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Mosley

Bears Resume Valley Play Sunday with Home Showdown vs. Drake

December 31, 2021

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 15 - Missouri State Bears (9-5, 0-1 MVC) vs. Drake Bulldogs (10-4, 1-0 MVC)
Date and Time Sunday, Jan. 2, 2022 | 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Location JQH Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Missouri
Tickets Tickets | (417) 836-7678 | Old Missouri Bank Box Office at JQH Arena
Promotions --
Fan Info Digital Game Program
Radio KWTO (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television Bally Sports Midwest, Kansas City, Indiana (John Rooney, Rich Zvosec)
ESPN+ (outside of MVC market) Watch
Series Missouri State leads all-time series, 44-21 | Last Meeting: DU 71, MSU 69 (3/6/21) | Stats
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State  | Drake |  MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next Wednesday, Jan. 5 at Bradley (7 p.m.)

The Ten Count
  • The Bears resume Missouri Valley Conference play Sunday at 7 p.m. when they host MVC preseason favorite Drake in a regionally-televised showdown on the MVC TV Network to kick off a three-game week. Missouri State is riding a four-game home winning streak and is averaging 84.7 points per game at JQH Arena this season, while converting 10.1 3-pointers per contest.
  • The Bears are 27-4 all-time in Missouri Valley Conference home openers, including an 11-2 ledger at JQH Arena and 2-1 mark under head coach Dana Ford.
  • The Bears and Bulldogs represent two of the top 100 Division I basketball teams in the country, according to both the NCAA's NET rankings (Drake 86, Bears 94) and KenPom (Bears 71, Drake 84).
  • In 5 career games against Drake, Gaige Prim (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) is averaging 19.0 points and 12.2 rebounds with 4 double-doubles against the Bulldogs.
  • Despite Drake winning 8 of the last 9 games between the two squads, the total scoring in that stretch favors DU just 625-615. Drake's average margin of victory in its eight wins in that span is +5.6 with four of those contests decided by four points or less.
  • Valpo transfer Donovan Clay (Jr., Terre Haute, Ind.) is averaging 12.0 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in his career against Drake (4g) while shooting .810 (17-for-21) from the FT line against the Bulldogs. He is coming off a career-high 15 rebounds against Evangel on Thursday and is averaging 8.1 rebounds over the last 8 games.
  • Jaylen Minnett (Sr., Terre Haute, Ind.) is averaging 14.8 points per game at home this season while firing at a 44.4 percent clip from beyond the arc (25-of-54). Only Isiaih Mosley (18.7 ppg) has a better scoring average at JQH Arena this season. Minnett is coming off a season-high 22 points vs. Evangel on Thursday, in which he was 7-of-11 from 3-point range. He ranks 15th nationally in both 3-pointers per game (3.50) and 3-point percentage (.472), both tops in the MVC.
  • The Bears have a pair of players rapidly approaching 1,000 career points at Missouri State. Isiaih Mosley (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) has racked up 996 points in 70 games, while Gaige Prim (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) has accumulated 990 points in 66 games in Springfield. Missouri State's 1,000-Point Club currently has 29 members, most recently joined by Jarred Dixon who reached, his 1,000th point on Dec. 22, 2018.
  • Gaige Prim ranks 30th nationally and tops in the MVC in FG percentage (.495) with 5 double-doubles this season.
  • Isiaih Mosley (.946) ranks No. 5 nationally in FT% after leading the MVC in scoring (19.8) and FT% (.487) last year.
  • Ja'Monta Black (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) has scored in double figures in 5 of MSU's last 6 games, averaging 14.2 ppg in that span with 15 3-pointers. He has 118 career 3-pointers (70g), one shy of the program's all-time top 10.
  • The Bears have one of the nation's most-efficient offensive squads, ranking 16th in effective FG% (.557) and 48th in offensive efficiency (108.6), according to KenPom, while ranking 8th in the NCAA rankings in FT% (.794), 9th in 3-point% (.401), 21st in total FG% (.488) and 34th in scoring (80.2).
     
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 58-45 (.563) in his fourth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 36-14 ledger at JQH Arena, 17-23 record in away games, and 5-8 mark at neutral sites. He is now 115-110 (.511) in his eighth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is 1-6 all-time against Drake.
  • Ford picked up his 100th career victory on Feb. 7, 2021 at Illinois State (72-62). The Dec. 15, 2021 win over South Dakota State was Ford's 100th as Bears head coach.
  • Last season, Ford was named to ESPN's College Basketball 40 Under 40 list at No. 35 and was on the list of national finalists for both the Skip Prosser Award and Ben Jobe Award. The Bears completed the 2020-21 campaign with a 17-7 overall record and 12-6 ledger in the Missouri Valley Conference (third) before advancing to the MVC Tournament semifinals. Missouri State was 7-2 in road conference games to match a program high-water mark, while Isiaih Mosley and Gaige Prim earned All-MVC first team honors, and Demarcus Sharp earned a spot on the MVC All-Newcomer Team.
  • 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, TSU doubled its home attendance average and twice earned votes in the AP Top 25 poll in 2016-17.
  • Ford, 37, earned 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 (Trail Blazers) and Fred Van Vleet (Raptors).
Series History
  • Missouri State leads the all-time series, 44-21, including a 25-6 record in Springfield against the Bulldogs and 9-5 ledger at JQH Arena. However, Drake has won 8 of the last 9 meetings overall, including three in a row.
  • Last year, DU swept the regular season series at JQH Arena, Jan. 26-27 with a pair of narrow victories. The Bulldogs won Game One, 78-73, with Roman Penn scoring 15 of his 20 points in the second half and Darnell Brodie adding 16 points and 15 rebounds. The Bears led 41-26 at the half but managed just six field goals in the final stanza. Gaige Prim (18 pts., 16 reb.) and Isiaih Mosley (17 pts., 10 reb.) had double-doubles for MSU.
  • In Game Two the next day, MSU used a 15-0 run in the second half to erase a 13-point deficit and take the lead with just over 5 minutes to go. But buckets by Brodie and Tremell Murphy in the final two minutes were the difference in a 78-73 win by Drake. Once again, Prim (20 pts., 14 reb.) and Mosley (23 pts., 11 reb.) posted double-doubles for MSU.
  • In the third meeting in St. Louis (March 6) in the Arch Madness semifinals, a contest with 16 lead changes was decided on a buzzer-beater by Joseph Yesufu in a 71-69 Drake win. Demarcus Sharp tied the game with 19 seconds to play in a heroic effort by the Bears against the NCAA-bound Bulldogs. Prim had 19 points and 15 rebounds, while Keaton Hervey had a season-high 18 points, and Sharp scored 16. Yesufu had 25 points for Drake. Stats
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.
  • This year's Rebound Foundation game will be Sunday, Feb. 6 vs. Loyola.
  • Pledge to assist the Rebound Challenge today!  Pledge Link

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