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Missouri State

Jarrid Rhodes

Bears Kick Off Final Home Stand Sunday vs. Drake

February 15, 2018

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 29 - Missouri State Bears (17-11, 7-8 MVC) vs. Drake Bulldogs (15-13, 9-6 MVC)
Date and Time Sunday, Feb. 18, 2018 | 3:00 p.m.
Location JQH Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Mo.
Tickets Drake Game
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television ESPNU (Mitch Holtus, Malcolm Huckaby) | Watch
Series Missouri State leads, 43-14 | Last Meeting: DU 61, MSU 58 (1/20/18) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Drake | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next The Bears conclude their 2017-18 home schedule on Wednesday, Feb. 21 when they take on Bradley on Senior Night | Drake Tickets | Bradley Tickets
Promotions All available tickets, buy-one, get-one free at box office | Salute to Elected Officials | Tickets

Missouri State kicks off its final two-game home stand of the season Sunday when the Bears entertain Drake at JQH Arena for a nationally-televised game on ESPNU at 3 p.m.

Series History
  • The series between the Bears and Bulldogs started in Honolulu in 1986 and resumed in 1991 when Missouri State joined the Valley. MSU leads the all-time series, 43-14, including a 24-2 mark in Springfield and 8-1 ledger at JQH Arena.
  • Drake's 72-71 overtime win at JQH Arena last season (Jan. 24) marked the Bulldogs' first win in Springfield since 2001. Alize Johnson had 17 points for the Bears, while Reed Timmer scored a game-high 27, including the game-winner with 17.1 seconds left in OT. Missouri State avenged the defeat in Des Moines on Feb. 18, 2017 with a 76-73 win. Johnson notched 23 points, 21 rebounds and made 11-of-13 free throws. Jarred Dixon added 14 points for MSU. Timmer and Graham Woodward scored 15 apiece for DU, which squandered an eight-point halftime lead.
  • Earlier this season in Des Moines (Jan. 20), Reed Timmer's 24 points, and Drake's precision free throw shooting were enough to lead Drake past Missouri State, 61-58. The Bears, who led by five at halftime, were led by Jarrid Rhodes and Jarred Dixon who scored 15 points apiece, while J.T. Miller added 11 off the bench. After Drake's solid second half, MSU tied the game late on a layup by Rhodes with 6:28 to go, but would go the next three minutes without a field goal during a key stretch. Box Score
The Ten Count
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) enters the weekend ranked 2nd nationally in total rebounds (322), 6th in    rebounding average (11.5), 5th in defensive rebounds (8.32) and 2nd in double-doubles (18) -- all tops in the MVC.
  • Jarrid Rhodes (Sr., Palmetto, Fla.) has scored in double figures in seven of the last eight ball games, including a career-high 21 points at Southern Illinois on Wednesday. He is averaging 12.9 points per game and has made 17-of-18 (.944) free throws in that span.
  • Ryan Kreklow (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) is just 1 three-pointer away from landing in the program's all-time top 10. He has 111 career 3-pointers and would catch Allen Phillips (1998-2000), Dale Lamberth (2005-08) and Dequon Miller (2015-17) in the log jam for the No. 10 position with one more trey. (see p. 36)
  • Missouri State's signature defense has landed the Bears near the top of the national rankings in FG percentage defense (21st), scoring defense (25th), rebound margin (26th), rebounds per game (29th) and 3-point FG defense (34th).
  • Mustafa Lawrence (Fr., Newark, N.J.) is averaging 11.8 points with 16 3-pointers over the last 5 games, including four games scoring in double figures. He scored a total of 13 points in the team's first 23 games this season.
  • Alize Johnson's 35 career double-doubles matches Illinois State's Jackie Carmichael for the third-best career total in the MVC in the last 20 years. Only UE's Egidijus Mockevicius (57) and UNI's Eric Coleman (36) have more double-doubles in that span. "Zay's" 18 double-doubles this year match Lee Campbell (1989-90) for MSU's most in its DI era.
  • Missouri State is shooting 47.5 percent from the field (114-for-240) in the month of February and averaging 28.5 field goals per game in that four-game span. MSU has converted 77.8 percent (42-of-54) at the free throw line in February.
  • The Bears have accumulated 61 dunks this season, the most in the last 10 years. Obediah Church (22), Reggie Scurry (13) and J.T. Miller (12) have paced the rim-rocking attack. Church now has 94 career dunks in 90 games.
  • After his 16 rebounds at SIU on Wednesday, this weeks MVC Player of the Week Alize Johnson is now among the club's top 10 all-time rebounders with 673. He sits 8th on the Bears' rebounding list, but tops among two-year players. He is also just 77 points shy of becoming the school's 29th 1,000-point scorer (and fifth two-year player to do so).
  • Including last year's 72-71 overtime win at JQH Arena, Drake is just 2-24 all-time in Springfield. The Bulldogs, who are 1-8 all-time at The Q, also beat MSU 73-61 on Feb. 21, 2001 at Hammons Student Center. 2001 is also the only time Drake has swept the regular-season series against Missouri State.
Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 105-117 (.473) in his seventh season at MSU and 107-140 (.433) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 52-71 in MVC games (35-26 at home, 17-45 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 67-39 at home, 29-60 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. Lusk is 10-4 all-time against Drake (5-1 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.

 
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