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Bears Close Out First Half of Valley Slate Wednesday at UNI

Bears Close Out First Half of Valley Slate Wednesday at UNI

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MSU Athletics Communications

GAME 22 - Missouri State Bears (10-11, 4-4 MVC) at Northern Iowa Panthers (17-3, 6-2 MVC)
Date and Time Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2020 | 6:07 p.m.
Location McLeod Center (6,650) | Cedar Falls, Iowa
Tickets UNI Game | Future Home Games
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television MVC TV Network | FOX Sports Midwest (Brad Wells, Kevin Lehman) | Watch
Series Missouri State leads 44-35 | Last Meeting: UNI 80, MSU 57 (1/11/20) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | UNI | MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearUp
Up Next The Bears return home to play Indiana State on Saturday (3 p.m.) at JQH Arena | Tickets

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State closes out the month of January with a trip to Cedar Falls on Wednesday (6 p.m.) to take on league co-leader Northern Iowa. The Bears, who are 2-2 in MVC road games this season, are looking to avenge a one-sided home loss to the Panthers and snag their first victory at McLeod Center since 2016.
  • Missouri State is 23-8 under Dana Ford when holding its opponents under 70 points. Sunday's 71-69 loss at Drake marked the third MVC foe to score 70 against the Bears this season (0-3 in those games) and pushed Missouri State to 3-6 in games decided by four points or less during the current campaign.
  • The Bears had two players post double-doubles at Drake on Sunday, marking the first time in over two years Missouri State has reached that rare milestone. Gaige Prim's 23 points and 12 rebounds boosted him to his first double-double this season, while Keandre Cook posted 12 points and a career-high 13 rebounds against the Bulldogs. The last time the Bears had two double-doubles in the same game was at Illinois State (Jan. 7, 2018) with Alize Johnson and J.T. Miller.
  • Keandre Cook (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) is averaging 20.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 threes over last 4 games. He has scored in double figures in 17-of-21 games this season and 40 times in his two seasons at MSU. His .840 free throw percentage ranks 3rd in the MVC and 80th nationally. 
  • MSU ranks 51st nationally in rebound margin +5.2, which is also 3rd in the MVC. In league games, the Bears are snagging 78.4% of their opponent misses (tops in the Valley), while holding teams to 41.8% shooting in league play.
  • Missouri State heads into Cedar Falls just 2 wins shy of 700 as a Division I program. The Bears are currently 698-487 (.590) in their 38th NCAA Division I season (since 1982-83).
  • The Bears are relying heavily on their three freshmen of late with the trio of Isiaih Mosley (Columbia, Mo.), Ja'Monta Black (Columbia, Mo.) and Ford Cooper Jr. (Charlotte, N.C.) starting the last four games. The classmates have combined to outscore the upper classes in two of the last three games with a 25.5 scoring average over the last four contests.
  • Isiaih Mosley (Fr., Columbia, Mo.) is averaging 13.9 points per game in Valley play and as a starter.
  • Gaige Prim (Jr., Aurora, Colo.) has scored in double figures in 13-of-16 appearances this year with at least 8 points in every contest. He is averaging a team-best 14.9 points away from home this season.
  • As a team, the Bears rank 43rd nationally in free throw percentage (.754) and have converted a league-best 78.4 percent from the line in Valley play.
  • Ja'Monta Black (Fr., Columbia, Mo.) is coming off back-to-back games with 8 points. He is also averaging 4.5 rebounds per game in that span and has knocked down at least one 3-pointer in 4 straight contests.
  • The Bears are trying to reach a 5-4 ledger at the midway point in Valley play for the fourth straight season.
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 26-27 (.491) in his second season as Missouri State head coach, including a 18-7 ledger at JQH Arena, 7-15 record in away games, and 1-5 mark at neutral sites. He is now 83-92 (.474) in his sixth season as a head coach. Ford is 0-3 in his career against UNI.
  • In his first season in Springfield, Ford led the Bears to a tie for third place (10-8) in the Missouri Valley Conference with the program's first winning record in Valley play since 2011. He guided two players -- Tulio Da Silva (first team) and Keandre Cook (third team) -- to All-MVC honors in addition to three players on the MVC All-Newcomer Team, including Newcomer of the Year Da Silva.
  • 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. He coached five All-OVC players and two OVC All-Newcomer Team selections during his tenure at TSU. 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.
  • Ford, 35, 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 has served as an assistant at Tennessee State, Wichita State and Illinois State and was responsible for recruiting future NBA talents such as Robert Covington (Timberwolves) and Fred Van Vleet (Raptors).
Series History
  • The Bears are 44-35 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 19-18 in Cedar Falls (3-10 at McLeod Center), 23-15 at home (3-9 at JQH Arena), and 2-2 at neutral sites against the Panthers.
  • Earlier this season in Springfield (Jan. 11), UNI extended its series streak to four wins in a row with an 80-57 win over the Bears at JQH Arena, matching MSU's largest margin of defeat in the 12-year history of the facility.
  • UNI came out blazing, making nine of its first 10 shots to set a blistering pace. The Panthers got 28 points from sophomore A.J. Green who went 6-of-8 from 3-point range, while Isaiah Brown knocked down five triples en route to a 19-point game for UNI. After falling behind 26-6 just over eight-and-a-half minutes into the game, Missouri State played nearly even the rest of the night, but the early deficit was too much to overcome. The Panthers answered nearly every Missouri State run with a barrage of 3-pointers, finishing the night 13-of-22 from beyond the arc after making 8-of-10 out of the gates. Isiaih Mosley led three Missouri State players in double figures with 15 points, while Tulio Da Silva tallied 13 points and 7 rebounds, and Gaige Prim contributed 10 points. 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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