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Bears Conclude Road Swing Friday at LSU

Bears Conclude Road Swing Friday at LSU

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MSU Athletics Communications

GAME 8 - Missouri State Bears (3-4) at LSU Tigers (4-2)
Date and Time Friday, November 29, 2019 | 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Location Pete Maravich Center (13,215) | Baton Rouge, La.
Tickets LSU Game | Future Home Games
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television SEC Network Plus (Lyn Rollins, Victor Howell) | Watch
Series First meeting
Live Stats Live Stats
Coverage Dana Ford Weekly News Conference | Joe Lunardi from Charleston
Game Notes Missouri State | LSU | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearUp
Up Next The Bears host Murray State on Tuesday, Dec. 3  | Tickets

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State wraps up a five-game road swing Friday (Nov. 29) when the Bears take on LSU (4-2) at the Pete Maravich Center in Baton Rouge. MSU is playing an SEC program on the road for the first time since Nov. 17, 2010 when it dropped a thrilling 60-56 contest to the No. 23 Volunteers in Knoxville during the second round of the Preseason NIT.
  • Tulio Da Silva (Sr., Formiga, Brazil) is just 3 points away from 900 for his career (83 games). The 2019 Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Year is coming off a solid performance at the Charleston Classic in which he snagged 29 rebounds in three games, the second-best effort in the tournament. Da Silva's 17 boards against Miami in Charleston (Nov. 21) was the second-highest rebounding total ever at the event and most by any player since 2013.
  • Gaige Prim (Jr., Aurora, Colo.) is this week's Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week after his exceptional performance at the Charleston Classic. In three nationally-televised games in Charleston, the South Plains (Texas) College transfer averaged 19.3 points and converted 24-of-39 (.615) shots overall. He had the second-highest scoring average of the tournament (behind Ryan Daily of St. Joseph's 21.0 ppg) and fourth-best FG percentage at the event.
  • Kabir Mohammed (Sr., Lagos, Nigeria) is just 9 points away from 200 and 3 rebounds from 150 for his Missouri State career (38 games). Mohammed, a transfer from San Jacinto (Texas) College, has started the last 5 games.
  • The Bears have tallied double-figure offensive rebounds in 6-of-7 games this season, averaging 13.14 caroms on the offensive end per contest which ranks 46th among the nation's 350 Division I program.
  • Keandre Cook (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) has reeled off 6 straight double-figure scoring games, just one shy of his career-best streak of 7 consecutive double-figure scoring games (Jan. 16 to Feb. 6, 2018).
  • Coach Dana Ford's squad led all teams at the Charleston Classic in rebounds per game (42.7) and rebound margin (+12.4) over the three-game event, ahead of UConn (42.3), Xavier (40.3) and Buffalo (40.0) to round out the top four.
  • MSU's 45-25 rebounding advantage against Miami on Nov. 21 was its first +20 rebounding margin since 12/30/18 against William Woods. The last time Missouri State had a +20 rebound margin against a Division I foe was 2/10/18 against Evansville (+23), and the last time MSU had a +20 margin on the road was vs. UNI (3/3/17) in St. Louis (+22).
  • Tyrik Dixon (Jr., Bentonville, Ark.) needs 6 assists to reach 250 for his career (75 games). His 12 assists at the Charleston Classic (4.0 per game) ranked fourth in the tournament field.
  • Cook's 7 steals in the Charleston Classic, led the tournament field, along with UConn's Christian Vital.
  • MSU leads all Missouri Valley Conference programs in total rebounds (270) and rebound margin (+8.0), which rank 40th and 44th nationally, respectively. 
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 19-20 (.487) in his second season as Missouri State head coach, including a 13-5 ledger at JQH Arena, 5-10 ledger in away games, and 1-5 mark at neutral sites. He is now 76-85 (.472) in his sixth season as a head coach. 
  • In his first season in Springfield, Ford led the Bears to a tie for third place (10-8) in the Missouri Valley Conference with the program's first winning record in Valley play since 2011. He guided two players -- Tulio Da Silva (first team) and Keandre Cook (third team) -- to All-MVC honors in addition to three players on the MVC All-Newcomer Team, including Newcomer of the Year Da Silva.
  • 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. He coached five All-OVC players and two OVC All-Newcomer Team selections during his tenure at TSU. 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.
  • Ford, 35, 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 has served as an assistant at Tennessee State, Wichita State and Illinois State and was responsible for recruiting future NBA talents such as Robert Covington (Timberwolves) and Fred Van Vleet (Raptors).
Series History
  • This is the first-ever meeting between Missouri State and Xavier in men's basketball.
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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