Dec. 7, 2015
Missouri State Game Notes | IUPUI Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- Dequon Miller (Jr., Charleston, W.Va.) was named MVC Newcomer of the Week. The transfer from Motlow College is coming off a career-high 21-point performance at Oklahoma State, including 6 points in the final 36.3 seconds. He was 8-for-16 from the field with 4 rebounds and 3 assists in the win, in addition to scoring the game-winning shot.
- During halftime ceremonies of today's game, former head coach Bill Thomas (1964-80) will have a ceremonial jersey retired in his honor. His will be the sixth jersey retired by the Bears. He was 265-158 (.626) in 16 seasons, led the Bears to 8 conference titles and three national runner-up finishes.
- Dorrian Williams (Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) will be playing in his 100th career game. He has 324 assists, which ranks 13th in program history, along with 322 rebounds and 559 points.
- Missouri State has matched or out-rebounded 6 of its first 7 opponents, including 5 in a row. The Bears have also amassed 93 second-chance points behind their 84 offensive caroms.
- Led by Chris Kendrix (5 times), Camyn Boone (4) and Dequon Miller (4), 10 different Bears have scored in double figures through six games this season. Nationally, only Georgia Southern (11) has more double-figure producers.
- The Bears have scored 60+ points 5 games in a row -- something they have not done since Nov. 28-Dec. 20, 2014.
- Saturday's 64-63 win at Oklahoma State marked the Bears' first road win against a power-five conference foe since an 81-69 victory at Big East South Florida on Dec. 22, 2006.
- Obediah Church (Springfield, Ill.) ranks 9th among all freshmen and 52nd overall nationally in blocks per game (2.14).
- Church shot 80 percent from the field (8-of-10) in two games last week with 4 dunks, 6 blocks and 9 rebounds.
- MSU is 74-27 (.733) over the last 6 seasons at JQH Arena, with 12 of those losses by 5 points or less.
The Bears and Jaguars have never met in men's basketball.
IUPUI comes to Springfield with a 3-7 overall record and 1-6 mark on the road. The Jaguars' lone road win of the year came in the season opener at Indiana State (72-70), a fellow MVC program, on Nov. 13 in Terre Haute. IUPUI is coming off an 80-53 loss at No. 11 Purdue on Monday night.
The Jaguars are led by Darell Combs (Jr., Chicago, Ill.) who is averaging 15.2 points and 2.6 assists per game with 16 3-pointers. He is a transfer from Eastern Michigan. IUPUI also gets 10.3 points per game from Jordan Pickett (So., Indianapolis, Ind.), a Loyola transfer, and a team-best 6.6 rebounds per game from fellow Loyola transfer Nick Osborne (Jr., Muncie, Ind.). Osborne had 2 points and 3 rebounds against the Bears at Loyola on 1/5/14.
Second-year head coach Jason Gardner (Arizona, 2011) has four starters and six lettermen back from a 10-21 club that was 6-10 (tied for 6th) in the Summit League.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 60-76 (.441) in his fifth season at MSU and 62-99 (.385) in his sixth season overall as a head coach. He is 30-42 in MVC games (21-15 at home, 9-27 on the road), 2-4 in MVC Tournament games and 28-30 against all non-conference foes (18-9 at JQH Arena, 9-11 away and 1-10 at neutral sites). In all games, he is 39-24 at home, 18-38 on the road, and 3-14 at neutral sites. Lusk has never coached against IUPUI.
The 44-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 17th 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.
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 that same year. He was also named one of the Top 25 high-major assistants by FoxSports.com in 2010, and CollegeSportsMadness.com named him MVC coach of the year in 2012. He is a member of the Illinois Basketball Hall of Fame after scoring 2,743 points during a highly-touted prep career at Wesclin High in New Baden, Ill. He went on to play 107 college games at Iowa and Southern Illinois, earning All-MVC second-team honors in 1994 for the Salukis.
Bears to Retire Jersey of Thomas
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MSU AD Kyle Moats announced Nov. 9 that a ceremonial jersey will be retired on Dec. 10 to honor legendary men's basketball coach Bill Thomas. Thomas' legacy on the Springfield campus shaped the landscape of Bears' basketball for nearly three decades as a player, assistant coach and most notably as head coach of the Bears for three trips to the NCAA Division II championship game in 1967, 1969 and 1974.
He became the head coach of the Bears in 1964 and over the next 16 seasons, he directed Missouri State to eight MIAA basketball titles, more than any other coach in league history. Thomas compiled a 16-year coaching mark of 265-158, twice was honored as NABC District Coach of the Year and in 1974 was named the College Division National Coach of the Year by the NABC. Thomas will be the sixth men's basketball representative to have a jersey retired in his honor at Missouri State.
Bears Get Gritty in Stillwater
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A driving layup by Dequon Miller (Jr., Charleston, W.Va.) with 7.3 seconds remaining helped Missouri State overcome a four-point deficit in the final 30 seconds and secure a 64-63 win at Oklahoma State on Dec. 5. Miller finished with a career-high 21 points to lead three Bears in double figures with senior Camyn Boone (Mesa, Ariz.) contributing 17 points and 9 boards, and Chris Kendrix (So., Willard, Mo.) adding 10 points and 9 rebounds in the win.
Missouri State out-rebounded the Cowboys by a 41-31 margin and overcame a late charge by the Big XII club that saw Oklahoma State make 7 of its final 10 field goal attempts.
It marked Missouri State's first road victory since a 53-50 win at Southern Illinois (12/31/14), and the gritty upset was also the club's first road win against a power-five conference foe since an 81-69 victory at Big East South Florida (12/22/06).
The Mountain West and Missouri Valley conferences have revived a Challenge Series that will feature head-to-head competition between 10 MWC and 10 MVC teams this season. The MWC won the last Challenge Series in 2012 (6-3). Entering this year, MWC teams had an all-time 22-13 edge in Series games from 2009-12.
The Mountain West leads this year's Challenge Series, 4-2:
- Air Force at Southern Illinois SIU, 77-75
- Illinois State at San Diego State SDSU, 71-60
- Colorado State at UNI CSU, 84-78
- Wyoming at Indiana State INS, 70-55
- Loyola at New Mexico NM, 75-51
- Utah State at Missouri State, USU 69-68
- D9 -- UNLV at Wichita State (ESPN2) 8:00 CT
- D12 -- Drake at Nevada 6:00 CT
- D20 -- Bradley at Boise State (ROOT) 1:00 CT
- D20 -- Evansville at Fresno State 3:00 CT
Missouri State is now 1-3 all-time in the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge.
MSU continues its three-game home stand Sunday at 2:05 p.m. against Tulsa with Oral Roberts visiting campus on Wednesday, Dec. 16 at 7:05 p.m.
