Jan. 18, 2016
Missouri State Game Notes | Drake Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
Missouri State Bears (7-11, 3-3 MVC) at Drake Bulldogs (5-13, 0-6 MVC)
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Wed., Jan. 20, 2016
| Knapp Center (7,152), Des Moines, Iowa | 7 p.m. | KOZL-TV
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| Location | Knapp Center (7,152) | Des Moines, Iowa |
| Promotions | Half-price Wednesday
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MSU Tickets
| Game 19 at Drake | Season Tickets |
| Fan Information | BearWear | Browser Theme | Visitors Guide | MSU Bookstore |
| Television | KOZL-27 with Tom Ackerman and Kelby Stuckey | MSU TV Network |
| Radio | Missouri State Radio Network with Art Hains & Mike Keltner |
Online Coverage
| Live Audio Stream | ESPN3 | Live Stats |
MissouriStateBears.com
| Live Stats | Basketball Home Page |
| Connect | @MissouriStBears | @MSUBearsHoops | Bears on Facebook |Bears on Instagram | #MSUBears | #MVCHoops |
All-Time Series
| MSU leads 39-12 | MSU Streak: L1 | Last Meeting: DU 78, MSU 43 (2/22/15 at Knapp Center) |
Up Next
| The Bears return to JQH Arena on Sunday (3 p.m.) to take on rival Southern Illinois. [Tickets] |
- Camyn Boone (Sr., Mesa, Ariz.) is just 16 points away from reaching the 500-point milestone for his two-year career at MSU. He is also 15 rebounds shy of 300. He will be appearing in his 50th game for the Bears.
- In MVC games, five Missouri State players are averaging 8.0 points per game or better -- Dequon Miller (11.8), Chris Kendrix (11.0), Camyn Boone (9.7), Obediah Church (8.8), and Ryan Kreklow (8.2).
- Dorrian Williams (Sr., Oklahoma City, Okla.) returned to action at Bradley after missing the 4 previous games with a hamstring injury. He played 20 minutes off the bench, scored 4 points and notched a game-high 6 assists.
- Obediah Church (Fr., Springfield, Ill.) is coming off game highs 13 points and 13 rebounds at Bradley in the Bears' second Valley road win of the season. He is the first MSU freshman to post a double-double on the road since Drew Wilson logged 11 points and 11 rebounds at Tulsa on Dec. 5, 2012.
- Ryan Kreklow (Fr., Columbia, Mo.) is averaging 9.8 points over the last 4 games while shooting 50-percent (9-for-18) from 3-point range and 77 percent (10-of-13) at the line. He has started the last two games.
- This season, the Bears are 7-1 when shooting at a higher FG percentage than their opponent (0-10 when not).
- MSU's four freshmen accounted for 56 percent of the Bears' points in last Saturday's win at Bradley (34 of 61). Obediah Church (Springfield, Ill.) & Ryan Kreklow (Columbia, Mo.) notched career highs with 13 and 12 points, respectively.
- Obediah Church (Fr., Springfield, Ill.) has produced 20 dunks this season for Missouri State, the most on record by any Missouri State player and breaking the previous high of 18 set by Kyle Weems in 2009-10).
- Last year's 78-43 loss at Drake (2/22/15) marked MSU's most-lopsided defeat in the series against the Bulldogs.
- Drake entered the week ranked 11th nationally in team 3-point field goal percentage (.412).
Missouri State leads the all-time series with Drake, 39-12. The Bears and Bulldogs first met in 1986 in the only meeting in the series outside MVC play.
The Bears are 15-10 all-time at the Knapp Center, but Drake has won the last two games in the facility, including a decisive 78-43 decision in the most-recent matchup between the squads on 2/22/15. MSU has won of the last six matchups overall with the teams splitting the season series the last two years.
Coach Ray Giacoletti is in his third season in Des Moines with 4 starters and 6 lettermen back from a 9-22 club. The Bulldogs are 3-5 at home this season but have lost 10 of their last 11 contests.
Reed Timmer (G, 6-1, So.) leads DU with 17.6 points per game, while Kale Abrahamson (F, 6-8, Jr.) scores 13.8 points per night with a team-high 41 3-pointers. The bulldogs are one of the nation's top 3-point shooting teams, converting 41.2 percent from behond the arc and 7.7 per game.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 65-82 (.442) in his fifth season at MSU and 67-105 (.390) in his sixth season overall as a head coach. He is 33-45 in MVC games (22-17 at home, 11-28 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 42-28 at home, 20-40 on the road, and 3-14 at neutral sites. Lusk is 6-2 against Drake, including a 2-2 mark at the Knapp Center.
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 Award for Fourth Time
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For the fourth time this season, Missouri State junior guard Dequon Miller (Charleston, W.Va.) was 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 Wins
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MSU's four freshman accounted for half the Bears' points in the team's Jan. 9 win at Loyola to give the Bears their first MVC road victory since 12/31/14. Led by Obediah Church's 10 points, MSU's three true freshmen and one redshirt freshman combined for 28 of 56 points at Gentile Arena on a day with three MSU starters on the shelf with injuries.
The Bears picked up their second Valley road win on Jan. 16 at Bradley behind a double-double from Church (13 points and 13 boards) and a career-high 12 points from Ryan Kreklow. MSU freshmen scored 34 of 61 (56%) points in the win.
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). MWC teams now have an all-time 28-17 edge in Series games from 2009-15. The Mountain West won this year's series, 6-4:
- 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
- UNLV at Wichita State, WSU 56-50
- Drake at Nevada, Nevada 79-71
- Bradley at Boise State, BSU 90-70
- Evansville at Fresno State, UE 85-77
Missouri State is now 1-3 all-time in the Mountain West-Missouri Valley Challenge.
The Bears return to JQH Arena on Sunday for a 3 p.m. game against rival Southern Illinois on ESPN3. [Tickets].
