Men's Basketball January 31, 2019 MSU Athletics Communications

Bears Start Second Half of Valley Slate at UNI

GAME 23 - Missouri State Bears (11-11, 5-4 MVC) at UNI Panthers (9-13, 4-5 MVC)
Date and Time	Saturday, Feb. 2, 2019 \| 7:07 p.m.
Location	McLeod Center (6,650) \| Cedar Falls, Iowa
Tickets	UNI Tickets
Radio	KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) \| MSU Radio Network \| Listen Live
Television	KOZL-TV (Tom Ackerman, Ray Giacoletti) \| MSU TV Network \| ESPN+
Series	Missouri State leads 44-32 \| Last Meeting: UNI 71, MSU 56 (2/24/19) \| [Box Score]
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Missouri State \| UNI \| MVC Notebook \| MSU Media Guide
Follow	Facebook \| Athletics Twitter \| Basketball Twitter \| Instagram \| #MSUBears
Up Next	The Bears return to JQH Arena on Wednesday, Feb. 6 to play rival Southern Illinois at 7 p.m. [SIU Tickets]

The Ten Count

Missouri State begins the second half of its MVC schedule Saturday (7 p.m.) with its first meeting of the season against Northern Iowa. The Bears have won three straight league games and are seeking their fourth Valley road win of the campaign. Saturday's game at McLeod Center will also be MSU's fourth league contest in 10 days.
The Bears completed a 5-4 January stretch to give the program a winning record in the first month of the new year for just the second time since its 2010-11 Valley championship season. MSU was also 5-4 in January of 2015-16.
Keandre Cook (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) has recorded game highs in scoring each of MSU's last three contests, including a 17-point output in Tuesday's win at Valparaiso. Cook was named MVC Player of the Week and Newcomer of the Week on Monday after averaging 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game in home wins over Loyola and Bradley last week.
Missouri State is seeking its fourth straight Valley win for the first time since the Bears reeled off six straight conference victories from Feb. 5-26, 2011 en route to the program's first-ever MVC regular-season title.
Jared Ridder (RFr., Springfield, Mo.) has knocked down a 3-pointer in five straight games and is 8-of-12 (.667) from long distance over the last three contests. Since joining the team on Dec. 15, he has a trey in 11-of-13 games and multiple triples in seven games.
Tuesday's overtime win at Valparaiso was coach Dana Ford's first overtime game as Bears' head coach and MSU's first road OT win since defeating Old Dominion, 79-67, in the 2013-14 season opener (11/8/13). Ford was 2-8 in overtime games while at Tennessee State and coached four OT games in both the 2016-17 (0-4) and 2017-18 (1-3) seasons.
Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) leads all MVC newcomers in scoring (14.7 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg). He has scored in double figures in 14-of-17 games at MSU. Overall, he ranks seventh and fifth, respectively, in The Valley in points and rebounds. He also leads the league in road rebounding (7.4) and offensive rebounds in MVC games (3.4).
For the 16th time since joining the MVC in 1990-91, the Bears have a winning league record at the midway point in the conference slate. MSU has been 5-4 at the turn a dozen times now, including the last three seasons. The Bears were also 6-2 at the midway point in 1990-91, 6-3 in 1998-99 and 8-1 in 2002-03 and 2010-11.
In MVC action, Missouri State is allowing a league-best 60.9 points per game, including just 42.0 points during the Bears' current three-game winning streak. Likewise, MSU has held its foes to 25 points or less in six consecutive halves.
With 1,112 career points, Jarred Dixon (G, Kansas City, Mo.) needs 19 points to match Deven Mitchell (2003-08) for the No. 20 spot on the Bears' scoring chart. Dixon also ranks 9th all-time at MSU with 3,098 career minutes.

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 11-11 (.500) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 8-2 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 68-76 (.472) in his fifth season as a head coach and 0-0 all-time vs. UNI.
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 are 44-32 all-time against Northern Iowa in a series that dates back to 1983 when the clubs were charter members of the Mid-Continent Conference. MSU is 19-17 all-time in Cedar Falls (3-9 at McLeod Center) while going 23-13 at home and 2-2 at neutral sites against the Panthers.
Missouri State has won four of the last seven meetings between the teams.
The teams split last year's series with the Bears winning 62-55 at JQH Arena in Springfield, and the Panthers returning the favor, 71-56, in Cedar Falls.
In the first game (Jan. 4), MSU extended a nine-point halfimte deficit with a 9-0 run to start the second half and never looked back. Alize Johnson posted 24 points and 20 rebounds for the Bears with J.T. Miller adding 13 points. Tywhon Pickford had 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers who were 11-of-19 at the line. [Box Score]
In the rematch (Feb. 24), UNI got 16 points from Klint Carlson and 13 from Hunter Rhoades while shooting 51 percent. The Bears went nearly nine minutes without a field goal in the first half to squander an early lead -- a three by Ross Owens gave MSU a 15-11 lead at the 13:17 mark of the opening stanza. [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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