Men's Basketball January 21, 2019 MSU Athletics Communications

Bears Start Home Stand with Nationally-Televised Matchup vs. Loyola

GAME 20 - Missouri State Bears (8-11, 2-4 MVC) vs. Loyola Ramblers (12-7, 5-1 MVC)
Date and Time	Wednesday, January 23, 2019 \| 8:05 p.m.
Location	JQH Arena (11,000) \| Springfield, Missouri
Tickets	Loyola Tickets
Radio	KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) \| MSU Radio Network \| Listen Live
Television	CBS Sports Network (Ben Holden, Tim Doyle)
Series	Loyola leads 7-4 \| Last Meeting: LUC 97, MSU 75 (2/3/18) \| [Box Score]
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Missouri State \| Loyola \| MVC Notebook \| MSU Media Guide \| Valley Media Conference
Follow	Facebook \| Athletics Twitter \| Basketball Twitter \| Instagram \| #MSUBears
Promotions	Share the Bear Night, sponsored by Old Missouri Bank & Price Cutter
Up Next	The Bears host Bradley at 3 p.m. on Saturday (Jan. 26) on Hall of Fame Weekend at JQH Arena \| [Bradley Tickets]

Share the Bear

Bring a stuffed Bear to the game and toss it on the court at halftime
We'll give them to the Springfield Police Department
SPD will give them to our local kids in crisis.
Sponsored by Old Missouri Bank, Price Cutter in cooperation with the Springfield Police Department

The Ten Count

After playing four of its first six Missouri Valley Conference games away from home, Missouri State returns to JQH Arena on Wednesday evening to take on defending MVC champion Loyola in a nationally-televised game on CBS Sports Network at 8 p.m. The Bears are 3-2 at JQH Arena against the Ramblers, including a 64-59 win last year (12/22/17).
Missouri State has forced 18.0 turnovers per game through its first six Valley games, which is on pace to break the 1998-99 team's club record of 17.6 takeaways in conference contests. The Bears, who lead the MVC in turnover margin at +3.0, have forced 17 or more mishaps in five of six MVC games.
Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) continues to lead all MVC newcomers in both scoring (15.7 ppg) and rebounding (7.4 rpg) averages. He has scored in double figures in 12-of-14 games at MSU and has posted two double-doubles in his last three games. Among all players, Da Silva ranks fifth overall in The Valley in both scoring and rebounding and is third in field goal percentage (.607).
Bears' head coach Dana Ford played three seasons for Loyola head coach Porter Moser at Illinois State. Ford played in 74 games (22 starts) for Moser's Redbirds from 2003-2006, racking up 107 points and 191 rebounds
Junior Keandre Cook (G, Baltimore, Md.) has started the last four games for the Bears and is averaging 11.3 points and shooting 50 percent from the field (17-of-34) in that span.
With 1,095 career points, Jarred Dixon (G, Kansas City, Mo.) needs 10 points to catch Darryl Reid (1989-91) for the No. 21 position on MSU's all-time scoring list and 36 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 15 times in 19 games this year.
Led by Keandre Cook and Tulio Da Silva, Missouri State's junior class has now surpassed its seniors in scoring this season. Both Da Silva (12) and Cook (11) scored in double figures in Sunday's game at Drake, while classmate Kabir Mohammed (Jr., Lagos, Nigeria) added nine points off the bench to push the Bear juniors -- with 625 points -- just ahead of the club's seniors (624 points) for the first time this season.
Josh Webster (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) leads the MVC and is 8th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.43) and also leads The Valley in total assists (103). He has a 5.2 assist-to-turnover ratio at home this season with 10 turnovers in 8 games.
Led by 6 treys from redshirt freshman Jared Ridder (Springfield, Mo.), seven different Bears have knocked down 3-pointers over the squad's last 5 ball games. Ridder is averaging 6.8 points per game at home this season.
Despite averaging just 16.5 minutes, Kabir Mohammed ranks 8th in the MVC in offensive rebounds per game (1.9).

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 8-11 (.421) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 6-2 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 65-76 (.461) in his fifth season as a head coach and 0-0 all-time vs. Loyola.
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

Loyola leads the all-time series, 7-4, including a 6-4 edge in Valley games (MSU leads 3-2 at JQH Arena).
The clubs have split the regular-season series each of the past three seasons. Last year, the preseason Valley favorite Bears scored a 64-59 win over Loyola in the conference opener at JQH Arena (Dec. 22). Alize Johnson posted game highs 24 points and 11 rebounds, and the Bears knocked down 8 treys (5 by Johnson). Ryan Kreklow contributed 10 points for MSU, while Cameron Krutwig went 7-of-8 from the field for 18 points to lead the Ramblers. [Box Score]
In the rematch in Chicago (Feb. 3), Loyola shot 61 percent from the field and had six players in double figures to score a 97-75 win over MSU. Clayton Custer was 9-of-11 shooting for 23 points. Mustafa Lawrence led Missouri State, which shot 51 percent itself, with 19 points and 5 treys. [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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