vs. UTPA and three each against Alabama and Purdue in Las Vegas for a .500 (8/16) shooting week from long range. His 13 points vs. Purdue were a career-high at the time. Fury’s points came at key spots, with his deep three from the right wing with 2:21 left in the Alabama game giving the Bears their last lead, while his two free throws with half a minute left vs. Purdue gave the Bears their last advantage against the Boilermakers.

nDeven at the line: Forward Deven Mitchell has made solid and steady improvement at the foul line throughout his Missouri State career, hiking his season figure more than 50 percentage points each year he’s played for the Bears. Mitchell had a string of 24 free throws made in a row at one point in the 2006-07 season, 12th best string on record for Missouri State and one of only three streaks on the top dozen for anyone other than all-time NCAA free throw accuracy leader Blake Ahearn. Mitchell had a string of 18 free throws made in a row over five games (Dec. 3-23) before he missed two (of 13) vs. PU. He hit 11-of-11 at SIU (12/30) and 9-of-9 vs. Bradley (1/2) and his first two vs. Creighton (1/2) for 27 in a row before a miss. He’s still the Bears’ runaway leader from the line at for the season at .902, and, equally important, he’s easily the Bears’ volume leader for attempts from the line. He’s also inching his way toward the single season and career top 10 in free throw percentage. His current string is nine made in a row. (listings attached). Mitchell’s yearly MSU free throw stats:

Year FTM FTA FT%

2003-04 34 51 .667

2004-05 33 46 .717

2006-07 109 135 .807

2007-08 92 102 .902

nIn the Valley: The Bears have been strong finishers in Missouri Valley Conference play the past three years, and, have had quick starts the past two seasons. Last year, the Bears jumped out to a 3-1 league record, were 5-5 after 10 MVC games, and finished 12-6. In the 2005-06 season, MSU was 4-1 to start, slipped to 5-5, and again rebounded to come home at 12-6. In 2004-05, the Bears lagged at 1-6 in the early going but finished strong for a final 10-8 league record.

 Missouri State has had four 12-6 finishes in its first 17 seasons in the Valley and the best the Bears have been in MVC play was a 13-5 mark in 1991-92 in Charlie Spoonhour's final season at the MSU helm and a 13-5 mark in 1999-00 in Barry Hinson's first year at Missouri State. In 17 Valley seasons, the Bears have had a winning conference record 13 times, finished .500 twice and been below .500 twice. Missouri State has had 14 first-division finishes in 17 league races, finishing five times, third five times, fourth twice, fifth twice, sixth twice and seventh once. Missouri State has never won the MVC regular season title, although the Missouri State program owns 19 conference crowns in its basketball history.

nClose games in Vegas: The Bears’ two games in Las Vegas had a number of similarities. Against Alabama, MSU enjoyed near double-digit leads in both halves of a game that was tied six times and saw 17 lead changes. The Bears also had a good first-half lead over Purdue in a game with 16 ties and 11 lead changes. Against Alabama, the Bears last led 71-70 on a trey by Justin Fuehrmeyer with 2:21 left but the Crimson Tide took advantage of a key turnover and some free throws to win by eight. Chris Cooks and Shane Laurie led the Bears with 13 points each and starting forward Dale Lamberth played just seven minutes before an injury put him out of action the rest of the contest. The Bears and Boilermakers battled throughout their contest and a long trey by Cooks got the Bears even at 68-68 with a minute to play. Fuehrmeyer added two free throws for a 70-69 margin with half a minute left but Purdue got a bucket and a late free throw and the Bears missed a game-winning shot attempt at the final buzzer. Deven Mitchell had 19 points, Lamberth came back with 17 and Fuehrmeyer added a career-high 13 for the Bears as they lost two in a row for the first time all year.

nBalanced Bears: The Bears’ front line of Deven Mitchell, Dale Lamberth and Drew Richards ran out to an early lead in team scoring and rebounding. The three were all near-unanimous picks to the all-tourney team Nov. 16-17 after the Bears’ 27-point win over UNCG in the title game. The three combined to average 56 points and 18.5 rebounds in the wins over Harding and UNCG and combined to shoot .667 (40/60) for the two games. But, they had help. Guards Shane Laurie and Spencer Laurie and Justin Fuehrmeyer were all among the tournament leaders in multiple stat categories with Fuehrmeyer leading the meet in assists. His 12 in the title game vs. UNCG were the most for a Bear since William Fontleroy had a dozen in 1997-98 vs. Illinois State. Spencer Laurie and Fuehrmeyer combined for 21 assists and just three turnovers in the final game.

nMinutes: The Bears are so balanced that no player is averaging as many as 30 minutes a game. Since minutes were first recorded in 1976-77, one or more players averaged 30 or more minutes every year through 2003-04. Anthony Shavies was the leader in 2004-05 at 28.3, and Blake Ahearn was the only player to average more than 30 the last two years.

nClimbing the Charts: Three Bears are moving up MSU career charts in various stat categories. Deven Mitchell and Drew Richards are the 30th and 31st Missouri State players to play in 100 or more career games. Mitchell’s at 108 with Richards at 105 and both could reach the all-time top 10 in the regular season. Mitchell is on a pace to be the 27th player in MSU history to reach 1,000 career points. He’s now at 912. Mitchell is tied for fifth in career steals (140) and needs one more for fourth place ahead of MSU Hall of Famer Winston Garland. Drew Richards is fourth in career blocked shots (114), 11 behind third-place Ricky Johnson. Dale Lamberth’s six treys vs. Wichita State (1/2) pushed his career total to 87 and 10th place on that list. His career three-point percentage (.429) is fourth.

nHains gets #500: Art Hains, veteran Bears’ radio play-by-play voice on KTXR-FM, got the 500th Bears’ victory of his Missouri State announcing career Jan. 2 vs. Bradley. Hains went into the recent games in Las Vegas with a 499-299 W-L record for announcing 798 MSU games and the Purdue game was Hains’s 800th Missouri State broadcast. Hains originally did Bear games from 1977 to 1981 and returned to Springfield and MSU in 1985-86 so he’s in his 27th year covering the Bears. He’s part of a quartet of long-time play-by-play voices in the Valley, including Mike Reis of SIU (28th year), Mike Kennedy of Wichita State (29th year) and Dave Snell of Bradley (29th year).

nPRIDE in Pasadena: The year 2008 started out in great fashion for Missouri State on another front as Jerry Hoover’s Pride Marching Band was the lead band in the 119th Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year’s Day. The 300-member unit was in its second trip to the Rose Bowl festivities in California (its first was in 1995) and the much-honored Missouri State band has a long list of additional credits, including the New York City Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade three times, the Orange Bowl Parade in Miami, National Football League games in four cities and two trips to perform in London, England.

nHot Start for Drew: After opening the season with a perfect 8/8 shooting night from the field at Toledo (11/10), Drew Richards hit his first two shots vs. Harding (11/16) to reach 10 in a row.Richards came back vs. UNCG (11/17) with another perfect night at 7/7 and hit his first two vs. Saint Louis (11/20) to run that streak to nine in a row before he missed a shot. He still leads the team from the floor at .603.

 Richards’s six blocked shots vs. Harding were his career high, and most for a Bear since Danny Moore had six in two different games as a senior in 1998-99.

nFinding the "D": The Bears held five of their first 10 foes below 57 points and no opponent scored more than 70 in that span with MSU owning a 60.5 defensive average through 10 games. Alabama then touched the Bears for 81 points, Purdue scored 72, SIU got 79 and Bradley hit 80 as the defensive average slipped up to 64.5. It’s come back down to 63.4 the past two games with Creighton scoring 50 and WSU getting 47.

n31 games: With their participation in the exempt Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic plus a full slate of non-conference games and O’Reilly ESPNU BracketBusters game in late February, the Bears are headed for their first 31-game regular season ever. In the past, the Bears have had 30 regular season games three times, including last year. Counting postseason play, the Bears have played 30 or more games in a season 18 times prior to this year, with the record for most games in a season coming in 34-game campaigns in 1986-87 (28-6), 1990-91 (22-12) and 1999-00 (23-11).

nBears picked 3rd: The Bears were picked third in the 2007-08 MVC preseason poll. With their third-place finish last year, the Bears have come in better that their preseason prediction four years in a row. Deven Mitchell, last year’s MVC Sixth Man of the Year, was on the preseason all-Valley team.