Bears Begin Stretch Run with Key Road Game at ISU

GAME 30 - Missouri State Bears (16-13, 10-6 MVC) vs. Illinois State Redbirds (15-14, 8-8 MVC)
Date and Time	Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2019 \| 6:05 p.m.
Location	Redbird Arena (10,200) \| Normal, Illinois
Tickets	Tickets \| (309) 438-8000
Radio	KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) \| MSU Radio Network \| Listen Live
Television	FOX Sports Midwest (Scott Warmann, Rich Zvosec) \| MVC TV Network \| Watch
Series	ISU leads 43-30 \| Last Meeting: MSU 66, ISU (2/10/19) \| [Box Score]
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Missouri State \| Illinois State \| MVC Notebook \| MSU Media Guide
Follow	Facebook \| Athletics Twitter \| Basketball Twitter \| Instagram \| #MSUBears
At Stake	The Bears begin the final week of the regular season locked in a three-way tie for first place with Loyola and Drake. Illinois State is just two games behind the MVC co-leaders with two games to play and tied for fifth place in the standings.
Up Next	The Bears close out the 2018-19 regular season at home on Saturday, March 2 against fellow 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

Missouri State begins the final week of the regular season Wednesday with a 6 p.m. matchup against Illinois State in Normal. Back in a tie for first place with their first 10-win Valley ledger since 2010-11, the Bears are looking to snap a seven-game losing streak at Redbird Arena where they last won on Feb. 10, 2011.
Bears' head coach Dana Ford is a 2006 graduate of Illinois State University where he was a four-year letterman for the Redbirds under coaches Tom Richardson and Porter Moser from 2002-06. He was a regular starter and led ISU in steals as a senior. He scored 284 points and 263 rebounds in 103 career games for the Redbirds. He also served as associate head coach at ISU for two seasons under Dan Muller from 2012-14.
Since a 2-4 start in MVC play, the Bears are 8-2 over their last 10 games (both losses to UNI) and giving up just 55.5 points per game in that span. The team's "Defend No Matter What" (#DNMW) efforts have also produced 12.3 takeaways and 6.0 steals per game since Jan. 23.
Bears' senior Jarred Dixon (Kansas City, Mo.) is sitting at 98 career 3-pointers (125 games), including a career-best 40 treys 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 165.
Dixon now has 1,195 points and sits in 15th place on the Bears' career scoring list, just 55 points away from all-time great Winston Garland (1985-87) for 14th place. His half-court shot at the buzzer in the Feb. 10 game against Illinois State not only erased a 5-point MSU deficit in the final 13 seconds, but also made the top spot on ESPN SC's Top 10.
Two Bears are approaching 800 career points. Senior Ryan Kreklow (Columbia, Mo.) is 2 points away from 800 (122 games). He ranks 51st on MSU's career scoring list. Likewise, Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil), a transfer from South Florida, is 1 point from 800 in his 73 career games (353 points in 24 games at Missouri State).
Kabir Mohammed (Jr., Lagos, Nigeria) is averaging 7.5 rebounds per game off the bench over the last two contests. He is averaging 15.8 rebounds per 40 minutes this year.
Keandre Cook (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) has scored in double figures in 11-of-16 MVC games to date and has scored 13.1 points per game in Valley road contests this season.
All five Missouri State starters are averaging 30+ minutes per game in Valley contests, including Josh Webster (32.9), Tulio Da Silva (32.7), Ryan Kreklow (31.4), Keandre Cook (31.3), and Jarred Dixon (30.8).
Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) has scored in double figures in 20-of-24 games as a Bear and has been MSU's top scorer in four of the last seven contests. He ranks third among all Valley players in rebounds per game (7.5) and field goal percentage (.575).

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 16-13 (.561) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 11-3 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 73-78 (.483) in his fifth season as a head coach and 1-1 all-time vs. Illinois 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 series between the Bears and Redbirds dates back to the 1967 NCAA Division II semifinals - a 93-76 win by the Bears en route to their national runner-up showing. However, Illinois State leads the all-time series, 43-30. In Normal, MSU is 6-26 all-time with seven straight losses at Redbird Arena.
Last season, the Redbirds swept the season series for the second straight year, starting with a 72-68 win in Normal (Jan. 7) and concluding with a 76-60 win at JQH Arena (Feb. 6). In the opener, the Redbirds scored 10 points in the final two minutes and rallied from a late 3-point deficit. The Bears got 16 points and 12 rebounds from Alize Johnson while Reggie Scurry and Ronnie Rousseau III each contributed 16 points. In the second game, Mustafa Lawrence and J.T. Miller scored a dozen points apiece for the Bears.
This season, MSU snapped a four-game losing streak to ISU with a 66-65 home win over ISU on Feb. 10. Jarred Dixon's two-handed heave from half court as time expired found its mark after MSU trailed by five with 13 seconds to go. Tulio Da Silva went 8-for-8 from the field and led the Bears with 17 points, while Ryan Kreklow scored 14, Dixon added 13, and Josh Webster tallied 11, including 7 in the final 77 seconds. [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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