Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Missouri State

Alize Johnson

MSU Men Put Valley's Top Streak on the Line Sunday at ORU

December 09, 2017

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 12 - Missouri State Bears (9-2) at Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (2-9)
Date and Time Sunday, Dec. 10, 2017 | 3:00 p.m.
Location Mabee Center (10,575) | Tulsa, Okla.
Tickets ORU Game | Wright State Game | Loyola Game
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television KOZL-TV (Don West, Kelby Stuckey) & MSU TV Network | ESPN3
Series MSU leads ORU, 8-7 | Last Meeting: MSU 86, ORU 76 (12/14/16) | Box Score
Live Stats ORU Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Oral Roberts | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next After a week off for finals, the Bears host Wright State on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m. in their final non-conference game of the regular season | Tickets
Directions Driving directions to the Mabee Center in Tulsa

Missouri State puts the longest win streak in the Missouri Valley Conference on the line Sunday when the Bears (9-2) take on regional rival Oral Roberts at 3 p.m. in Tulsa.

Series History
  • The Bears lead the all-time series with the Golden Eagles, 8-7, in a regional rivalry that dates back to 1981. MSU is 3-5 all-time at the Mabee Center in Tulsa against ORU with its most-recent win at the Mabee Center taking place on Dec. 13, 2013.
  • The Bears have won the last two meetings in the series -- both in Springfield -- including an 86-76 win at JQH Arena on Dec. 14, 2016. In that game, MSU tied a JQH Arena record with 25 offensive rebounds, while Alize Johnson scored 20 points and snagged 16 caroms. Jarred Dixon also talliled 15 points off the bench for MSU, which led 42-40 at the half and shot 46.4 percent. ORU was led by 35 points from Kris Martin and 17 from current NBA G League standout Jalen Bradley.

The Ten Count
  • The Bears are riding a 7-game win streak, their longest since a nine-game winning streak that ran from Dec. 18, 2010 to Jan. 16, 2011.
  • This is Missouri State's third game (in a four-game stretch) against a Summit League opponent. The Bears defeated South Dakota State (73-53) on Dec. 2 in Sioux Falls before dispatching North Dakota State (71-58) in Fargo on Dec. 4.
  • The Bears are 7-0 with J.T. Miller (Sr., Clinton, N.C.) in the starting lineup. He now has 1,035 career points (94 games).
  • Obediah Church (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) is 21 blocked shot behind MSU career leader Danny Moore (1996-99) for the spot on the program's career list. He has 146 career rejections and also needs just 20 points to reach 500 for his career.
  • Ryan Kreklow (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) is just 4 3-pointers away from 100 for his career. He would become the 15th Bear to achieve that milestone. He is also 24 points from 500 for his career.
  • Junior Reggie Scurry (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.) has scored 8 or more points off the bench in nine straight ball games and is averaging 10.1 points -- in just 15.0 minutes -- in that span. Scurry's .587 field goal percentage ranks third in the Missouri Valley.
  • Jarrid Rhodes (Sr., Palmetto, Fla.) is averaging 11.0 points per game over the last three games and is 8-of-12 (.667) from 3-point range and 12-of-20 (.600) overall from the field in that span.
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) has turned in 3 straight double doubles and ranks sixth nationally (and tops in the MVC) with 6 double-doubles on the young season. He also ranks 3rd nationally in total rebounds (115), 18th in rebounds per game (10.5) and 24th in defensive rebounds per game (7.36).
  • MSU moved up to 19th nationally in rebound margin (+9.4) after Friday's win with the Bears posting a rebounding advantage in 10 of 11 games this season. Missouri State has double-figure offensive rebounds in all 11 games.
  • The Bears' .684 3-point percentage (13-of-19) against Hampton was a new JQH Arena record and the best ever by MSU in a game in which MSU has made 10 or more threes. The MSU record is .889 (8-of-9) vs. Tulsa on Dec. 2, 1989.
  • ORU associate head coach Rodney Perry played two seasons for the Bears (1991-93) and scored 334 pts. in 60 games.
  • Former Bear Austin Ruder is now playing at ORU as a graduate transfer. Ruder scored 707 points and converted 173 3-pointers in 98 games at MSU from 2013-17. He is averaging 11.5 ppg at ORU but has missed the last two games.

Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 97-108 (.473) in his seventh season at MSU and 99-131 (.430) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 45-63 in MVC games (30-24 at home, 15-39 on the road), 4-6 in MVC Tournament games and 48-39 against all non-conference foes (31-13 at JQH Arena, 12-14 away and 5-12 at neutral sites). In all games, he is 61-37 at home, 26-53 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. He is 4-4 all-time against Oral Roberts (1-3 in Tulsa).
  • The 46-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.

MVC Standings
School Conf CPct. Overall Pct. Streak
Loyola 0-0 .000 9-1 .900 W2
Missouri State 0-0 .000 9-2 .818 W7
Valparaiso 0-0 .000 8-2 .800 L2
Bradley 0-0 .000 7-2 .778 L1
Evansville 0-0 .000 7-2 .778 W2
UNI 0-0 .000 7-2 .778 W2
Southern Illinois 0-0 .000 4-3 .571 L1
Drake 0-0 .000 4-4 .500 L3
Illinois State 0-0 .000 4-5 .444 L1
Indiana State 0-0 .000 3-5 .375 L1
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors