Men's Basketball February 28, 2019 MSU Athletics Communications

Bears Ready for Senior Day Showdown vs. Drake

GAME 31 - Missouri State Bears (16-14, 10-7 MVC) vs. Drake Bulldogs (22-8, 11-6 MVC)
Date and Time	Saturday, March 2, 2019 \| 3:02 p.m.
Location	JQH Arena (11,000) \| Springfield, Missouri
Tickets	Tickets for Drake Game \| (417) 836-7678 \| All Tickets Half Price \| Children 12 & Under Free
Radio	KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) \| MSU Radio Network \| Listen Live
Television	ESPN+ (Don West, Tom Ladd) \| Watch
Series	MSU leads 43-16 \| Last Meeting: DU 74, MSU 63 (1/20/19) \| [Box Score]
Live Stats	Live Stats
Game Notes	Missouri State \| Drake \| MVC Notebook \| MSU Media Guide
Follow	Facebook \| Athletics Twitter \| Basketball Twitter \| Instagram \| #MSUBears
Promotions	Senior Day \| Half Price Tickets \| Children 12 & Under Free \| $1 Hot Dogs \| $1 Cokes
Up Next	The Bears open the 2019 MVC Men's Basketball Championship in St. Louis on Friday, March 8 with time and opponent to be determined \| Arch Madness Tickets

The Ten Count

Missouri State returns to JQH Arena Saturday at 3 p.m. for its regular-season finale against MVC co-leader Drake. The Bears are a game out of first place with one to play, meaning an MSU victory over Drake -- and a Bradley win over Loyola -- on Saturday would catapult Missouri State into a 2019 MVC regular-season championship and No. 1 seed in next week's MVC Tournament. All tickets for the Drake game are half price with free admission for children 12 and under.
Three MSU senior guards -- all from the state of Missouri -- will be recognized during pregame ceremonies Saturday. Jarred Dixon (Kansas City, Mo.), Ryan Kreklow (Columbia, Mo.) and Josh Webster (St. Louis, Mo.) have combined to play in 367 collegiate games, scoring 2,852 points with 968 rebounds, 894 assists and 293 3-pointers.
During the team's Division I era (since 1982-83), the Bears are 31-5 on Senior Night, including a 6-4 mark at JQH Arena. Only Valparaiso (1989), Creighton (2009), Indiana St. (2012), Wichita St. (2017) and Bradley (2018) have beaten Missouri State on a DI Senior Night. MSU last played Drake on senior night in 2016 with the Bears prevailing, 61-52.
On Missouri State's last three senior nights, Jarred Dixon (Kansas City, Mo.) is averaging 14.7 points per game. The home finale standout posted 24 points last year vs. Bradley, scored 10 points vs. Wichita State in 2017, and registered his only career double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) vs. Drake on 2016 senior day as a freshman.
Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) has scored in double figures in 21-of-25 games as a Bear and has registered double-doubles in back-to-back games. He ranks third in the MVC in rebounds per game (7.6) and FG percentage (.577).
Josh Webster ranks 19th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.96), which also leads the Missouri Valley Conference. Webster is also the Valley leader in assists per game (5.1).
The Bears are 8-3 over their last 11 MVC games after a 2-4 start in the league. The team's "Defend No Matter What" (#DNMW) efforts have produced 12.3 takeaways and 6.0 steals per game since Jan. 23. This is Missouri State's first 10-win Valley performance since 2010-11.
Missouri State's 74 dunks this season -- including a team-high 29 by Tulio Da Silva -- is just one shy of last year's unofficial school record (75). Da Silva enters Saturday's game with at least one dunk in each of MSU's last 8 games.
Keandre Cook (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) has scored in double figures in 12-of-17 MVC games to date and has scored 12.6 points per game at home this season. He has tallied double figures in three of last four contests and is shooting 15-of-29 (.517) from the field and 8-of-13 (.615) from 3-point range in those three contests.
Jarred Dixon is sitting at 98 career 3-pointers (126 games), including a career-best 40 this season. He would become the 17th player in MSU history to tally 100 or more career treys, including teammate Ryan Kreklow who has 165.

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 16-14 (.533) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 11-3 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 73-79 (.480) in his fifth season as a head coach and 0-1 all-time vs. Drake.
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, 34, 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 Drake started in Honolulu in 1986 and resumed in 1991 when MSU joined the Valley. MSU leads the all-time series, 43-16, including a 24-3 record in Springfield (8-2 at JQH Arena). The Bears are also 17-12 in Des Moines and 2-1 at neutral sites vs. Drake.
Last season marked Drake's first season sweep of MSU since 2001 as the Bulldogs used Reed Timmer's 24 points and precision free throw shooting to dispatch the Bears, 61-58 at Knapp Center (Jan. 20). On the return trip to Springfield (Feb. 18), Timmer launched a desperation heave from 35 feet away to win the game for Drake with 0.9 seconds remaining, 67-63. Timmer, who was fouled on the shot, finished with a game-high 20 points. MSU was led by 14 points by Alize Johnson (16 rebounds), and Jarred Dixon added 10 points.
Earlier this season in Des Moines (Jan. 20), Drake won its third straight in the series as Brady Ellingson scored a game-high 25 points behind seven 3-pointers and led home standing Drake to a 74-63 win. He was 7-for-8 from 3-point range and 9-of-10 from the field to lead the Bulldogs. The Bears were led by Jarred Dixon with 15 points and Tulio Da Silva with 12 points and 8 rebounds. Keandre Cook also scored 11 points for MSU, which committed an uncharacteristic 17 turnovers on the afternoon. [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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