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Missouri State

Alize Johnson

Bears Prep for Road Challenge at Indiana State

February 04, 2018

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 26 - Missouri State Bears (15-10, 5-7 MVC) vs. Indiana State Sycamores (11-13, 6-6 MVC)
Date and Time Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2018 | 6:00 p.m. (Central)
Location Hulman Center (10,200) | Terre Haute, Ind.
Tickets Indiana State Game
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television FOX Sports Midwest (Tom Ackerman, Rich Zvosec) | MVC Television Network
Series Missouri State leads 44-25 | Last Meeting: MSU 76, INST 73 (1/14/18) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Indiana State | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Up Next The Bears return to JQH Arena to play Evansville on Saturday, Feb. 10 (2 p.m.) on Hall of Fame Weekend | Tickets
Promotions Evansville game on Feb. 10: Hall of Fame Weekend | $5 Upper-level tickets | Tickets

Missouri State looks for its second consecutive season sweep of Indiana State Tuesday when the Bears travel to Terre Haute for a 6 p.m. (Central) tip. 

Series History
  • The series between the Bears and Sycamores dates back to the 1951-52 season with Missouri State leading the rivalary by a 44-25 margin. The Bears are 13-19 all-time in Terre Haute.
  • Last year, the Bears swept the season series starting with an 81-75 overtime victory at JQH Arena on (12/31/16). Jarred Dixon scored 4 of his 19 points in overtime, and Alize Johnson posted a career-high 30 points and snagged 15 boards to lead the Bears. Brenton Scott made 6 treys and 22 points. In the rematch in Terre Haute (1/18/17), the Bears cruised to a 73-68 victory behind Alize Johnson's first career 20-20 game with 26 points and 20 rebounds, while senior Dequon Miller posted a career-high 24 points. ISU never led and got 27 points from Brenton Scott.
  • Earlier this season in Springfield (1/14/18), Missouri State made seven free throws in the final 52 seconds to take a 76-73 win. The Bears were led by Alize Johnson's 21 points and 16 rebounds. He and Ryan Kreklow each contributed three charity shots in the final minutes to help ice the win, while Jarred Dixon scored 15 for the home club. Brenton Scott and Jordan Barnes posted 18 points for ISU. Box Score
The Ten Count
  • In three career games against Indiana State, Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) is averaging 25.7 points and 17.0 rebounds per game. Johnson is also 26-of-46 (.565) from the field against the Sycamores. In terms of points-rebounds against ISU, Alize's game-by-game stats are: 30-15; 26-20; and 21-16.
  • Mustafa Lawrence (Fr., Newark, N.J.) is coming off a team-high 19 points at Loyola in his first career start. He converted 5-of-9 from 3-point range and 7-of-14 overall from the field in the nationally-televised contest.
  • The Bears are 14-5 this season when Ronnie Rousseau III (Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio) and Reggie Scurry (Jr., Atlanta, Ga.) both play and 1-5 when one of them has missed. Scurry has missed the last 4 games with a foot injury.
  • Alize Johnson (Sr., Williamsport, Pa.) continues to lead the MVC in rebounding for the second year in a row and ranks 7th nationally with 11.4 boards per game. His 8.3 defensive rebounds per game is 4th among all DI players.
  • Obediah Church (Jr., Springfield, Ill.) needs just 10 more rebounds to reach the 500 milestone for his career (87g).
  • Led by Church's 19 slams, the Bears have accumulated 54 dunks (2.2 per game) this season. Reggie Scurry (13) and J.T. Miller (10) have helped the Bears post their second-best dunk total in the last 10 years (56 in 2015-16).  Church has 91 career dunks.
  • Jarrid Rhodes (Sr., Palmetto, Fla.) is averaging 12.0 points per game over the Bears' last 5 games. During that span, he has converted 9 threes, 13-of-14 (.929) FTs, and extended his career FT pct. in MVC games to .943 (33-of-35).
  • In. J.T. Miller's (Sr., Clinton, N.C.) 9 starts this season, the Bears are 7-2 and averaging 74.4 points per game (66.7 when he does not start). He returned to the starting lineup at Loyola and posted 15 points with a pair of 3-pointers.
  • Jarred Dixon (Jr., Kansas City, Mo.) is averaging 12.6 points per game against Indiana State in his career, converting 46.8 percent of his field goal attempts against ISU in 5 games (4 starts).
  • Missouri State is coming off a 50.9 shooting percentage at Loyola on Saturday (Feb. 3), the team's third-best field goal effort of the year. Ironically, the last time MSU shot 50 percent or better on the road and lost was also at Loyola on Jan. 15, 2017 (.500). The Bears have reached 50 percent shooting just 10 times in the last four seasons.
  • After Tuesday's game at Indiana State, the Bears play 3 of their next 4 at JQH Arena where they are 9-3 this season.
  • Indiana State's Jordan Barnes ranks 4th nationally with 3.7 3-pointers per game. The MVC leader in long-distance shooting was 4-for-11 from 3-point range against MSU on Jan. 14 in Springfield and scored 18 points.
Coach Paul Lusk
  • Paul Lusk (Southern Illinois, 1995) is 103-116 (.470) in his seventh season at MSU and 105-139 (.430) in his eighth season overall as a head coach.  He is 50-70 in MVC games (34-26 at home, 16-44 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 66-39 at home, 28-59 on the road, and 9-18 at neutral sites. Lusk is 8-5 all-time against Indiana State (2-4 at Hulman Center).
  • 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 9-3 19-5
Southern Illinois 8-4 16-9
Bradley 7-5 17-8
Illinois State 7-5 13-11
Drake 7-5 13-12
Indiana State 6-6 11-13
Missouri State 5-7 15-10
Evansville 5-7 15-10
Valparaiso 3-9 12-13
Northern Iowa 3-9 11-13

 
 
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