Men's Basketball February 08, 2019 MSU Athletics Communications

Bears Set for Rumble with the Redbirds Sunday at The Q

GAME 25 - Missouri State Bears (12-12, 6-5 MVC) vs. Illinois State Redbirds (14-10, 7-4 MVC)
Date and Time	Sunday, February 10, 2019 \| 3:02 p.m.
Location	JQH Arena (11,000) \| Springfield, Missouri
Tickets	Tickets for Illinois State Game \| (417) 836-7678 \| Fan Appreciation Ticket Deal
Radio	KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) \| MSU Radio Network \| Listen Live
Television	ESPN3 (Scott Warmann, Danan Hughes) \| Watch
Series	ISU leads 43-29 \| Last Meeting: ILST 76, MSU 60 (1/30/18) \| [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
Promotions	All Tickets $5 \| Salute to Elected Officials
Up Next	The Bears return to the road next week for road games at Evansville (Wednesday, 6 p.m.) and Loyola (Sunday, 3 p.m.) before playing three of their final four games at JQH Arena. The Bears host Northern Iowa on Wednesday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. [UNI Tickets]

The Ten Count

Missouri State wraps up a two-game home stand Sunday (3 p.m.) when the Bears entertain Illinois State in the first meeting of the season between the clubs. The Bears have won four of their last five conference game and enter the weekend tied for third in the Valley standings, just a game behind the second-place Redbirds.
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 under Dan Muller from 2012-14.
In MVC action, Missouri State is allowing a league-best 61.0 points per game, including just 49.8 points over the last five contests. In the past 14 seasons, the MVC leader in team scoring defense in league-only games has reached the NCAA Tournament 10 times and the NIT three times.
Keandre Cook (Jr., Baltimore, Md.) has started the last 9 games for the Bears and is averaging 14.0 points per game in that span with 8 double-figure scoring efforts (7 in a row).
Tulio Da Silva (Jr., Formiga, Brazil) has scored in double figures in 16-of-19 games since becoming eligible on Nov. 24. He leads all Valley newcomers in rebounding (7.0) and field goal percentage (.564) and second in scoring (14.6).
The Bears are 9-2 at home this season with a +16.3 scoring margin at JQH Arena. Keandre Cook is averaging a team-best 14.1 ppg in home games where is shooting 53.6 percent from the field and 46.5 percent from three.
Missouri State is ranked No. 2 in The Valley in points per possession (1.043) and also ranks second in the league in points per game (71.7).
Josh Webster (Sr., St. Louis, Mo.) leads the MVC in assists per game (5.2) and assist-to-turnover ratio (3.18). He also ranks 19th nationally in assist-to-turnover. He has 8 assists and just 1 turnover over the last two games.
MSU has blocked 30 shots in its last six games (5.0 per game). The Bears' 4.2 blocks in Valley play leads the league.
With his team-high 19 points in Wednesday's win over Southern Illinois, Jarred Dixon (G, Kansas City, Mo.) surpassed Deven Mitchell (2003-08) and William Fontleroy (1996-2000) on MSU's career scoring list. With 1,138 career points Dixon now ranks 19th all-time in scoring. He also ranks 7th all-time at MSU with 3,156 career minutes.
Over the last 5 games, the Bears are 4-1 and allowing just 49.8 points per game. In that span, MSU has a +11.0 scoring margin and +4.6 rebound margin, holding its foes under 30 points in 8 of 10 halves.

Coach Dana Ford

Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 12-12 (.500) in his first season at Missouri State, including a 9-2 ledger at JQH Arena. He is now 69-77 (.473) in his fifth season as a head coach and 0-1 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, 43-29. MSU is 20-13 all-time in Springfield against the Redbirds, including a 5-5 mark at JQH Arena.
Last season, the Redbirds swept the season series for the second straight year, starting with a 72-68 win in Normal (Jan. 7). The Redbirds scored 10 points in the final two minutes and rallied from a late 3-point deficit to beat MSU. The Bears got 16 points and 12 rebounds from Alize Johnson while Reggie Scurry and Ronnie Rousseau III each contributed 16 points in MSU's seventh straight loss at Redbird Arena. [Box Score]
In the rematch in Springfield (Feb. 6), MSU's bench provided half its offense in a 76-60 defeat. Mustafa Lawrence and J.T. Miller scored a dozen points apiece for the Bears who shot just 32.3 percent from the field, while Alize Johnson scored 12 points with 10 rebounds. ISU was led by Milik Yarbrough and Keyshawn Evans with 15 points apiece, while the Redbirds knocked down 11 3-pointers and converted 13-of-16 (.813) from the foul line. [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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