Bears Return to the Road for Saturday Clash at NDSU

Saturday, December 15

Fargo, N.D.

7:30 p.m.

Missouri State University

North Dakota State

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Bears Return to the Road for Saturday Clash at NDSU

December 12, 2018 | Men's Basketball

Game Notes Listen Live Stats Watch Tickets

By: MSU Athletics Communications

GAME 10 - Missouri State Bears (4-5) at North Dakota State Bison (3-7)
Date and Time	Saturday, Dec. 15, 2018 \| 7:30 p.m.
Location	Scheels Center (5,644) \| Fargo, N.D.
Tickets	NDSU Tickets
Radio	KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) \| MSU Radio Network \| Listen Live
Television	KOZL-TV (Don West, Ray Giacoletti) \| MSU TV Network \| Watch NDSU Live Stream
Series	Missouri State leads 2-1 \| Last meeting: MSU 71, NDSU 58 (12/4/17) [Box Score]
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Missouri State \| North Dakota State \| MVC Notebook \| MSU Media Guide
Follow	Facebook \| Athletics Twitter \| Basketball Twitter \| Instagram \| #MSUBears
Next Game	The Bears travel to Arkansas State on Tuesday, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.
Next Home Game	MSU returns to JQH Arena on Saturday, Dec. 22 to host UAPB at 1 p.m. [UAPB Game Tickets]

The Ten Count

The Bears return to the road Saturday to battle Summit League foe North Dakota State for the fourth time in three seasons. Missouri State (4-5) is looking to get back to the .500 mark on the young season and is also seeking its first road victory of the campaign.
Senior Jarred Dixon (G, Kansas City, Mo.) needs just 25 points to reach 1,000 for his career. MSU has had 28 1,000-point scorers in its proud history, but none since Kyle Weems reached the milestone in 2011. Dixon has scored in double figures in 13 of his last 15 games -- and eight of nine games this season -- and ranks 4th in the MVC in scoring.
The NDSU game will mark the long-awaited MSU debut of redshirt freshman Jared Ridder (F, Springfield, Mo.) who sat out the last three semesters to be eligible after transferring from Xavier University. Ridder attended Springfield's Kickapoo High School and was a three-star recruit after being named Mr. Show-Me Basketball in Missouri and averaging 24.2 points and 6.8 rebounds as a senior in 2016-17.
Obediah Church (Sr., Springfield, Ill.) leads the MVC in blocks (17) and blocks per game (1.9) for the third straight season. In the WKU game (Dec. 5), he became just the sixth player in league history to eclipse 200 career blocks.
Over the last three games -- all starts -- Ryan Kreklow (Sr., Columbia, Mo.) is 8-for-18 (.444) from 3-point range and averaging 10.7 points per game. He is also coming off a career-high 7 rebounds against Western Kentucky, marking just the second time in his 102-game career he has led MSU in rebounding (12/19/15 at Valparaiso).
In three career games against NDSU, Church is 5-for-10 (.500) from the field and averaging 6.0 rebounds per game.
With just 15.6 fouls per game, Missouri State ranks 30th nationally and leads the MVC in fewest personal fouls.
MSU's newcomers continue to post impressive numbers with Josh Webster (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) leading the Missouri Valley Conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.93), which ranks 52nd nationally, and Keandre Cook (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) ranking fifth in the MVC in FT percentage (.805). Kabir Mohammed (Jr., Lagos, Nigeria) is averaging 2.25 offensive rebounds per game which ranks fourth in The Valley.
Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) is averaging 20.3 points per game over his last three games -- all starts. The transfer from USF was declared eligible by the NCAA just prior to game at Murray State game on Nov. 24 and has converted 25-of-39 (.641) field goals in that span while collecting 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.
At the time of Missouri State's most-recent trip to Scheels Center in Fargo, Dec. 4, 2017, the Bears were just the third team to ever defeat NDSU in the facility. The Bison are now 21-8 all-time at Scheels, which opened in November 2016.

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 4-5 (.444) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 4-0 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 61-70 (.466) in his fifth season as a head coach and 0-0 all-time vs. NDSU.
He was introduced as Missouri State's 18th men's basketball coach on March 22, 2018 after coaching the previous four seasons at Tennessee State. The native of Tamms, Illinois was 57-65 (.467) at Tennessee State, including a 52-39 ledger in his last three seasons in Nashville.
Ford, 33, was awarded the Ben Jobe Award in 2016 as the nation's top Division I minority coach. That same year, he was named Ohio Valley Conference Coach of the Year and NABC District 19 Coach of the Year after engineering one of the biggest turnarounds in NCAA history, swaying Tennessee State from a 5-26 record in his first season to a 20-11 mark in 2015-16.
He coached five All-OVC players in addition to two players recognized on the OVC All-Newcomer Team. Under his leadership, Tennessee State also doubled its home attendance average and twice earned votes in the Associated Press Top 25 poll during the 2016-17 season.
TheAthletic.com named Bears' head coach Dana Ford to its list of 30 "up and coming coaches to keep an eye on" during its 2018-19 preseason basketball coverage.

Series History

The Bears and Bison have played three times over the last two season with Missouri State leading 2-1.
The teams first met on Nov. 27, 2016 in Springfield with the Bears prevailing 64-50 behind 17 points by Alize Johnson and 12 from Dequon Miller. NDSU shot just 36.7 percent from the field and made one FT.
Last season, the teams played twice. The Bison won 57-54 in Springfield on Nov. 17, 2017 with MSU going 1-for-17 from 3-point range despite 23 points and 20 rebounds from Alize Johnson. Missouri State avenged the loss in Fargo with a 71-58 win on Dec. 4, 2017. Johnson posted another double-double with 21 points, and Jarrid Rhodes added 11 points for the Bears who out-rebounded the Bison, 42-26. [Box Score]

Rebound Foundation

Bears' head coach Dana Ford and his wife, Christina, are founders of the Rebound Foundation. The not-for-profit raises funds and awareness to help renew and restore women who have experienced a life of domestic abuse. The foundation provides a stable home and fresh start to abuse victims and their children. The Rebound Foundation currently provides homes in Springfield, Mo., and Chicago, Ill.