Bears Looking for Road Redemption at Illinois State
January 26, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Missouri State Game Notes 
| Illinois State Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
| Game 21 | Missouri State Bears (8-12, 2-6 MVC) at Illinois State Redbirds (12-8, 4-4 MVC) | 7:00 p.m. | |
| Date | Wednesday, January 28, 2015 | 7:00 p.m. (Central) |
| Location | Redbird Arena (10,000) | Driving Directions | Normal, Ill. |
| Tickets | Game 21 Tickets | MSU Season Tickets |
| Live Video | Watch on ESPN3 |
| Fan Information | BearWear | Browser Theme | Visitors Guide | MSU Bookstore |
| Television | ESPN3.com with Tom Ackerman and Rich Zvosec | Future Games on Missouri State Television Network |
| Radio | Missouri State Radio Network with Art Hains and Mike Keltner |
| Online | Live Audio Stream  |
| MissouriStateBears.com | Live Stats  | Basketball Home Page |
| Connect | @MissouriStBears  | @MSUBearsHoops | Bears on Facebook  | Bears on Instagram  |
| All-Time Series | ISU leads 37-28 | Streak: ISU W 1 in a row | Last Meeting: ISU 69, MSU 55 (1/11/15) |
| Up Next | Missouri State returns to JQH Arena Saturday (Jan. 31) to take on Southern Illinois at 7:05 p.m. |
| The 10 Count |
- During the Bears' current six-game losing streak, Dorrian Williams (Jr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) has averaged a team-best 9.2 points per game with a 1.92 assist-to-turnover ratio.
- Loomis Gerring (Jr., Grandview, Mo.) is coming off a career-high 11 rebounds at Bradley, making him the first Bear this season to record double-digit caroms in a game. He has led MSU in rebounding three straight games (7.3 rpg).
- Chris Kendrix (Fr., Willard, Mo.) has scored in double figures in three of his recent four starts and is coming off career highs in points (13), rebounds (6) and 3-pointers (4) at Bradley. He is scoring 8.8 points per game over the last four.
- By out-rebounding Bradley 34-26 on Saturday in Peoria, the Bears ended a string of four straight games without owning the rebounding advantage against their opponents. For the season, MSU has outrebounded 10 of 20 foes.
- Christian Kirk (Sr., Springfield, Mo.) needs 13 rebounds to reach 400 for his career (116 games).
- Dorrian Williams needs 8 assists to reach 100 this season. He ranks 69th nationally in assists with 4.6 per game.
- Camyn Boone (Jr., Seattle, Wash.) is converting 61.8 percent of his field goal attempts in conference games. He is 21-for-34 from the field against Valley foes and has logged 4.8 rebounds per game in those games.
- Illinois State sophomore Reggie Lynch leads the Valley in blocked shots (2.7) and offensive rebounds (2.8), while teammates Bobby Hunter (.507 3-point FG%) and Paris Lee (2.4 steals) also lead the MVC in those categories.
- ISU leads the league in steals per game (7.9) which ranks 45th nationally among all 355 Division I schools.
- Austin Ruder (So., Nixa, Mo.) needs one 3-pointer to reach 112 for his career and move into MSU's all-time top 10. He is averaging 9.7 points per game in road games this season and is coming off a team-high 15 points at Bradley.
| The Series |
The Bears trail the all-time series against the Redbirds, 37-28, in a rivalry that dates back to 1967. MSU is 6-22 in Normal, and three of the last 14 meetings between the teams have been decided in overtime. MSU has lost its last three games at Redbird Arena.
In the most-recent meeting between the clubs (Jan. 11), the Bears got 12 points from Tyler McCullough and a game-high 7 rebounds from Loomis Gerring, but could not overcome a 22-point halftime deficit in a 69-55 loss. Illinois State was held to 40 percent shooting and committed 14 turnovers, but connected on 20-fo-24 free throws, including 14-of-15 in the first half. Bobby Hunter was 7-for-8 from the field for a game-high 17 points for Dan Muller's Redbirds.
| Coach Paul Lusk |
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 55-63 (.466) in his fourth season at MSU and 57-86 (.399) in his fifth season overall as a head coach. He is 27-35 in MVC games (18-13 at home, 9-22 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, 17-32 on the road, and 3-10 at neutral sites. Lusk is 3-5 against ISU, including an 0-3 mark at Redbird Arena.
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.
| Scouting Illinois State |
Dan Muller (Illinois State, 1998) has four starters and six lettermen back from an 18-16 squad. The Redbirds are led by Daishon Knight (Sr., G) who averages 15.2 points and 3.3 rebounds, while DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell (Jr. G) has notched 12.0 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in his first season in Normal.
ISU had not lost a conference game in regulation play since Jan. 4 until Sunday's 54-53 home loss to Northern Iowa. The Redbirds are 6-4 at home this season and averaging 7.9 steals per game.
| Last Game |
NMissouri State (8-12, 2-6 MVC) had two shots in the deciding moments of the game to tie or win, but couldn't find the mark on either one in a 61-59 road loss to Bradley (7-14, 2-6) here Saturday in a thrilling Missouri Valley Conference battle.
Austin Ruder, who led MSU with 15 points, hit a baseline jumper with 8.3 seconds left to get the Bears back within two points of the lead. After MSU forced Bradley into a travel on the ensuing in-bound play, the Bears got the ball back with a chance to complete the comeback after trailing by as many as 13 in the second half.
Ruder broke loose in the right corner and fired a long jumper off the rim, but the ball went off a Braves' player, giving MSU another shot with under 3 seconds to play. Ruder came off a screen on the next play from the left wing, and his potential game-winner caromed off to preserve a narrow Bradley win before 6,059 fans at Carver Arena.
Camyn Boone added 14 points for Paul Lusk's Bears, while Chris Kendrix netted a career-high 13 points. Loomis Gerring became the first MSU player this season to crack double-figures in rebounds with 11 to help Missouri State out-rebound the Braves, 34-26.
Bradley was led by Warren Jones with 16 points.
Bradley used the momentum of a 35-25 halftime lead to hold off the Bears early in the second half. The Braves scored the first bucket of the second stanza to lead by 12 - and later 13 -- and the Bears were unable to get closer than 8 points through the first 12-and-a-half minutes of the period.
MSU finally broke through with 8:30 remaining on Kendrix's fourth trey of the night to make it a 50-45 game, the closest the Bears had been since late in the first half. Tyler McCullough later went to the line with a chance to draw the visitors closer, but missed the front end.
The Braves needed just two minutes to regain a 9-point advantage, but Bears reeled off 7 unanswered points with a pair of free throws by Boone, a transition layup by Austin Ruder and a 3-pointer from the right wing by Ruder with 4:32 remaining that made it a 54-52 game.
Bradley temporarily squelched the momentum with three free throws by Jones, but Gavin Thurman responded with a hook shot for Missouri State to make it a 57-54 game headed into the final media timeout.
Boone blocked a Bradley shot with 2 minutes to go, and Ruder was fouled on a 3-point shot, making two ensuing charity shots, to get the Bears back within 57-56.
But a clutch trey by Jones with 1:30 to go got Bradley to the 60-point mark first and proved to be the game-winner, despite the last-minute heroics by Missouri State, which shot 21-for-50 (.420) from the field and 6-of-17 (.353) from three.
The Bears, who dropped their sixth game in a row, missed a season-high 9 free throws to finish 11-for-20 (.550) at the stripe.
Bradley was 19-for-41 (.463) from the field, 6-of-15 (.400) beyond the arc and 17-for-28 (.607) at the line with 12 turnovers.
In the first half, the Bears found their groove in the early going, gaining a four-point advantage midway through the period on a 20-footer by Ruder to give MSU a 14-10 advantage. Bradley responded with a 7-0 run over the next two minutes before Christian Kirk cooled the Braves' momentum with a pair of free throws to get MSU within 17-16.
Less than a minute later Bradley used a 3-pointer by Donte Thomas to stretch its lead to 22-16, but Loomis Gerring drew Missouri State back within three on a trey from the right wing with 6:16 to play in the opening period.
Boone dropped in a short hook, and Christian Kirk tied the game with an offensive rebound and put-back at the 3:33 mark to knot the score at 23.
But it was all Bradley down the stretch as the Geno Ford's squad ended the half on a 12-2 run, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Ka'Darryl Bell to put the home side up by double digits at the break.
| Next Game |
Missouri State returns to JQH Arena to battle rival Southern Illinois on Saturday, January 31 at 7:05 p.m. on "Black Out" night at JQH Arena. The game will be carried live on KOZL-TV and the Missouri State Television Network | Tickets
