Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Missouri State

Ronnie

Bears, Birds Set for Tuesday Clash at The Q

January 28, 2018

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 24 - Missouri State Bears (15-8, 5-5 MVC) vs. Illinois State Redbirds (11-11, 5-5 MVC)
Date and Time Tuesday, January 30, 2018 | 7:00 p.m.
Location JQH Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Mo.
Tickets Illinois State Game
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television ESPN3 (Tom Ackerman, Danan Hughes)
Series Illinois State leads 42-29 | Last Meeting: ISU 72, MSU 68 (1/7/18) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Illinois State | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next The Bears begin February with road games at Loyola (Feb. 3) and Indiana State (Feb. 6) before returning to JQH Arena to play Evansville on Feb. 10 on Hall of Fame Weekend | Tickets
Promotions Student Tailgate at Hammons Student Center (5:00 to 6:30 p.m.) | Baseball Championship Ring Presentation at Halftime | Tickets

The Missouri State Bears conclude a two-game home stand Tuesday at 7 p.m. in a pivotal clash with long-time rival Illinois State at JQH Arena. Student tailgate starts at 5 p.m. in Hammons Student Center with free food, and beverage specials and great entertainment.

Series History
  • The series between the Bears and Redbirds dates back to the 1967 NCAA Division II semifinals - a 93-76 win by the Bears. However, Illinois State leads the all-time series, 42-29. MSU is 20-12 all-time in Springfield against the Redbirds, including a 5-4 mark at JQH Arena.
  • Last season the Redbirds swept the series, beating MSU 74-71 in OT in Normal on Jan. 4, before squeaking out a 67-66 win at JQH Arena on Feb. 15. In the first meeting, Jarrid Rhodes scored 19 points for the Bears with Ryan Kreklow adding 11. MSU attempted a school-record 38 threes in the contest. In the rematch in Springfield, Dequon Miller's 3-point attempt at the buzzer just missed to allow the Redbirds a one-poinit win. Alize Johnson led four MSU players in double figures with 17 points.
  • Earlier this season in Normal (Jan. 7), the Redbirds scored 10 points in the final 2 minutes and rallied from a late 3-point deficit to beat MSU, 72-68. Missouri State got 16 points and 12 rebounds from Alize Johnson while Reggie Scurry and Ronnie Rousseau III each contributed 16 points. BOX SCORE
The Ten Count
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) continues to lead the MVC in rebounding for the second year in a row and ranks 6th nationally with 11.6 boards per game. His 8.39 defensive rebounds per game is 4th among all Division I players.
  • On Jan. 27, Obediah Church (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) blocked 2 shots against Southern Illinois to become Missouri State's all-time leader in shot rejections, surpassing Danny Moore (167 from 1996-99) for the top spot. Church leads the MVC with 2.0 blocks per game and has 166 career rejections.
  • Missouri State remains one of the top 20 defensive programs in the nation, entering the week ranked 6th in 3-point field goal defense (.300), 17th in scoring defense (63.5) and 18th in field goal defense (.395).
  • It took a JQH Arena record 63.8 field goal shooting percentage for Southern Illinois to pull a 79-77 upset of the Bears on Saturday at The Q. The Salukis shot 73.9 percent in the first half and ended the game 30-for-47. SIU was also 8-of-13 (.615) from 3-point range against a Bears' club that ranked 6th nationally in 3-point field goal defense.
  • Ronnie Rousseau III (Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio) is averaging 11.5 points over the club's last two games, just his second and third double-figure scoring games in MVC play. His best Valley effort came with 16 points at Illinois State on Jan. 7. He reached 300 career points vs. SIU and knocked down a career-best 4 3-pointers.
  • Jarrid Rhodes (Sr., Palmetto, Fla.) has knocked down a 3-pointer in 9 of 10 conferences and has multiple treys in 6 of those. He needs 1 rebound for 100 career MVC rebounds (28 games) and is 26-for-27 (.963.) at the line in conference games for his career.
  • Over the last 11 games, Alize Johnson has recorded nine double-doubles and snagged double-figure rebounds 10 times. In that span he has averaged 16.9 points and 13.1 rebounds per contest. He enters the week ranked 4th in the nation in double-doubles with 15, just two shy of his 2016-17 total (17).
  • Jarred Dixon (Jr., Kansas City, Mo.) has scored in double figures in four of the team's last five games, averaging 12.0 points, 36.0 minutes and 2.6 assists per game.
  • A win by Missouri State would give the Bears their fourth win of January, something MSU has achieved each of the previous two seasons and three of the previous four campaigns.
  • The only double-double in the 105-game career of J.T. Miller (Clinton, N.C.) came against Illinois State on Jan. 7 in Normal. Miller had 16 points and 11 rebounds in the game as one of two MSU double-doubles (Johnson) on the day.
Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 103-114 (.475) in his seventh season at MSU and 105-137 (.434) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 50-68 in MVC games (34-25 at home, 16-43 on the road), 4-6 in MVC Tournament games and 49-40 against all non-conference foes (32-13 at JQH Arena, 12-15 away and 5-12 at neutral sites). In all games, he is 66-38 at home, 28-58 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. Lusk is 4-10 all-time against ISU, including a 3-3 mark at JQH Arena.
  • 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
 
Loyola-Chicago 8-2 18-4
Bradley 6-4 16-7
Southern Illinois 6-4 14-9
Drake 6-4 12-11
Missouri State 5-5 15-8
Illinois State 5-5 11-11
Indiana State 5-5 10-12
Evansville 4-6 14-9
Northern Iowa 3-7 11-11
Valparaiso 2-8 11-12

 
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors