Men's Basketball February 22, 2019 MSU Athletics Communications

Sycamores Come Calling in Key Saturday Showdown for Bears

GAME 29 - Missouri State Bears (15-13, 9-6 MVC) vs. Indiana State Sycamores (14-13, 6-9 MVC)
Date and Time	Saturday, Feb. 23, 2019 \| 1:05 p.m.
Location	JQH Arena (11,000) \| Springfield, Missouri
Tickets	Tickets for INST Game \| (417) 836-7678 \| Springfield Cardinals 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 46-25 \| Last Meeting: MSU 72, INST 57 (1/8/19) \| [Box Score]
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Missouri State \| Indiana State \| MVC Notebook \| MSU Media Guide
Follow	Facebook \| Athletics Twitter \| Basketball Twitter \| Instagram \| #MSUBears
Promotions	Springfield Cardinals Night - Half Price Tickets \| Wilder Elementary Cup Stackers \| United Way Recognition
Up Next	The Bears close out their 2018-19 home slate on Saturday, March 2 against MVC front runner Drake at 3 p.m.. [Drake Game Tickets] \| All Children 12 and Under Free -- All Adult Tickets Half Price \| $1 Hot Dogs \| $1 Coke Products

The Ten Count

The MSU Bears wrap up a busy three-game week Saturday when they host Indiana State at 1 p.m., in the club's second-to-last home game of the season. Missouri State (9-6) sits alone in third place (one game behind Loyola and Drake) in The Valley standings with 3 games left, while the Sycamores (6-9) enter the home stretch a game out of fifth place.
After shooting a collective 46-for-79 (.582) in road wins at Evansville and Loyola last week, the Bears matched a season low .309 field goal percentage in Wednesday's home loss to UNI. Ironically, the Bears' other 30.9 percent shooting effort this season came in the team's overtime win at Valparaiso with an identical 17-for-55 shooting performance.
Bears' senior Jarred Dixon (Kansas City, Mo.) is sitting at 97 career 3-pointers (124 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 (Sr., Columbia, Mo.) who has 163.
Jarred Dixon now has 1,190 points and sits in 15th place on the Bears' career scoring list, just 60 points away from all-time great Winston Garland (1985-87) for 14th. He has 61 career double-figure scoring games. Dixon ranks 4th among active MVC players in career scoring behind Bradley's Darrell Brown (1,268), SIU's Armon Fletcher (1,236) and Illinois State's Phil Fayne (1,207), but he is second among active players in games (124), field goals (439) and steals (121).
Wednesday's home gathering of 6,751 fans at JQH Arena for the UNI game was not only the top home crowd of the season, but also the largest crowd the Bears have played for all year -- home, away or neutral. The game also marked the largest gathering at JQH Arena since attracting 6,823 spectators against Wichita State on Feb. 25, 2017.
The Bears are just 38 points away from 2,000 this season, which would mark the fourth consecutive year -- and 15th time over the last 20 seasons -- for MSU to reach that team milestone.
In the first meeting between the Bears and Sycamores (Jan. 8) in Terre Haute, Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) was 10-for-13 (.769) from the field with game-highs 21 points with 8 rebounds.
All five Missouri State starters are averaging 30+ minutes per game in Valley contests, including Josh Webster (32.8), Tulio Da Silva (32.7), Keandre Cook (31.6), Ryan Kreklow (31.3) and Jarred Dixon (30.5).
Over the last 9 games, the Bears are 7-2 (both losses to UNI) and giving up just 54.8 points per game. The team's Defend No Matter What (#DNMW) efforts have also produced 11.9 takeaways and 5.9 steals per game in that span.
MSU is 4-2 in the month of February and seeking a fifth Feb. win for the first time since the 2013-14 season (5-3) which resulted in a 20-13 campaign and CIT appearance. Over the last 20 seasons, MSU has tallied five or more February wins 7 times, all but one (2001-02) of which resulted in a postseason tournament appearances.

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 15-13 (.536) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 10-3 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 72-78 (.480) in his fifth season as a head coach and 1-0 all-time vs. Indiana State.
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 lead the all-time series against Indiana State, 46-25, in a rivalry that dates back to 1951-52. MSU has won six straight in the series and is 30-5 all-time in Springfield against the Sycamores (8-2 at JQH Arena). The Bears are also 15-19 all-time in Terre Haute and 1-1 at neutral sites.
Last season, MSU swept ISU with a 76-73 win at JQH Arena (Jan. 14) and an 81-62 decision in Terre Haute (Feb. 6). In the first meeting, the Bears made seven free throws in the final 52 seconds with Alize Johnson scoring a game-high 21 points, and Jarred Dixon adding 15 for MSU. In the rematch in Terre Haute, Johnson had 28 points with five triples, while Dixon poured in 13 points off the bench.
This season (Jan. 8), MSU got a game-high 21 points from Tulio Da Silva and forced 22 ISU turnovers to snag the Bears' first road win of the season, 72-57. Jarred Dixon added 16 points for MSU, while Keandre Cook had 13 points in his return to the starting lineup. MSU held the league's top scorer, Jordan Barnes, to 10 points (4-of-16 from the field). With the game in the balance in the final four minutes, the Bears extended a 5-point lead into a 15-point win with lock-down defense, forcing ISU into missing 6-of-7 shots in the clutch.. [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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