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Missouri State

Jarred Dixon
Ben Nelson

First-Place Bears Return Home Wednesday to Square Off with UNI

February 19, 2019

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 28 - Missouri State Bears (15-12, 9-5 MVC) vs. Northern Iowa Panthers (12-15, 7-7 MVC)
Date and Time Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 | 7:05 p.m.
Location JQH Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Missouri
Tickets Tickets for UNI Game | (417) 836-7678 | OTC Night Ticket Deal
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television KOZL-TV (Don West, Kelby Stuckey) | MSU TV Network | Watch
Series MSU leads 44-33 | Last Meeting: UNI 64, MSU 59 (2/2/19) | [Box Score]
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | UNI | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears
Promotions OTC Night | "The Cave" Long-Sleeve T-Shirts for Students
Up Next The Bears close out the home stand Saturday, Feb. 23 against Indiana State (1 p.m.). [Indiana State Game Tickets] | Springfield Cardinals Ticket Deal

The Ten Count
  • The first-place Bears open a two-game home stand Wednesday when they host Northern Iowa at 7 p.m. Missouri State is seeking a fourth straight regular-season split with UNI and a 10th conference win for the first time since 2010-11. MSU has won seven of its last eight Valley games and nine of its last 12.
  • In Sunday's win over Loyola, the Bears set a school record for 3-point accuracy in a game (with 10 or more made threes), converting 11-of-16 for a 68.8 percentage. The old record of .684 (13-of-19) was set vs. Hampton on 12/8/17.
  • Bears' senior Jarred Dixon (Kansas City, Mo.) is sitting at 97 career 3-pointers (123 games), including a career-best 39 this season. He would become the 17th player in Missouri State history to rack up 100 or more career treys, including teammate Ryan Kreklow who has 162.
  • Josh Webster (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) continues to lead the MVC in assists per game (5.3) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.20). He ranks 11th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio. The Texas Tech transfer also ranks 10th in the MVC in minutes (31.9) and is 7th in steals (1.2). He is 2 points shy of 500 for his career (81g) and is MSU's co-leader in blocks (21).
  • Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) was named MVC Player of the week and Newcomer of the Week on Monday after he helped lead the Bears to a pair of road victories and into a share of first place in the MVC. He averaged 16.5 points and 8.0 rebounds per game and fired a 56.5 percent clip from the field last week. He also capped his streak of consecutive field goals made at 16 straight from Feb. 6 to Feb. 13. Arguably the top newcomer in The Valley, Da Silva has scored in double figures in 19-of-22 games since becoming eligible Nov. 24 and ranks 37th nationally in FG% (.380).
  • MSU has forced 10 or more turnovers in 25-of-27 games and leads the MVC in turnover margin (+2.1) and steals (7.1).
  • Jarred Dixon now has 1,176 points and sits in 16th place on the Bears' career scoring list, just 12 points away from matching Kelby Stuckey (1985-89) for 15th place on the list and 72 points away from Winston Garland (1985-87) for 14th. His 10 points at Loyola on Sunday marked his 60th career double-figure scoring game. Dixon also ranks 4th among active MVC players in career scoring behind Bradley's Darrell Brown (1259), SIU's Armon Fletcher (1191) and Illinois State's Phil Fayne (1191).
  • The Bears are 9-0 this season when shooting 50 percent or better from the field and 11-1 when shooting a higher percentage that their opponents. MSU shot a collective .582 as a team last week in road wins at Evansville and Loyola. 
  • Keandre Cook (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) had a team-high 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting in the Bears' road win at Loyola on Sunday. His efforts helped MSU to a season sweep of the Ramblers and third win in the last four meetings vs. LUC.
  • MSU is 10-2 at JQH Arena this season with a +15.0 scoring margin, +4.0 rebound margin and +3.8 turnover margin.
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 15-12 (.556) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 10-2 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 72-77 (.483) in his fifth season as a head coach and 0-1 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 44-33 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 23-13 at home (3-7 at JQH Arena), 19-18 in Cedar Falls (3-10 at McLeod) and 2-2 at neutral sites against the Panthers.
  • The teams have split the last eight meetings, and have split the regular-season series the past three years.
  • Earlier this season in Cedar Falls (Feb. 2), six clutch points by Northern Iowa's Spencer Haldeman in the span of a minute was enough to lift UNI past visiting Missouri State, 64-59. Haldeman, who finished with 15 points, broke up a 53-53 tie with a free throw with 2:13 remaining and then hit one of the biggest shots of the game 30 seconds later with a 3-pointer to push the Panthers ahead by four. Missouri State was able to get within four points of the lead twice more in the final 20 seconds – first on a jumper by Josh Webster and later on a Tulio Da Silva free throw – but Tywhon Pickford scored the Panthers' final five points to keep Missouri State at arm's length. Da Silva led the Bears with 17 points, while Keandre Cook scored 15 for coach Dana Ford's troops. Both players tallied five rebounds, while Webster scored nine points with six assists. [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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