Basketball Bears Return to the Road Sunday at Drake

GAME 19 - Missouri State Bears (8-10, 2-3 MVC) at Drake Bulldogs (13-5, 2-3 MVC)
Date and Time	Sunday, January 20, 2019 \| 3:02 p.m.
Location	Knapp Center (7,152) \| Des Moines, Iowa
Tickets	Drake Tickets \| (515) 271-3647
Radio	KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) \| MSU Radio Network \| Listen Live
Television	ESPN3 (Brad Wells, Adam Emmenecker) \| (Watch)
Series	Missouri State leads 43-15 \| Last Meeting: DU 67, MSU 63 (2/18/18) \| [Box Score]
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Missouri State \| Drake \| MVC Notebook \| MSU Media Guide \| Valley Media Conference
Follow	Facebook \| Athletics Twitter \| Basketball Twitter \| Instagram \| #MSUBears
Up Next	The Bears return to JQH Arena on Wednesday, Jan. 23 to play defending league champion Loyola at 8 p.m. on national television (CBS Sports Net) on "Share the Bear" Night at JQH \| [Loyola Tickets]
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The Ten Count

Missouri State returns to the road Sunday for the fourth time in its first six Missouri Valley contests when the Bears take on Drake at 3 p.m. The Bears have won their last two MVC road games with recent wins at Indiana State & Bradley.
Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) is the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week and Newcomer of the Week after averaging 22.5 points and 10.5 rebounds in a pair of road victories last week. He is the MVC's top newcomer this season in both scoring (16.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg) averages. He has scored in double figures in 11-of-13 games at MSU and has posted double-doubles in consecutive contests, including 14 points, 13 rebounds on Wednesday vs. UE.
Missouri State is forcing 18.2 turnovers per game in league games, by far the best in The Valley (Loyola and Illinois State are tied for second at 13.8). The Bears have forced 17 or more turnovers four times in their five conference games.
With 1,080 career points, Jarred Dixon (G, Kansas City, Mo.) needs 25 points to catch Darryl Reid (1989-91) for the No. 21 position on MSU's all-time scoring list and 51 points to match Deven Mitchell (2003-08) for the No. 20 spot. The senior eclipsed 1,000 career points on Dec. 22 and has scored in double figures 14 times in 18 games this year.
The Bears are 5-3 in their last eight trips to the Knapp Center in Des Moines. Senior Jarred Dixon is averaging 14.3 points per game in his three previous trips to Drake.
Sunday's game features the top two rebounders in the league during conference play. Drake senior Nick McGlynn averages 9.6 caroms per night in Valley contests, while Missouri State's Tulio Da Silva averages 9.0. The tandem also represent two of the league's top four scorers against MVC foes at 18.0 and 16.0 points per game, respectively.
Josh Webster (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) reached 100 assists for the season in Wednesday's game against Evansville, making him just the fourth MSU player over the last 8 seasons to reach that milestone. Webster leads the MVC in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.57) and ranks second in The Valley in assists per game (5.56) behind Drake's Nick Norton (5.86).
Ryan Kreklow (Sr., Columbia, Mo.) became the seventh Bear to make 150 or more career 3-pointers on Wednesday night. He is now just 23 triples away from catching Austin Ruder (2013-17) for the No. 6 spot on MSU's all-time list. He also jumped up two spots on the MSU scoring list to No. 72 with 717 career points. He is within striking distance of Christian Kirk (718), Lee Campbell (719), Caleb Patterson (721) and Stan Worthy (722) headed into the weekend.
In Wednesday's home loss to Evansville, the Bears out-rebounded the Aces by a 37-33 margin, improving the team's record to 4-2 this season when it gathers more rebounds than its opponent.
Junior Keandre Cook (G, Baltimore, Md.) matched Da Silva with a team-high 14 points against Evansville. He has started the last three games for the Bears and is averaging 11.3 points and shooting 12-of-24 from the field in that span.

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 8-10 (.444) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 6-2 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 65-75 (.464) in his fifth season as a head coach and 0-0 all-time vs. Drake.
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 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, 43-15, including a 17-11 record in Des Moines.
Last season marked Drake's first season sweep of MSU since 2001 as the Bulldogs used Reed Timmer's 24 points and precision free throw shooting to dispatch the Bears, 61-58 at Knapp Center (Jan. 20). The Bears, who led by five at halftime, were led by Jarrid Rhodes and Jarred Dixon who scored 15 points apiece. [Box Score]. On the return trip to Springfield (Feb. 18), Timmer launched a desperation heave from 35 feet away to win the game for Drake with 0.9 seconds remaining, 67-63. Timmer, who was fouled on the shot, finished with a game-high 20 points. MSU was led by 14 points each by Alize Johnson (16 rebounds) and J.T. Miller. Dixon added 10 points for MSU. [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.

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