Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Missouri State

Lu'cye Patterson

Bears Set to Open Valley Play at UNI

December 23, 2020

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAMES 4-5 - Missouri State Bears (3-0, 0-0 MVC) at Northern Iowa Panthers (1-4, 0-0 MVC)
Dates and Times Sunday, Dec. 27 | 3:00 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 28 | 7:00 p.m.
Location McLeod Center (7,018) | Cedar Falls, Iowa
Tickets (319) 273-4849
Radio KWTO (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television Sunday - ESPN + (announcers TBA)  | Watch
Monday - FOX Sports Midwest (FS KC & FS Ind.) | Kevin Lehman, Brad Wells | Watch
Series Missouri State leads 44-36 | Last Meeting: UNI 95, MSU 66 (1/29/20) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | MVC Notebook | MSU Record Book
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next The Bears return to JQH Arena, Jan. 2-3 vs. Indiana State
Game 1 INST Tickets  | Game 2 INST Tickets

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State begins its 31st season in the Missouri Valley Conference Sunday and Monday (Dec. 27-28) with a two-game series at league preseason favorite Northern Iowa. The Bears, who were picked sixth in this year's MVC preseason poll, are 279-241 (.537) through their first 30 seasons in the MVC and are looking for their 20th all-time win in Cedar Falls and fourth at McLeod Center. The Bears are 19-11 all-time in MVC openers.
  • Preseason All-MVC selection Gaige Prim (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) has scored in double figures in 16 straight games, including back-to-back 20-point efforts to start the season. The MVC Co-Player of the Week notched a career-high 26 points against Northwestern State on Dec. 19, going 9-for-12 from the field. He currently ranks 4th nationally in field goal pct. (.778). Prim had three 20-point games all of last season when he led all MVC newcomers in scoring (13.7 ppg).
  • High school teammates Ja'Monta Black (So., Columbia, Mo.) and Isiaih Mosley (So., Columbia, Mo.) are coming off 26-point efforts in the Bears home win over Sun Belt Conference favorite Little Rock on Dec. 21. Both players were 7-of-11 from the field to achieve their respective career highs. All of Black's shots were from 3-point range, tying a JQH Arena record with 7 triples in the game, while Mosley posted team highs with 8 rebounds and 6 assists while going 9-for-10 at the line. The tandem won Missouri's Class 5 (largest class) state title as seniors at Rock Bridge High School.
  • The Bears are off to a 3-0 start for the second time in three seasons under coach Dana Ford and the third time over the last five seasons overall. The last time the Bears started 4-0 was in 2013-14 when they won their first 6 games.
  • Missouri State is coming off its 1,200th Division I ball game. The Bears are now 707-493 (.589) in their 39th Division I season since joining the DI ranks for the 1982-83 season.
  • Jared Ridder (Jr., Springfield, Mo.) has knocked down multiple 3-pointers in every game this season. He notched a career-high 18 points on 6 triples in the Bears win over Northwestern State (Jan. 19) and followed that with 9 points on 3 treys against Little Rock (Dec. 21) to go with a career-best 5 assists. He ranks 12th nationally with 3.67 3's per game.
  • In two previous starts against UNI, Mosley averaged 12.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists, including a 15-point effort against the Panthers in Springfield (Jan. 11, 2020). He has scored in double figures in 7 of his last 8 contests.
  • The Bears rank among the national top 50 in 6 statistical categories: tied for 1st in winning percentage (100.0); 21st in field goal percentage (.511), 21st in assists (19.0); 27th in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.46); 28th in 3-pointers per game (10.0); and 36th in scoring offense (84.0). Missouri State also leads the MVC in assist-to-turnover ratio.
  • Missouri State has fired at a 50-percent clip from the field in all 3 of its games so far this season and in 5-of-6 games, dating back to last season. The Bears are now 18-0 under Dana Ford when making at least half their shots.
  • Mosley (19.0 ppg) and Prim (18.7) are currently the top two scorers in the MVC with Prim also leading the MVC in FG Pct (.778). Prim and Lu'Cye Patterson are tied for 2nd in The Valley in rebounds (6.7) while Prim is also 2nd in assists (5.7). Meanwhile, Black's 4.0 3-pointers per game leads the MVC and ranks 5th nationally.
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 35-33 (.515) in his third season as Missouri State head coach, including a 25-8 ledger at JQH Arena, 8-19 record in away games, and 2-6 mark at neutral sites. He is now 92-98 (.484) in his seventh season as a head coach. Ford is also 0-4 against Northern Iowa (0-2 in Cedar Falls).
  • Last year, Ford engineered a solid season finish that saw the Bears go 9-9 in the MVC and upset third-seeded Indiana State in the Valley Tournament quarterfinals. MSU matched or out-rebounded 24-of-33 opponents, including nine of their last 10, to finish 25th nationally in rebound margin (6.2). The Bears also posted their second-best free throw percentage (.749) of the program's Division I era and had their highest scoring average in league games (71.6) in 10 years. The Bears also boasted two All-MVC performers for the second year in a row with second team selection Keandre Cook and third-teamer Gaige Prim, who also was recognized on the MVC All-Newcomer Team.
  • In his first season in Springfield in 2018-19, Ford led the Bears to a tie for third place (10-8) in The Valley with the program's first winning conference record 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 AP Top 25 poll in 2016-17.
  • Ford, 36, 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 (Rockets) and Fred Van Vleet (Raptors).
Series History
  • The Bears are 44-36 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 19-19 in Cedar Falls (3-11 at McLeod Center), 23-15 at home (3-9 at JQH Arena), and 2-2 at neutral sites against the Panthers.
  • Last season, UNI swept the season series for the second year in a row and extended its win streak against MSU to 5 in a row.
  • In Springfield (Jan. 11), UNI posted 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 made 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 and scored 19 for UNI. MSU fell behind 26-6 just over eight-and-a-half minutes into the game but played nearly even the rest of the night. UNI 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 treys 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.
  • In the rematch in Cedar Falls (Jan. 29), Missouri State dug itself a substantial hole in the first half and was unable to get back on track from there in a 95-66 road setback. The Bears got 16 points from Keandre Cook with Tulio Da Silva adding 11 points and 7 rebounds off the bench with no turnovers. Ja'Monta Black and Gaige Prim added 10 points apiece for the Bears. A.J. Green, who played 37 minutes in the lopsided affair, led Northern Iowa's scoring with 27 points behind five 3-pointers.
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