Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Missouri State

Bears Wrap Road Swing Tuesday at Redbird Arena

Bears Wrap Road Swing Tuesday at Redbird Arena

Bookmark and Share

MSU Athletics Communications

GAME 15 - Missouri State Bears (7-8, 1-1 MVC) at Illinois State Redbirds (6-8, 1-1 MVC)
Date and Time Tuesday, January 7, 2020 | 7:02 p.m.
Location Redbird Arena (10,200) | Normal, Illinois
Tickets Illinois State Game | Future Home Games
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television KOZL-TV | MSU TV Network | ESPN+ (Tom Ackerman, Kelby Stuckey) | Watch
Series Illinois State leads 44-30 | Last Meeting: ISU 65, MSU 57 (2/27/19) | 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 | #BearUp
Up Next The Bears return to JQH Arena on Saturday (Jan. 11) for a 3 p.m. game against UNI | Tickets

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State wraps a two-game Missouri Valley Conference road swing Tuesday evening (7 p.m.) when the Bears travel to Illinois State for a key league showdown in Normal. The Bears are seeking their first MVC road win of the season after posting a 5-4 ledger on the Valley road last season.
  • 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. As a senior, Ford was a regular starter for Moser and led ISU in steals. For his career, he scored 284 points and snagged 263 rebounds in 103 games. He also served as associate head coach at ISU for two seasons under Dan Muller from 2012-14.
  • Tulio Da Silva (Sr., Formiga, Brazil) is just 16 points away from 1,000 for his career (91 games) and has scored 538 points (12.8 ppg) in two seasons (42 games) at Missouri State. The 2019 MVC Newcomer of the Year and transfer from South Florida has scored in double figures 31 times in his 42 games with the Bears.
  • The Bears have out-rebounded 12-of-15 opponents this season and rank 33rd nationally in rebound margin (+7.1). The Bears are also +8.5 on the glass in Valley games.
  • Lamont West (Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio), a Preseason All-MVC third-team selection, has knocked down a 3-pointer in a career-best 12 straight games. The West Virginia transfer has made 9 treys over the last 3 games.
  • Isiaih Mosley (Fr., Columbia, Mo.) ranks 7th in the Valley in FG percentage (.574). He has made 31-of-54 shots this season and has scored in double-figures in 4 straight games. The 2019 Mr. Show-Me Basketball is averaging 13.0 points per game over the last 4 contests while converting 8-of-11 (.727) 3-point attempts and 19-of-31(.613) overall in that span.
  • Gaige Prim (Jr., Aurora, Colo.) is coming off a team-high 14 points in Saturday's game at Loyola. He has scored in double figures in 8-of-10 appearances this season, all of the bench. His 13.2 points per game make him far and away the top-scoring reserve in the MVC, while his 14.6 points per game away from Springfield is also tops on the team. Prim posted 23 double-doubles last season as an NJCAA first-team All-America pick at South Plains (Texas) College.
  • The Bears have had runs of 19-3 (vs. Evansville) and 18-5 (at Loyola) so far in Valley play to erase early deficits in both contests. So far this season, MSU has had runs of +10 or more in 10-of-15 games, including a season-best 16-0 run vs. Buffalo (Nov. 24) at the Charleston Classic to go from down 13 to up 3.
  • Five of Missouri State's eight losses this season are by 4 points or less. The Bears are 2-5 in such games with 7-of-8 losses on the campaign by 10 points or less.
  • Keandre Cook (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) leads all Valley players in minutes played per game (34.9). The Preseason All-MVC second-teamer is MSU's top scorer (14.4 ppg) and has produced double-figure points in 12-of-15 games this year.
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 23-24 (.489) in his second season as Missouri State head coach, including a 17-5 ledger at JQH Arena, 5-14 record in away games, and 1-5 mark at neutral sites. He is now 80-89 (.473) in his sixth season as a head coach. Ford is 1-2 in his career against Illinois State.
  • 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 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, 44-30. In Normal, MSU is 6-27 all-time with eight straight losses at Redbird Arena, dating back to a Bears win on Feb. 12, 2011 (a game in which Kyle Weems scored 21 points and snagged 6 rebounds).
  • Last year, the teams split the regular-season series, starting with the Bears beating the Redbirds 66-65 on a half-court shot at the final buzzer by Jarred Dixon at JQH Arena (2/10/19) to snap a four-game ISU win streak in the series. Dixon's shot overcame a 5-point deficit with 13 seconds to go with Josh Webster leading the comeback effort. Tulio Da Silva was 8-for-8 from the field and scored 17 points to lead MSU with Ryan Kreklow adding 14 and Dixon adding 13.  Box Score
  • Illinois State avenged the loss in Normal (2/27/19) with Malik Yarbrough scoring 28 points on 11-of-11 free throws while Phil Fayne added 18 for the Redbirds. The Bears cut their deficit to three points with 26 seconds to go before falling 65-57. Keandre Cook scored 16, Dixon scored 15 and DiSilva added 12 points and 11 boards.. 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.
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors