Starting Five - Storylines for the Evansville Series
1) The 17th-ranked Missouri State Lady Bears are Missouri Valley Conference champions for the second consecutive season and close out the regular season with a pair of 6 p.m. games March 5 and 6 at Evansville.The Lady Bears (18-2, 14-0) are off to the best MVC start in school history and look to complete the league schedule unbeaten for the first time. MSU has won 14 Gateway/MVC regular season championships, doing so in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2012, 2020 and 2021.
2) Missouri State is 68-9 overall since Dec. 20, 2018, ranking ninth nationally in total wins since that date and fourth in win percentage (.883), trailing only Baylor, UConn and FGCU. Six teams ahead of the Lady Bears on the wins list have been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll over that span.
3) The Lady Bears are 30-4 in their last 34 true road games, 37-6 in the last 43 games away from home, and 23-2 in the last 25 MVC road contests. Missouri State is 9-0 on the road this season as one of three Division I teams with at least nine road wins and no losses
4) Missouri State has won the rebounding battle in 17 of 20 games this year and 43 of the last 50, with a plus-9.4 margin this season on pace for second in school history and a .792 defensive rebounding percentage that ranks second nationally after leading the NCAA last year with a .773 mark.
5) The Lady Bears allow 57.6 points per game, on pace for second-best defensive average in school history behind the 1973-74 team at 45.9. Only six times previously have the Lady Bears given up fewer than 60 points on average, most recently in the 2003-04 season. No team has scored more than 73 points against Missouri State and 18 of 20 have scored below its season average. MSU has faced top-25 scoring offenses in Maryland (1st - 91.7), FGCU (7th - 83.7) and Drake (22nd - 77.3) twice.
The Opponent
Evansville is 6-15 overall and 2-14 in MVC play after a 4-1 start to the season. Abby Feit, the 2020 MVC Freshman of the Year, averages 14.8 points and 8.0 rebounds as the only UE player averaging more than 8.8 points per game. As a team, the Purple Aces average 55.3 points and allow 69.8, shooting 36.6 percent overall, 27.2 percent on 3-pointers and 66.7 percent at the foul line with a minus-5.5 rebound margin.
Series History
Missouri State is 44-13 all-time against Evansville with wins in 12 of the last 13 meetings. The Lady Bears are 18-9 in Evansville, last losing in March 2014.
Streaking
The Lady Bears have numerous active win streaks, including:
   • 14 overall wins, tied for fifth in school history and the longest since 18 games from Dec. 3, 2003-Feb. 10, 2004.
   • 10 road wins, second in school history behind a 13-game streak from Jan. 18-Nov. 14, 2019,    and the second-longest active streak in NCAA Division I. Missouri State has never finished a season unbeaten on the road and is 9-0 in 2020-21.s
   • 8 MVC road wins, tied for fourth in school history and longest since the record of 13 was set from Feb. 16, 2018-Jan. 5, 2020.
   • 17 MVC home wins, third-best in MSU history and longest since a 19-game streak from March 2, 2003-Feb. 27, 2005.
   • 17 MVC wins overall, tied for second in school history with 17-game streak from Feb. 9, 2018-Feb. 8, 2019. Record is 24 from Jan. 9, 1999-Feb. 3, 2000.
