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Bears Host UNI in Early Battle of Valley Front-runners

Bears Host UNI in Early Battle of Valley Front-runners

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MSU Athletics Communications

GAME 17 - Missouri State Bears (8-8, 1-1 MVC) vs. Northern Iowa Panthers (13-2, 1-1 MVC)
Date and Time Saturday, January 11, 2020 | 3:07 p.m.
Location JQH Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Missouri
Tickets UNI Game | Future Games
Radio KTXR (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television MVC TV Network | FOX Sports Midwest (John Rooney, Rich Zvosec) | Watch
Series Missouri State leads 44-34 | Last Meeting: UNI 63, MSU 43 (2/20/19) | 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
Promotions KIDS FREE | $5 bleacher seats | $1 hot dogs | $1 Coke products | "Share the Bear" Night
Up Next The Bears host Bradley on Wednesday, Jan. 15 (7:00 p.m.) | Tickets

The Ten Count
  • Locked in a six-way tie for first place in the Missouri Valley Conference, Missouri State returns to JQH Arena on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m.) to take on fellow front-runner Northern Iowa. The Bears are 6-1 at home this season and looking for a 3-1 start in Valley play for the second time in three seasons.
  • Keandre Cook (Sr., Baltimore, Md.) has scored in double figures in 13-of-16 games this season and hit a 3-pointer in 15 games. The Preseason All-MVC second-teamer knocked down 4 treys in Tuesday's win at Illinois State and scored a game-high 22 points -- his third 20-point effort of the season. According the NCAA leaderboard, Cook ranks 66th nationally in average minutes played (34:57), which leads the MVC.
  • Tulio Da Silva (Sr., Formiga, Brazil) is just 5 points away from 1,000 for his career (92 games) and has scored 549 points (12.8 ppg) in two seasons (43 games) at Missouri State. The 2019 MVC Newcomer of the Year and transfer from South Florida has scored in double figures 32 times in his 43 games with the Bears and is shooting .611 (11-for-18) from the field in conference play.
  • Tyrik Dixon (Jr., Bentonville, Ark.) needs 24 points to reach 500 for his career (84 games). The transfer from Middle Tennessee also has an impressive 2.8 assist-to-turnover ratio in Valley play.
  • Lamont West (Sr., Cincinnati, Ohio), a Preseason All-MVC third-team selection, has knocked down a 3-pointer in a career-best 13 straight games. The West Virginia transfer eclipsed 1,100 career points in Tuesday's win at Illinois State. Including his last two attempts last season at WVU, West has made 23 consecutive free throws.
  • Isiaih Mosley (Fr., Columbia, Mo.) has scored in double-figures in 5 straight games. The 2019 Mr. Show-Me Basketball has scored 12.6 ppg in that span and has scored a 3-pointer in 6 straight games.
  • Gaige Prim (Jr., Aurora, Colo.) has scored in double figures in 9-of-11 appearances this year (season low is 8 points) and has made 14-of-24 (.583) FGs in Valley play. Prim has also recorded multiple assists in 4 straight games.
  • UNI is 8-3 all-time at JQH Arena with four wins by 3 points or less (including two by 1 point). The Panthers are the only Valley school with a winning record at JQH in conference games (Valparaiso is 1-1 as an MVC foe). The Bears are 51-22 against all other current Valley programs at The Q. According to Kenpom, the Bears enjoy the 41st-highest home-court advantage in Division I.
  • The Bears are 3-5 in games decided by 4 points or less this season, including a 1-1 mark in Valley games.
  • UNI boasts the Valley's top scorer (A.J. Green) and top rebounder (Austin Phyfe) in Valley play, recording 24.3 points per game and 10.0 rebounds per game, respectively.
  • Kenpom ranked MSU's narrow loss at Loyola (1/4) as the 72nd-best DI game of the season, based on tension attributes.

Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 24-24 (.500) in his second season as Missouri State head coach, including a 17-5 ledger at JQH Arena, 6-14 record in away games, and 1-5 mark at neutral sites. He is now 81-89 (.476) in his sixth season as a head coach. Ford is 0-2 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 44-34 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 23-14 at home (3-8 at JQH Arena), 19-18 in Cedar Falls (3-10 at McLeod) and 2-2 at neutral sites against the Panthers.
  • Last season, UNI earned the regular-season sweep to extend their series win streak to three in a row.
  • In the first meeting in Cedar Falls last season (Feb. 2), 6 clutch points by UNI's Spencer Haldeman in the span of a minute was enough to lift the Panthers to a 64-59 win. Haldeman, who finished with 15 points, broke up a 53-53 tie with a free throw with 2:13 remaining and then hit one of the biggest shots of the game 30 seconds later with a 3-pointer to push the Panthers ahead by four. Missouri State was able to get within four points of the lead twice more in the final 20 seconds – first on a jumper by Josh Webster and later on a Tulio Da Silva free throw. Da Silva led the Bears with 17 points, while Keandre Cook scored 15 for MSU. Box Score
  • In the rematch in Springfield (Feb. 20), MSU posted season-lows in points and field goal percentage, falling 63-43 to UNI. Wyatt Lohaus scored 22 points to lead UNI with 15 points in the second half as part of a 70-percent shooting effort by the Panthers. MSU was just 17-of-55 (.309) from the field and was led by Jarred Dixon with 14 points, while Da Silva scored 9 points and snagged 13 rebounds. 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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