Jan. 12, 2015
Missouri State Game Notes 
| Evansville Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- The Bears are 5-1 all-time at JQH Arena against Evansville with the only win by the Purple Aces coming on a 87-82 overtime win on Jan. 15, 2012. MSU and UE have played four overtime games in the last six seasons.
- Christian Kirk (Sr., Springfield, Mo.) is 20-for-33 (.606) from the field in career 7 appearances against Evansville. He is averaging 4.3 rebounds and 6.7 points per game against the Purple Aces.
- Marcus Marshall (Jr., St. Paul, Minn.) has scored in double figures in 19 straight games, dating back to last season.
- Missouri State's .766 free throw percentage leads the MVC and ranks 8th nationally, as of Monday.
- Tyler McCullough (So., Fayetteville, Ark.) has started the last five games for the Bears and is coming off a team-high 12-point effort against Illinois State, marking the first time in his career he has led the team in scoring. He also went 5-for-8 from the field against ISU and blocked 4 shots - matching the best single-game block total under Lusk.
- Dorrian Williams' 4.6 assists per game rank 2nd in the league. He will be playing his 80th game and 40th MVC game.
- MSU's next three league opponents -- Evansville, UNI and Wichita State -- are a combined 40-8 so far this winter.
- Austin Ruder (So., Nixa, Mo.) has hit multiple 3-pointers in 29 of his 49 career games -- 9 times this season. His 107 treys ranks 4th among all active MVC players and ranks 11th all-time at MSU (needs 5 to break into the top 10).
- Tonight's game features the league's top two scorers in MSU's Marcus Marshall (19.5 ppg) and Evansville's D.J. Balentine (21.4 ppg). Balentine ranks 4th nationally in scoring, while Marshall ranks 23rd, as of Monday.
- Evansville has shot 50 percent or better from the field in 10 of its 16 games this season and ranks No. 3 nationally in team field goal percentage (.516). Comparitively, the Bears have yet to hit 50 percent shooting in any game this season. The Aces are also 6th nationally in assists per game (17.9).
The Bears and Aces first met in the NAIA national championship game on March 13, 1959 in Evansville with UE protecting its home floor in an 83-67 win. Since then Missouri State has taken a 33-27 lead in the series, including a 19-7 record in Springfield and a 5-1 mark at JQH Arena.
The Bears swept the season series with Evansville last year, including a 66-54 win at the Ford Center (2/5/14) in the most-recent matchup. MSU scored 21 points off 16 Purple Ace turnovers and got double-doubles from Jarmar Gulley (18 points, 12 rebounds) and Ron Mvouika (14 and 10), while Christian Kirk scored 8.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 55-59 (.482) in his fourth season at MSU and 57-82 (.410) in his fifth season overall as a head coach. He is 27-31 in MVC games (18-11 at home, 9-20 on the road), 2-3 in MVC Tournament games and 26-25 against all non-conference foes (17-8 at JQH Arena, 8-10 away and 1-7 at neutral sites). He is also 35-19 in all home games, 17-30 on the road, and 3-10 at neutral sites. Lusk is 3-4 all-time against Evansville, including a 2-1 mark at JQH.
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.
Missouri State couldn't overcome a 22-point first-half deficit here Sunday in a 69-55 home loss to Illinois State (10-6, 2-2 MVC) at JQH Arena.
The Bears (8-8, 2-2) rallied in the second half, holding the Redbirds to just 20 points and 28.6 percent from the field in the final 20 minutes, but Paul Lusk's club couldn't find the offensive answer to mount a comeback.
Tyler McCullough scored 12 points and blocked 4 shots for MSU, while Marcus Marshall scored 11, and Loomis Gerring snagged a game-high 7 rebounds for the home side.
Illinois State's Bobby Hunter led three players in double figures in the scoring column with 17 on a 7-for-8 shooting day, while DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell added 12, and MiKyle McIntosh scored 11.
Marshall scored the game's first points on a traditional 3-point play just 43 seconds into the contest, but seven minutes later ISU opened up a double-digit lead for the first team on a steal and layup by Paris Lee to make it an 18-7 game.
ISU made its first four 3-pointers to keep the Bears at arm's length, but McCullough's jumper with 8 minutes left in the first half brought Missouri State back within 24-17. The Redbirds then responded by scoring 13 of the game's next 17 points before Christian Kirk knocked down a short jumper for the home side to make it a 37-23 game just 3:01 before the break.
But Illinois State ended the half by making six straight field goals and went into the intermission with a 49-27 advantage behind a 14-for-15 effort at the line and 7-of-10 beyond the arc.
The Bears were able to keep ISU's offense in check in the second half and out-rebounded the visitors by a 20-13 margin in that span. But the comeback effort that helped MSU overcome a 16-point deficit to the Redbirds last season at JQH Arena wasn't there this time. Every time the Bears got within striking distance, ISU responded.
An Austin Ruder transition bucket with 15 minutes to play made it a 16-point game, but Lee answered with a 3-point play on ISU's next possession. The Bears missed their next nine shots until freshman Chris Kendrix knocked down MSU's only 3-pointer of the game with 7:23 to go and make it a 62-45 game. Less than 2 minutes later Tony Willis drained ISU's ninth trey of the afternoon to push the Redbirds back ahead by 19.
Missouri State outscored ISU 8-3 from there as McCullough scored twice, Loomis Gerring converted a layup and Shawn Roundtree Jr., connected on a short jumper.
For the game, the Bears finished 19-for-53 (.358) overall and 1-of-13 (.077) from beyond the arc, while converting 16-of-21 (.762) from the line. MSU committed 11 turnovers, blocked 6 shots and snagged 7 steals.
Illinois State out-rebounded the Bears by a 39-29 margin and got 41 points from its reserves to help overcome 14 turnovers. The Redbirds finished 20-for-50 (.400) from the field, 9-of-15 (.600) from long distance to tie a JQH Arena record. ISU was also 20-of-24 (.833) at the line.
Missouri State travels to Northern Iowa for a 3 p.m. tipoff Sunday on ESPNU.
