Men's Basketball February 14, 2019 MSU Athletics Communications

Bears Invade Loyola for Matchup of Valley Front Runners

GAME 27 - Missouri State Bears (14-12, 8-5 MVC) at Loyola Ramblers (16-10, 9-4 MVC)
Date and Time	Sunday, February 17, 2019 \| 3:01 p.m.
Location	Gentile Arena (4,963) \| Chicago, Illinois
Tickets	Tickets for Loyola Game \| (773) 508-WOLF
Radio	KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) \| MSU Radio Network \| Listen Live
Television	ESPNU (Mitch Holthus, Malcolm Huckaby) \| Watch
Series	Loyola leads series, 7-5 \| Last Meeting: MSU 70, LUC 35 (1/23/19) [Box Score]
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Missouri State \| Loyola \| MVC Notebook \| MSU Media Guide
Follow	Facebook \| Athletics Twitter \| Basketball Twitter \| Instagram \| #MSUBears
Up Next	The Bears play three of their final four MVC games at home, starting on Wednesday, Feb. 20 vs. Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. [UNI Tickets]

The Ten Count

Sitting a game behind Loyola atop the Missouri Valley Conference standings, the Bears travel to Chicago on Sunday (3 p.m.) for a nationally-televised showdown with the league-leading Ramblers. Missouri State, which is looking for its first-ever season sweep over Loyola, has won six of its last seven Valley games and eight of its last 11.
Sunday's game is a clash between the MVC's top two scoring defenses. Through the 13 league games to date, Loyola (60.8 points per game) has allowed just one less point than Missouri State (60.9 ppg). However, over the last 7 Valley games, the Bears (6-1) have surrendered just 52.8 points per game, compared to Loyola's 60.1.
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
Josh Webster (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) leads the MVC in assists per game (5.2) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.12). He eclipsed 500 career assists in Wednesday's game at Evansville and is ranked 18th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio. He also ranks 9th in the MVC in minutes, 6th in steals and leads the Bears in blocked shots (20).
Arguably the top newcomer in The Valley this season, Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) has scored in double figures in 18-of-21 games since becoming eligible on Nov. 24. His 14.9 scoring average ranks second among all league rookies, while his 7.0 rebounds per game leads the 2019 crop of newcomers. Da Silva also ranks 3rd in the league overall (35th nationally) in FG percentage (.579). He has led MSU in scoring in 3 of its last 4 games.
MSU has forced 10 or more turnovers in 24-of-26 games and leads the MVC in turnover margin (+2.4) and steals (7.1).
Missouri State's 74.1-percent shooting (17-of-23) effort in the first half against Evansville on Wednesday marked the second time this season the Bears had shot 70-percent in a half. MSU also went 21-of-28 (.750) in the second half of the club's Dec. 5 win over Western Kentucky.
Jarred Dixon moved into the program's all-time top 20 in scoring last week. With 1,166 points, he now sits in 17th place on the Bears' career scoring list, just 22 points away from matching Kelby Stuckey (1985-89) for 15th place on the list and 82 points away from Winston Garland (1985-87) for 14th place.
The Bears are 8-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better from the field and 10-1 when shooting a higher percentage that their opponents. MSU shot .537 at Evansville Wednesday and a season-best .634 on Jan. 23 vs. Loyola.
Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) had a streak of 16 consecutive made field goals snapped in the second half of Wednesday's win at Evansville. Da Silva made his last 3 shots against SIU on Feb. 6, tied a JQH Arena by going 8-for-8 against Illinois State on Feb. 10, and then made his first 5 attempts against Evansville on Feb. 13.

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 14-12 (.538) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 10-2 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 71-77 (.480) in his fifth season as a head coach and 1-0 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, 7-5, including a 6-5 edge in Valley games. The Bears are 1-5 all-time at Loyola, including a 1-4 ledger at Gentile 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 Ryan Kreklow contributed 10 points for MSU, while Cameron Krutwig went 7-of-8 from the field for 18 points to lead the Ramblers.
In last year's second game 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.
Earlier this season, the Bears blitzed the Ramblers 70-35 on Jan. 23 in Springfield. Missouri State used an incredible 30-4 run in the second half to roll to a one-sided victory. Keandre Cook led MSU with 21 points behind five 3-pointers, while Tulio Da Silva and Josh Webster dumped in 14 points apiece. MSU out-rebounded Loyola by a 28-9 margin – the fewest rebounds allowed by any Division I team this season.s. [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.

Print Friendly Version