Feb. 13, 2012

Missouri State Bears (16-11, 9-6) at #24 Wichita State Shockers (22-4, 13-2)
Wed., Feb. 15, 2012, 7:05 p.m. (Central)
Koch Arena (10,506), Wichita, Kan. I Game Notes (PDF) I Tickets

GAME INFORMATION:

Series: MSU leads 30-28 (MSU is 6-19 in Wichita)
Radio: KTXR (101.3 FM) and MSU Bears Radio Network (LISTEN LIVE)
Live Stats: Live Stats I Watch Live: KY3 (KYTV) and ESPN3.com
GameDay Gear I MSU Game Notes I MVC Notes I Charlie Spoonhour Tribute Page

THE GAME:

With just three conference games remaining, third-place Missouri State (16-11, 9-6 MVC) takes a three-game winning streak to No. 24 Wichita State Wednesday at 7:05 p.m., as the Bears look to continue playing their hot hand at Koch Arena.
MSU is 8-4 on the road this season, including a 5-2 mark in Missouri Valley Conference games. The Bears, who are 6-19 all-time against Top 25 foes, recorded their first-ever road win over a ranked opponent on Dec. 28 when they topped No. 19 Creighton by a 77-65 count in Omaha. The Shockers are 13-1 at Koch Arena (10,506) this season and have won four in a row overall.
The Bears are coming off a double-figure home win over Bradley on Sunday after holding the visiting Braves to just 29.8 percent shooting from the field and keeping All-MVC contender Taylor Brown in check with just one point. The 64-53 victory also saw Anthony Downing (Jr., G, Atchison, Kan.) score 16 points, snag a career-high 9 rebounds and tally a game-high 6 assists with no turnovers to lead four MSU players in double figures. Caleb Patterson (Sr., C, Ames, Okla.) also contributed 14 points off the bench, while Keith Pickens (So., G/F, St. Louis, Mo.) posted career highs with 12 rebounds and 4 blocked shots.
The Bears lead the all-time series with WSU, 30-28, including a 59-56 win at Koch Arena in the last meeting there, Jan. 9, 2011.

COACH Paul Lusk:

Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 16-11 in his first season at MSU and 18-34 in two years overall. He is 9-6 in MVC play (4-4 at home, 5-2 on the road), 8-5 at JQH Arena, 8-4 on the road, and 0-2 at neutral sites. He is 0-1 against Wichita State (0-0 in Wichita) and is also 1-1 against Top 25 opponents.
Lusk took the reigns as MSU's 17th head coach on April 1, 2011. He came to Springfield after seven seasons at Purdue (2004-11), including the last three as associate head coach. Now in his 14th 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 coached in six of the last eight NCAA Tournaments after playing in three NCAA Tourneys as a player at SIU

THE TEN COUNT:

• The Shockers are ranked No. 24 this week in the Associated Press poll and just outside the Top 25 in this week's ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll (26th). The Bears are 6-19 all-time against ranked opponents and claimed their first-ever road win over a Top 25 team on Jan. 18 in Omaha with a 77-65 victory over No. 19 Creighton. See p. 31 for complete list of MSU vs. Top 25.
  

• The Bears are looking to reel off four straight wins for the first time since Nov. 26 when they started the year with a 4-0 ledger. MSU has not won four consecutive Missouri Valley Conference games since ending last season with six straight Valley wins and extending that run to eight in a row with victories in its first two league games this year.
  

• Bears' sophomore Keith Pickens (So., G/F, St. Louis, Mo.) eclipsed his career high in rebounding in back-to-back games last week. He snagged a game-high nine boards in Wednesday's win at Southern Illinois and then topped that with a game-high 12 caroms and a career-high 4 blocked shots in Sunday's home win over Bradley. During MSU's current three-game winning streak, Pickens has tallied 27 total rebounds (9.0 rpg) and helped the Bears to a +9.7 rebounding margin during that stint.

• The Bears have led 10 of their last 12 games at halftime. During that stretch, MSU is 5-5 when leading at the half and 2-0 when trailing. For the season, Missouri State is 13-6 when taking a lead into the intermission, 3-4 when trailing at the break this season and 0-1 when tied. The Bears have come back to win three straight games when trailing at the break.

• Kyle Weems (Sr., F, Topeka, Kan.) is also 11 assists shy of 200 for his career. He is likely to become MSU's first player ever to record 800 rebounds and 200 assists.
  

• Nathan Scheer (So., F, Washington, Mo.) is coming off an 8-point, 4-rebound effort against Bradley on Sunday, his highest offensive output since scoring 8 points at New Mexico on Dec. 3. His 29 minutes against Bradley was a team high.
  

• The Bears are 3-0 in games televised on KY3 (KYTV) this season and 3-2 on sister station KCZ, The Ozarks CW. MSU was 3-5 in institutionally-produced games in 2010-11, its first season with new television partner KY3, Inc.
  

• WSU ranks 7th in the nation this week in scoring margin (+15.3), 18th in field goal percentage (.484) and 21st in rebound margin (+6.5). The Shockers also lead the MVC in seven statistical categories, including three-point FG% defense (.298).

• In Sunday's win over Bradley, the Bears used their 10th different starting lineup of the 2011-12 season, the club's most since 2008-09 (13). Last year, MSU was one of just three teams in the nation to use the same starting lineup for every game.
  

• Kyle Weems (Sr., F, Topeka, Kan.) currently sits in fourth place on MSU's career scoring list with 1,800 points. He trails only Daryel Garrison (1,975 - 175 points ahead of Weems), Curtis Perry (1,835 - 35) and Johnny Murdock (1,834 - 34) among the Bears' all-time great scorers. He also has 959 career points in 69 MVC games and 960 points in 68 career games at JQH Arena. Weems' current run of 26 consecutive double-figure scoring games is the longest stretch of his career and is tied for the 9th-longest active streak in the Division I ranks.
  

• The Bears' 56-54 win at Southern Illinois on Feb. 8 improved the team's road record to 8-4 on the season and matched a club high-water mark for away victories in a season. MSU has won 8 road games eight previous times -- 1927-28, 1948-49, 1951-52, 1968-69, 1985-86, 1989-90, 2005-06, and 2006-07.
  

• Kyle Weems (Sr., F, Topeka, Kan.) reached 1,800 career points in Sunday's home win over Bradley, making him just the fourth MVC player over the last 10 years -- -- along with Kent Williams (SIU, 2,012 points, 1999-2003), Osiris Eldridge (ILSU, 1,838, 2006-10) and Kyle Korver (CU, 1,801, 1999-2003) -- and 26th in league history to do so. He also topped 800 career rebounds this week, making him just the 13th MVC player to tally 1,800 points and 800 boards and the first to do so with over 200 three-pointers (231). He is the MVC's active leader in all three categories.

THE OPPONENT:

Wichita State (22-4, 13-2 MVC) has won four in a row since a 93-86 triple-overtime setback at Drake on Jan. 28. Coach Gregg Marshall's squad rolled No. 15 Creighton by an 89-68 count in Omaha on Saturday, as Joe Ragland (Sr., G, West Springfield, Mass.) dropped 24 points on the Bluejays on a 9-for-12 shooting night, while Ben Smith (Sr., F, Oklahoma City, Okla.) was 8-for-12 and finished with 22 points. The Shockers shot 58.2 percent from the field, knocked down eight three-pointers and out-rebounded the home club by a 37-23 margin.

The Shockers, who return three starters and seven lettermen from a 29-8 club that won the 2011 NIT title, are 13-1 at home this season. The Bears cling to a 30-28 series lead against WSU with wins in two of the last three meetings and a 59-56 win in Wichita on their last visit to Koch Arena (1/9/11).