Jan. 22, 2015
Missouri State Game Notes 
| Bradley Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- Dorrian Williams (Jr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) has scored in double figures the last three games and in five of the last seven. He is averaging 9.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game in that span.
- Loomis Gerring (Jr., Grandview, Mo.) has led MSU in rebounding two games in a row and in three of the last four. During that four-game stretch, he is averaging 5.0 rebounds per night.
- Chris Kendrix (Fr., Willard, Mo.) has started the last three ball games and is averaging 7.3 points in that stretch.
- The Bears' 5 turnovers against No. 14 Wichita State on Wednesday was a season low, while the club's 40-percent shooting effort from the field was its best since its Jan. 3 win over Drake (.481).
- Missouri State scored 10 or more 3-pointers five times in non-conference play, but has yet to hit that milestone in conference play. During the team's current five-game losing streak, the Bears are averaging just 3.4 treys per game.
- The Bears are 8-0 this season when shooting a higher field goal percentage than their opponents and 0-11 when they are outshot by their foes. MSU has knocked down 20 FGs three times in league play - twice in the last three games.
- After a season-low .579 (11-for-19) free throw percentage against Wichita State on Wednesday, MSU dropped from 5th to 11th nationally in team free throw accuracy. MSU's .756 effort from the line still leads the MVC.
- Austin Ruder (So., Nixa, Mo.) needs just two 3-pointers to move into a tie for 10th place on MSU's career list. With 110 treys to his credit, Ruder is rapidly approaching Allen Phillips (1998-2000) and Dale Lamberth (2005-08) with 112.
- Tyler McCullough (So., Fayetteville, Ark.) has scored 8 points or more in three of the last four games (7.8 ppg).
- Camyn Boone (Jr., Seattle, Wash.) has scored MSU's first points 6 times this year, the most of any active player.
The series between the Bears and Braves is a fairly-young one with the teams first squaring off in MSU's first year in The Valley (1990-91). The Bears own a 33-18 series lead and have won three in a row and seven of the last eight meetings overall.
MSU swept last season's series, including a 74-61 decision at JQH Arena (2/1/14) in the most-recent matchup. In that game, the Bears shot a blistering 57 percent from the field and knocked down 12 3-pointers. Jarmar Gulley scored 19 for MSU, while Austin Ruder added 13, and Ron Mvouika scored 10. Walt Lemon, Jr., led four Braves in double figures with 13 points and 8 assists..
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 55-62 (.470) in his fourth season at MSU and 57-85 (.401) in his fifth season overall as a head coach. He is 27-34 in MVC games (18-13 at home, 9-21 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 35-21 in all home games, 17-31 on the road, and 3-10 at neutral sites. Lusk is 5-1 against Bradley, including a 2-1 mark in Peoria.
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..
Geno Ford (Ohio, 1997) has three starters and seven lettermen back from a 12-20 club and is off to a 6-4 start at home this season.
Leading the way for BU is Warren Jones (Jr., G) who averages 13.4 points with 27 3-pointers to his credit. Tramique Sutherland (Jr., G) has scored 11.7 points per game with 33 assists, while returnee Auston Barnes (Sr., F) has scored 10.8 points to go with 31 treys and an 83-percent free throw percentage.
BU has a +1.8 rebounding margin and is averaging 7.0 steals per game.
No. 14 Wichita State (17-2, 7-0 MVC) knocked down 11 3-pointers and out-rebounded home standing Missouri State by 16 in a 76-53 Shockers' win here Wednesday before a season-best crowd of 8,674 at JQH Arena.
Starting guards Fred VanVleet, Ron Baker and Tekele Cotton each scored 15 for WSU, which became the first Valley team since 1924 to win 25 straight league games. The Shockers also got 14 points from Darius Carter to improve to 6-1 on the road this season.
Missouri State (8-11, 2-5) got 10 points apiece from Chris Kendrix and Dorrian Williams with Tyler McCullough adding 8, and Loomis Gerring ripping down a game-high 6 rebounds.
The Bears kept things close in the early going with 11 lead changes in the first 10 minutes. But, the Shockers gained separation at the foul line, using charity shots by Rashard Kelly and VanVleet to turn a narrow 17-16 advantage into a 21-16 lead with 7 minutes left in the opening half.
The Shockers dropped in three 3-pointers from there and pushed ahead by 10 briefly on Cotton's long bomb at the 3-minute mark.
However, the Bears were game and retaliated with a dunk by Gerring, a trey by Williams and a jumper from the elbow by Ruder to get back within 37-33 before VanVleet beat the buzzer on a running one-hander to make it a 39-33 game at the intermission.
The Shockers scored the first four points of the second half to gain a double-figure advantage again, 43-33. The Bears fought back within 8 points four times over the next five minutes, but could not close the gap the rest of the night.
With 13:10 to go, Baker started a Wichita State scoring flurry with third trey of the night as part of a 13-3 run in a four-minute span to push Gregg Marshall's club up 60-42 with 9 minutes remaining.
Missouri State went the final 5 minutes, 4 seconds without a field goal down the stretch, allowing WSU to extend the final margin beyond 20 points.
For the game, Wichita State finished 11-for-21 (.448) from 3-point range with six different players splashing home shots from beyond the arc, while the visitors out-rebounded the Bears by a 40-24 margin. The Shockers snagged 17 offensive boards to maintain long possessions and run the clock, but MSU held Wichita State to just 12 second-chance points.
Missouri State matched the Shockers with 22 points in the paint and hit 40 percent (20-for-50) of its shots - the Bears' best shooting effort since Jan. 3. The Bears also blocked 7 shots and notched a season-best with just 5 turnovers against Wichita's pressure defense.
The Bears finished just 2-of-10 from beyond the arc and hit a season-low 57.9 percent from the free throw line, converting 11-of-19 foul shots.
Missouri State travels to Illinois State on Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 7:00 p.m. (ESPN3) to wrap a two-game Valley road swing before returning to JQH Arena to battle rival Southern Illinois on January 31 at 7:05 p.m. on "Black Out" night at JQH Arena.
