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Missouri State

Donovan Clay

Bears Head to Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship

November 21, 2022

By: MSU Athletics Communications
Games 4-6 - Missouri State Bears (2-1) at  Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship
Date and Time Friday, Nov. 25, 2022 to Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022
Location Baha Mar Convention Arts & Entertainment Center | Nassau, The Bahamas
Tickets Tickets
Radio KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (Don West, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television FloHoops.com (Sam Hayman, Ashlee Jones) | Watch
Series Missouri State leads UNCW, 4-0
Missouri State leads Long Beach, 3-0
Missouri State trails North Texas, 2-1
First Meeting with Ball State, Vermont, Oakland & San Jose State
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | MVC Weekly Release | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next Wednesday, Nov. 30 at UIC (7:00 p.m.)

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State will embark on a 1,260-mile trip to Nassau Bahamas this week for the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship, Friday through Sunday. The Bears will square off with UNCW in the opening round and will play either Vermont or Ball State on Saturday. Sunday's final round will match Missouri State against Long Beach State, North Texas, Oakland or San Jose State.
  • The eight-team field at the Baha Mar Hoops Nassau Championship includes 2022 NCAA Tournament participant Vermont, in addition to 2022 NIT qualifiers Long Beach State, North Texas and Missouri State and CBI champion UNCW.
  • Missouri State is 64-11 under coach Dana Ford when the Bears shoot a higher field goal percentage than their opponent. Likewise, MoState is 39-4 under Ford when they shoot 50 percent or better from the field (2-0 this season). The Bears are coming off an even 50-percent effort in Saturday's win over Middle Tennessee, shooting 28-of-56 from the field and 12-of-27 (.444) from 3-point range.
  • The Bears are getting 40.7 percent of their scoring this year (90-of-221 total points) from 3-point range. MSU is coming off a home win over Middle Tennessee (Nov. 19) in which it knocked down a season-high 12 treys. MoState's 40.0 team 3-point percentage and 10.0 threes per game rank 35th and 36th, respectively, among all Division I programs. 
  • The Bears were picked 4th in the new-look, 12-team Missouri Valley Conference this season, the league announced Oct. 19 with its preseason poll of coaches, media and communications staffs. Coach Dana Ford's squad returns one starter (Donovan Clay) from a 23-11 squad that finished as MVC runners-up and advanced to the NIT.  
  • Chance Moore (So., Brookhaven, Ga.) ranks 15th nationally (and tops in the MVC) in 3-point FG percentage (.600), while his overall FG percentage (.625) ranks 50th. He has scored at least 18 points in each of MSU's first 3 games. The Arkansas transfer starts the week ranked 27th in KenPom's effective FG percentage rankings (77.3)
  • The countdown to 1,000 career points has begun for MSU's only returning starter, Donovan Clay (Sr., Alton, Ill.). Clay is currently at 923 career points (100 games), including 63 games at Valparaiso. The only other active Bear with 1,000 career points in Kendle Moore (Sr., Danville, Ill.) who has 1,053 points in 123 career games (120 at Colorado State). 
  • Akron transfer Bryan Trimble Jr. (Kansas City, Mo.) needs just 8 3-pointers to reach 200 for his collegiate career (114 games). He a career 36-percent shooter from beyond the arc with a career-best 74 treys during his junior season in 2020-21 at Akron.
  • CBS Sports' Jon Rothstein listed Missouri State head coach Dana Ford among his "20 coaches on the rise entering the 2022-23 college basketball season."
  • With solid defensive performances in its first three games, Missouri State starts the week ranked 20th nationally in scoring defense (54.7) and 22nd in FG percentage defense (.352). The Bears are also averaging 7.0 steals per game.
  • Led by Chance Moore's 18.3 points per game, the Bears are posting 34.8 ppg from their reserves, which is the top bench average in the Missouri Valley and 29th nationally to start the week.
The Series
  • FRIDAY - Missouri State leads the series with UNC Wilmington, 4-0 (2-0 in Springfield, 2-0 in Wilmington), in a series that began in 1994 and included the most-recent matchup in Springfield on Dec. 5, 2007. In that meeting at Hammons Student Center, Deven Mitchel scored 25 points (11-of-13 at the line) and snagged 10 rebounds in a 73-66 MSU victory. Shane Laurie added 17 points behind 3 triples for MSU, which shot 48.1 percent from the field.
  • SATURDAY - Missouri State has never played Ball State or Vermont.
  • SUNDAY - Missouri State has never played Oakland or San Jose State.
    • MSU is 3-0 all-time against Long Beach (1-0 at home, 1-0 on the road, and 1-0 at neutral sites), defeating the 49ers, 92-66, in Naples, Fla. last season (Nov. 22, 2021) in the opening-round of the Naples Invitational. The Bears got 5 threes from four different players over a seven-minute stretch as part of a decisive 23-0 first-half run. Isiaih Mosley scored 23 points, and Gaige Prim added 20 more, while Donovan Clay added 9 points and 5 rebounds for a Bears squad that shot .571 overall and made a dozen 3-pointers.
    • MSU is 1-2 all-time against North Texas (1-1 at home and 0-1 on the road). The last meeting vs. UNT (Nov. 22, 2002) saw Terrance McGee lead MSU with 27 points, while Shelton Colwell added 18, and Monwell Randle posted 17 points and 13 rebounds. MSU could not overcome a 39-24 halftime defict in an 81-78 setback .
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 74-52 (.587) in his fifth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 45-16 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena, 23-27 record in away games, and 6-9 mark at neutral sites. He is now 131-117 (.528) in his ninth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is also 44-28 in Valley games (23-13 at home, 21-15 away). 
  • He is 0-1 all-time against Ball State (0-0 at MSU) and 1-0 against Long Beach State (1-0) at MSU. He has never coached against UNCW, Vermont, North Texas, Oakland or San Jose State.
  • CollegeInsider.com recently named Ford one of the dozen "Coaching Names to Remember" for the 2021-22 season.
  • He picked up his 100th career victory on Feb. 7, 2021 at Illinois State (72-62) and coached his 100th game at Missouri State on Dec. 15, 2021 vs. South Dakota State.
  • In a breakout 2021-22 campaign, Missouri State finished the season as one of the nation's most-efficient offensive teams, ranking 2nd nationally in free throw percentage (.797), 14th in field goal percentage (.482) and 23rd in 3-point FG percentage (.374) -- the only DI team to rank in the top 25 in all three. KenPom also rated the Bears 21st in effective FG percentage (54.6) and 23rd in adjusted offensive efficiency (113.2). MSU led the MVC in all of those metrics, except 3-point percentage, while also leading The Valley in scoring (77.3) and turnovers per game (10.6), which ranked 38th and 34th in the country, respectively.
  • Likewise, the 2021-22 Bears finished as runners-up in the Missouri Valley Conference, racking up a 23-11 overall record and 13-5 record in the league. The Bears' season win total was the program's most since 2011 and the 10th-best in team history. The squad advanced to the MVC Tournament semifinals for the third straight year and also represented The Valley in the NIT in Ford's first postseason tournament showing at MoState. The Bears also set team records for 3-point field goals (283) while boasting two first-team all-conference players in the school's all-time best scoring tandem – Gaige Prim and Isiaih Mosley -- while Donovan Clay earned MVC All-Defensive Team honors, and Isaac Haney landed on the MVC All-Freshman Team. Jaylen Minnett was also named to the MVC All-Bench squad.
  • For the third time in his head coaching career, Ford was a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season.
  • 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, 38, 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, 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).
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.
  • Pledge to assist the Rebound Challenge today!  Pledge Link
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