Nov. 24, 2014
Missouri State Game Notes 
| Colorado State Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- This is Missouri State's first-ever trip to the GCI Great Alaska Shootout, an event that has been held since 1978.
- The Bears and Rams have met just once -- a 34-30 Missouri State win in Fort Collins on Dec. 27, 1941. Andy McDonald's Bears were 13-12 in 1941-42 and 2-3 on their December tour through Colorado, Texas and Oklahoma.
- As of Sunday, Marcus Marshall (Jr., G, St. Paul, Minn.) shares the national lead in scoring average (26.0 ppg). Joseph Young of Oregon and Anthony Livingston of Arkansas State also are averaging 26.0 points per game.
- In its history, Missouri State has played two games in Anchorage, losing on back-to-back nights to the Seawolves, Dec. 5-6, 1980 during one of the Bears' final two seasons at the Division II level.
- The Bears are 27-6 over the last three seasons when they have more free throw attempts than their opponents.
- Over the last four seasons, only four Division I programs have committed fewer turnovers than the Bears (10.50).
- Texas Tech's 40 free throw attempts in Saturday's game in Lubbock were the second-most by an opponent ever against Lusk and just two shy of MSU's all-time opponent record (42).
- Christian Kirk (Sr., F, Springfield, Mo.) will be playing in his 100th career game. He has 607 points and 356 rebounds over his four-year career with the Bears.
- All 13 players on Missouri State's roster average 10.0 minutes per game or more through the season's first 3 games.
- The Bears are shooting for their 1600th all-time win tonight. Playing in their 103rd season, Missouri State stands at 1599-908 (.638) all-time which ranks 29th among all Division I programs by wins and 22nd by percentage..
The Bears and Rams have played just once -- a 34-30 Missouri State win in Fort Collins on Dec. 27, 1941.
The game was part of a five-game, post-Christmas trip for Andy McDonald's 1941-92 squad that finished 13-12 overall and was 2-3 on the five-day barnstorm trip through Oklahoma, Colorado and Texas.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 49-52 (.485) in his fourth season at MSU and 51-75 (.405) in his fifth season overall as a head coach. He is 25-29 in MVC games (17-10 at home, 8-19 on the road), 2-3 in MVC Tournament games and 23-20 against all non-conference foes (15-7 at JQH Arena, 6-8 away and 1-5 at neutral sites). He is also 32-17 in all home games, 14-27 on the road, and 3-8 at neutral sites. He has never coached against Colorado State.
The 43-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 16th 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.
Last season, Lusk helped engineer the eighth-best turnaround in the Division I ranks as the Bears finished 20-13 and made an appearance in the CollegeInsider.com Tournament. 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.
Marcus Marshall scored a game-high 27 points, and Austin Ruder added 19, but Missouri State (2-1) was out-rebounded by a 28-9 margin in the second half to contribute to an 80-68 road loss to Texas Tech (2-1) here Saturday.
Devaughtah Williams scored 18 for the Red Raiders, with Norense Odiase adding 14, and Robert Turner contributing 12 for the home club, which made 28-of-40 (.700) free throws on 27 MSU fouls.
The Bears found their range early in the game and knocked down 11-of-21 (.524) 3-pointers for the game after converting 8-of-12 in the first period to play within 42-38 at the break.
Marshall and Ruder both finished the night 5 of 8 beyond the arc.
It took MSU just over two minutes into the second half to tie the game, 44-44, as Ruder knocked down a long ball in transition. But the Red Raiders answered with a 7-0 run including a traditional 3-point play by Turner to close out the run.
Missouri State responded and drew within 53-49 on a bucket by Kirk with 13:29 to play after Marshall tacked on a jumper and a free throw. But TTU answered with an 11-4 swing with 6 points in that stretch from the line to extend its advantage to double figures for the first time at the 9:40 mark, 64-53.
With around 5 minutes to go, Ruder knocked down his final 3-pointer of the game and scored on a steal and layup in transition 30 seconds later to get the Missouri State deficit down to 70-61. But 10 unanswered points by Texas Tech over the next two-and-a-half minutes put the game out of reach.
The Bears closed out the game on a 7-0 run to make the final margin respectable.
In the first half, Marshall made 5 shots from beyond the arc to lead all players with 17 points before the break. All of Marshall's first-half points came in the first 8 minutes, 13 seconds of the game. The Bears took a 13-12 rebounding edge into the intermission, despite trailing by four with the Red Raiders knocking down 12 of the 16 charity shots they took.
For the game, MSU fired at a 43.1 percent clip (22-for-51) and converted 13-of-19 (.684) at the line with 13 turnovers and 6 steals.
Christian Kirk led all Bears with 6 rebounds, including 3 on the offensive end, while Dorrian Williams pitched in 5 assists.
Missouri State will play either Pacific or Alaska-Anchorage in the second round on Friday, Nov. 28. If the Bears win, they will play at 8:30 p.m. in the first semifinal, and at 3 p.m., if they lose.
