Jan. 21, 2016
Missouri State Game Notes | SIU Game Notes | MVC Weekly Notebook
- The Bears have won four of their last five games overall and have reeled off three straight Valley road wins for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
- The Bears have overcome four double-figure deficits for wins this season, including Wednesday's 79-70 win at Drake. MSU trailed the Bulldogs by 15 points in the first half, making the comeback in Des Moines the club's sixth-best ever.
- Dequon Miller (Jr., Charleston, W.Va.) is second among all MVC players in minutes per game (36.1) in league games. He is a four-time MVC Newcomer of the Week and is coming off a career-high 23 points in Wednesday's win at Drake.
- Jarred Dixon (Fr., Kansas City, Mo.) has started the last 6 games and is averaging 7.8 points in that span. He leads all Valley freshmen in steals (20) and is 8th among MVC newbies in season scoring average (6.2 ppg).
- Including Wednesday's win at Drake, the Bears have already overcome four halftime deficits this season.
- Obediah Church (Fr., Springfield, Ill.) has scored in double figures in three of his last five games, averaging 9.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game in that span. Church leads all MVC freshmen in rebounds (6.3 rpg) and blocks (29).
- Camyn Boone (Sr., Mesa, Ariz.) needs just 7 points to reach 500 for his MSU career (50 games) and also needs 11 rebounds to reach the 300 milestone. He is averaging 9.8 points per game over the last 5 games.
- This season, the Bears are 8-1 when shooting at a higher FG percentage than their opponent (0-10 when not).
- SIU is a national-best 7-0 on the road this season and ranks 35th nationally in turnover margin (+2.8).
- Former Saluki players who have recently coached at MSU include Bears head coach Paul Lusk (1992-95), current assistant Brad Korn (1999-2004), and former MSU assistants Derrick Tilmon (1997-2000), Kent Williams (1999-2003) and Kyle Smithpeters (2004-06). SIU head coach Barry Hinson was 169-117 (.591) in 9 seasons at MSU.
The Bears and Salukis first met in 1957 in a rivalry that has seen SIU take a 41-37 lead. The Bears are 23-13 all-time at home against SIU, including a 6-1 mark at JQH Arena.
MSU won the two regular-season meetings between the clubs last season -- 53-50 in Carbondale (12/31/14) and 52-46 in Springfield (1/31/15) -- before SIU gained revenge by a 55-48 count in the MVC Tournament first round (3/5/15).
MSU has won 11 of the last 14 meetings between the two squads.
The new-look Salukis are off to a staggering start after a 12-21 campaign a year ago. Fourth-year head coach Barry Hinson has 3 starters and 6 lettermen back from that team, including standout senior Anthony Beane (6-2, G) who is averaging 19.9 points per game with 48 3-pointers on the season. Sean O'Brien (6-7, Jr., F) has scored 12.5 points per game with 19 blocks, while newcomer Mike Rodriguez (5-10, Jr., G) is averaging 9.5 points and a team-best 3.4 assists.
Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 66-82 (.446) in his fifth season at MSU and 68-105 (.393) in his sixth season overall as a head coach. He is 34-45 in MVC games (22-17 at home, 12-28 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, 21-40 on the road, and 3-14 at neutral sites. Lusk is 6-2 against Southern Illinois, including a 4-0 mark at JQH Arena.
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.) 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 |
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.
MSU travels to Indiana State on Wednesday evening (Jan. 27) for a 7 p.m. tipoff at the Hulman Center on KOZL-TV and the MSU TV Network.
| Team | MVC | Pct. | Overall | Pct. |
| Wichita State | 7-0 | 1.000 | 13-5 | .722 |
| Evansville | 6-1 | .857 | 17-3 | .850 |
| Southern Illinois | 6-1 | .857 | 17-3 | .850 |
| Missouri State | 4-3 | .571 | 8-11 | .421 |
| Indiana State | 4-3 | .571 | 10-9 | .526 |
| Illinois State | 4-3 | .571 | 10-10 | .500 |
| Northern Iowa | 2-5 | .286 | 10-10 | .500 |
| Bradley | 1-6 | .143 | 3-17 | .150 |
| Loyola Chicago | 1-6 | .143 | 8-11 | .421 |
| Drake | 0-7 | .000 | 5-14 | .263 |
