Feb. 16, 2012

Missouri State Bears (16-12) vs. Old Dominion Monarchs (17-11)

Sat., Feb. 18, 2012, 4 p.m. (Central)

SEARS BracketBusters Game

JQH Arena, Springfield, Mo. I Game Notes (PDF) I Tickets I Charlie Spoonhour Tribute Page

GAME INFORMATION:

Series: First meeting
Halftime: Great Southern Shootout ... Sugar Bears ... Code 3 Sertoma Charity Check Presentation

Radio: KTXR (101.3 FM) and MSU Bears Radio Network (LISTEN LIVE)
Live Stats: Game Tracker I Watch Live: ESPNU & ESPN3.com

GameDay Gear I MSU Game Notes I MVC Notes I

THE GAME:

Missouri State takes a break from Missouri Valley Conference action Saturday when the Bears host Colonial Athletic Association powerhouse Old Dominion in the annual Sears BracketBusters game at 4 p.m. on ESPNU.
MSU had a three-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday at No. 24 Wichita State when the red-hot Shockers dropped 11 three-pointers on the Bears and shot an amazing 59.5 percent from the field in a 73-58 decision. The Bears got 17 points from Anthony Downing (Jr., G, Atchison, Kan.) who was 7-for-14 from the field and 3-for-3 from bonus distance, while Caleb Patterson (Sr., C, Ames, Okla.) added 14 points off the bench. MSU also got a team-high six rebounds from Keith Pickens (So., G/F, St. Louis, Mo.), marking the third straight game that Pickens has led the club in rebounding.
Despite the setback, Missouri State remains in sole possession of third place in the MVC with two games to play and looks to add its third home win in four tries to its ledger.
Old Dominion comes to Springfield with a 17-11 overall record and 12-4 mark in the CAA (fourth). The Monarchs have split their last four games and are 6-4 in road games this season.
MSU is 4-4 all-time in BracketBusters games, including 1-0 at JQH Arena, 2-2 at home and a perfect 7-0 mark in return games.

COACH Paul Lusk:

Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 16-12 in his first season at MSU and 18-35 in two years overall. He is 9-7 in MVC play (4-4 at home, 5-3 on the road), 8-5 at JQH Arena, 8-5 on the road, and 0-2 at neutral sites. He has never coached against Old Dominion. Lusk is also 1-2 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 Bears This is the first-ever meeting between the Bears and Monarchs in men's basketball. MSU is 5-0 all-time against current Colonial Athletic Association members, including a 1-0 record against Towson State (1-0 at home), and 4-0 mark against UNC-Wilmington (2-0 at home).

• The Bears have gone five straight games without a dunk. The club's last dunks came against Northern Iowa on Jan. 28 when Kyle Weems (Sr., F, Topeka, Kan.) and Isaiah Rhine (Sr., C, Versailles, Mo.) both had jams against the Panthers at JQH Arena. For the season, the Bears have 16 dunks, exactly half of what the team had at this point last season.

• Bears' sophomore Keith Pickens (So., G/F, St. Louis, Mo.) has led the squad in rebounding the last three games. He eclipsed his career high in rebounding in back-to-back games last week, snagging a game-high nine boards on Feb. 8 at Southern Illinois before collecting 12 caroms (and a career-high 4 blocked shots) on Feb. 12 against Bradley. He is averaging 8.3 rebounds over the last four games.
  

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

• Kyle Weems (Sr., F, Topeka, Kan.) is 7 assists shy of 200 for his career. He is likely to become MSU's first player ever to record 800 rebounds and 200 assists.
  

• As part of the Sears BracketBusters format, the Bears will return this year's game during the 2013-14 season and play Old Dominion in Norfolk. Next year, Valparaiso will come to JQH Arena for a return game from last season, while the Bears will once again be a road team for the 2012-13 BracketBusters game.

• The Bears are 9-1 on Saturdays this season and 6-1 in day games.
  

• Kyle Weems (Sr., F, Topeka, Kan.) is the fifth player in Missouri State history to score 900 points at home. He currently has 960 points in 68 career games at JQH Arena, joining fellow all-time MSU greats Daryel Garrison (1,138 points in 59 games at McDonald Arena from 1971-75), Jimmy Dull (990 points in 64 games at McDonald Arena and Hammons Student Center from 1974-78), Blake Ahearn (939 points in 66 games at HSC from 2003-07), and Johnny Murdock (930 points in 60 games at HSC from 1991-95).

• Missouri State has used 10 different starting lineups this 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 1,810 points. He trails only Daryel Garrison (1,975 - 165 points ahead of Weems), Curtis Perry (1,835 - 25) and Johnny Murdock (1,834 - 24) among the Bears' all-time great scorers. He also has 969 career points in 69 MVC games. Weems' current run of 27 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.

• Kyle Weems (Sr., F, Topeka, Kan.) reached 1,800 career points in the Feb. 12 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 last 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 (233). He is the MVC's active leader in all three categories.
  

• Wichita State was whistled for just 9 personal fouls in Wednesday's loss to the No. 24 Shockers, the fewest fouls called against a Bears' opponent since Dec. 9, 2000 when Evansville committed just 8 fouls in a game at Roberts Stadium. MSU was also 1-for-2 at the free throw line against Wichita, the fewest free throw attempts by an MSU club since Dec. 14, 1984 when the Bears were 2-for-2 at the line at Brigham Young. The last time MSU had just one free throw made was Dec. 20, 1982 against Tennessee State at Hammons Student Center (1-for-8).

• The Bears are getting more than half of their scoring (50.9 percent) from their freshmen, sophomores and juniors. At this point last season, MSU's non-seniors were accounting for just 41.6 percent of its points. Similarly, the team's bench points have nearly doubled from this point last year, scoring 611 (21.8 ppg) this season, compared to 348 (12.4 ppg) a year ago at this point.

• Since the 2008-09 season, the Bears have appeared on the ESPN networks 16 times, going 8-8 during that span. MSU has a 3-5 ledger on ESPNU games and is 0-1 on ESPN, 3-2 on ESPN2 and 2-0 on ESPN3 (ESPN produced only).

• Only three Division I teams -- Old Dominion, Rhode Island and West Virginia -- have played more overtime games than Missouri State has this season. The aforementioned trio have each played 5 overtime games in 2011-12, while Missouri State and six other teams (including MVC foe Evansville) have played 4.

THE OPPONENT:

Old Dominion comes to Springfield with a 17-11 record and 12-4 mark in the CAA (fourth). The Monarchs have split their last four games and are 6-4 in road games this season.

Coach Blaine Taylor (Montana, 1981) guides a squad led by Kent Bazemore (6-5, Sr., G, Kelford, N.C.) who averages 13.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 3.1 assists along with 36 three-pointers and 62 steals. Chris Cooper (6-9, Sr., F, Woodbridge, Va.) averages 10.8 points and a team-high 10.0 rebounds, including 115 offensive rebounds to go with 35 blocks.

The Monarchs shoot just 61.2 percent from the line and commit 14.5 turnovers per game, but make up for it with 9.2 steals and 4.5 blocks per night.

Taylor returns two starters (Bazemore and Cooper) and six total lettermen from a 27-7 club that advanced to the 2011 NCAA Tournament as a No. 9 seed (lost to eventual national runner-up Butler, 60-58 in Washington, D.C.). ODU was 14-4 in the CAA a year ago and won the conference title for the second year in a row.