Jan. 11, 2016
Missouri State Game Notes | Wichita Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- Dequon Miller (Jr., Charleston, W.Va.) helped lead the Bears to two Valley wins last week, scoring a pair of game-winning shots in victories over UNI and Loyola. He has earned MVC Newcomer of the Week honors four times this season, something only six other Valley players have achieved in the last 13 seasons.
- Obediah Church (Fr., Springfield, Ill.) has scored in double figures the last two games. He leads all MVC freshmen in rebounds (5.8) and blocked shots (1.6) while ranking tied for 2nd in assists (20) and 5th in scoring (6.9 ppg).
- Loomis Gerring (Sr., Grandview, Mo.) returned to the starting lineup against Loyola in place of injured Chris Kendrix (So., Willard, Mo.). It was Gerring's first start since Feb. 22, 2015 (at Drake) as part of his 16 starts last season.
- Church has produced 16 dunks this season for Missouri State. Since the MSU Dunk-O-Meter debuted for the 2008-09 season, only Kyle Weems (18 in 2009-10) and Wade Knapp (17 in 2008-09) have had more slams in a season.
- Jarred Dixon (Fr., Kansas City, Mo.) leads all Valley freshmen in steals (16) and is 10th in scoring (5.8 ppg).
- The Bears are chasing a third straight Valley win for the first time since Feb. 4-12, 2012. MSU is 2-5 all-time at JQH Arena against Wichita State.
- Wichita State comes into the game ranked 7th nationally in turnover margin (+5.6) and 19th in scoring defense (62.9).
- So far this season, the Bears are 6-1 when shooting at a higher FG percentage than their opponent (0-9 when not).
- The Bears have matched or out-rebounded 12 of their first 16 opponents this season and have tallied double-figure offensive caroms 9 times.
- MSU's four freshmen accounted for half the Bears' points in Saturday's win at Loyola. Led by Church's 10 points, the quartet combined for 28 of the teams 56 points on a day with three MSU starters on the shelf with injuries.
The series between the Bears and Shockers dates back to the 1941-42 season with Wichita State holding a 37-30 advantage. WSU has won the last 10 meetings since MSU's memorable home win over the Shockers to clinch the MVC regular-season crown on Feb. 26, 2011. The Bears are 20-10 all-time at home against WSU, including a 2-5 mark at JQH Arena.
Coach Gregg Marshall is in his ninth season at Wichita State and returns 3 starters and 9 lettermen from last year's 30-5 Sweet 16 club that won the MVC regular-season title for the second straight season.
All-American guards Fred VanVleet (6-0, Sr.) and Ron Baker (6-4, Sr.) lead the Shockers. Baker averages a team-best 14.9 points with 32 3-pointers and 4.1 rebounds, while VanVleet scores 11.7 with 56 assists.
WSU is 3-2 in true road games this season, but enters Wednesday's contest riding a 5-game win streak and wins in 8 of its last 9 games.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 64-81 (.441) in his fifth season at MSU and 66-104 (.388) in his sixth season overall as a head coach. He is 32-44 in MVC games (22-16 at home, 10-28 on the road), 2-4 in MVC Tournament games and 30-33 against all non-conference foes (20-11 at JQH Arena, 9-12 away and 1-10 at neutral sites). In all games, he is 42-27 at home, 19-40 on the road, and 3-14 at neutral sites. Lusk is 0-10 against Wichita State, including an 0-4 mark at JQH.
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.
| Miller Earns MVC Newcomer Award for Fourth Time |
For the fourth time this season, Missouri State junior guard Dequon Miller (Charleston, W.Va.) has been named Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week, the league announced Jan. 11.
For the week, Miller had two game-winning shots -- the first on a layup with 6.1 seconds left against Northern Iowa on Jan. 6 and the second on a jumper at Loyola with 3.4 seconds left. Miller tallied a team-high 16 points at Loyola with 4 assists and averaged 11.5 points per game on the week with a total of 5 assists and three 3-pointers. He is j
Since the weekly newcomer award began in 2003-04, only Miller and six other MVC players have won the award four times in their rookie season, including former Bear Anthony Downing (4 times) in 2011-12.
| Freshmen Step Up in Key Road Win |
Missouri State's four freshman accounted for half the Bears' points in the team's Jan. 9 win at Loyola to give the Bears their first road conference victory since Dec. 31, 2014. Led by Obediah Church's 10 points, MSU's three true freshmen and one redshirt freshman combined for 28 of the teams 56 points at Gentile Arena on a day with three MSU starters on the shelf with injuries. The talented freshman class also combined for 23 points earlier in the week (Jan. 6) to lead the comeback over UNI at JQH Arena.
For the season, MSU's freshmen have accounted for 282 points, 17.6 points per game and 26.6 percent of the team's total scoring.
MSU travels to Bradley on Saturday evening (Jan. 16) for a 7 p.m. tipoff at Carver Arena on KOZL-TV and the MSU TV Network.
| Team | MVC | Pct. | Overall | Pct. |
| Wichita State | 4-0 | 1.000 | 10-5 | .667 |
| Evansville | 3-1 | .750 | 14-3 | .824 |
| Indiana State | 3-1 | .750 | 9-7 | .563 |
| Southern Illinois | 3-1 | .750 | 14-3 | .824 |
| Illinois State | 3-1 | .750 | 9-8 | .529 |
| Missouri State | 2-2 | .500 | 6-10 | .375 |
| Northern Iowa | 2-2 | .500 | 10-7 | .588 |
| Loyola Chicago | 0-4 | .000 | 7-9 | .438 |
| Drake | 0-4 | .000 | 5-11 | .313 |
| Bradley | 0-4 | .000 | 2-15 | .118 |
