Off to a 2-0 start in Missouri Valley Conference play, the Missouri State Bears (11-4) will take to the road Wednesday for an 8 p.m. (Central) tipoff against fellow Valley frontrunner Illinois State (10-4) in a regionally-televised game on FOX Sports Midwest.
Series History
In a series that dates back to the 1967 Division II national semifinals in Evansville, ISU leads the rivalry, 39-29, including wins in three of the last four meetings.
Last season, the teams split the regular-season series with ISU winning a 74-61 decision in Normal before the Bears claimed an 84-81 overtime win in Springfield.
In the first meeting of 2015-16, ISU hit 15 threes and overcame a 13-point MSU lead.
Dequon Miller scored a game-high 17 points to lead the Bears.
In Springfield, Miller scored 22 points and helped Missouri State overcome a seven-point deficit in overtime to win by three. His triple with 2.2 seconds left in regulation tied the game at 72.
Jarred Dixon, who scored 14, took over down the stretch with a three, a drawn charge, the go-ahead bucket and two clutch rebounds down the stretch.
Scouting the Redbirds
Fifth-year head coach Dan Muller has seven lettermen and four starters back from an 18-14 club that was 12-6 and tied for second in the MVC standings a year ago.
Leading the way for ISU this season is senior Deontae Hawkins with 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game along with 30 treys. Classmate Paris Lee has team-highs 75 assists, 27 steals and 34 3-pointers and posts 13.6 points per game. MiKyle McIntosh also averages 13.1 points per game for the Redbirds..
The Ten Count
- The Bears are coming off a 7-3 December, matching the 1990-91 club for the second-best December of the program's Division I era (since 1982-83). MSU was 8-0 in December in 1996-97 en route to a 24-9 campaign.
- Obediah Church (So., Springfield, Ill.) has blocked a shot in every game this season -- 22 straight games overall. He leads the Valley and ranks 16th nationally in blocked shots per game (2.7).
- The Bears have led at the half in 13 of 15 games (11-2) this season and are 63-19 under head coach Paul Lusk when taking the lead into the break.
- Alize Johnson (Jr., Williamsport, Pa.) leads the MVC with 9.7 rebounds per game and is coming off his third straight double-double with a career-high 30 points and 15 rebounds against Indiana State (Dec. 31) at JQH Arena.
- Johnson is the only MVC newcomer to rank in the top 10 in the league in scoring (9th) and rebounding (1st). He is a four-time MVC Newcomer of the Week and is seventh nationally with 8 double-doubles this season.
- MSU's 52 rebounds against Indiana State on Saturday tied a JQH Arena record and marked the club's most since securing 52 caroms against William Woods on Nov. 27, 2015.
- Dequon Miller (Sr., Charleston, W.Va.) averaged 19.5 points per game against the Redbirds in two games last year.
- Missouri State's 1.122 points per possession ranks 34th nationally among all Division I programs.
- With 71 blocked shots, Tyler McCullough (Sr. Fayetteville, Ark.) needs 1 more to move into MSU's career top 10. His next appearance will mark his 50th career Valley game. He is one of just three seniors on the MSU roster.
- MSU's opponents have collectively converted 77.8 percent of their free throws this season, the sixth-highest opponent free throw percentage among the NCAA's 351 Division I programs.
