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Missouri State

Matthew Lee

Bears Open Hoops Season Wednesday with Traditional Foe

November 07, 2022

By: MSU Athletics Communications
Game 1 - Missouri State Bears (0-0) vs. Missouri S&T Miners (0-0)
Date and Time Wednesday, Nov. 9, 2022 | 7:02 p.m. (Central)
Location Great Southern Bank Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Missouri
Tickets Tickets | (417) 836-7678 | Great Southern Bank Arena Box Office
Promotions Rally Towel Giveaway |  Basketball Jersey Theme
Fan Info Digital Game Program | Gates open at 6 p.m.
Radio KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (Don West, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television (none)
Series Missouri State leads 116-24 | Last Meeting: MSU 94, MST 49 (1/17/21) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Missouri S&T | MVC Weekly Release | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next Wednesday, Nov. 16 at BYU | 8 p.m. | Tickets

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State kicks off its 111th basketball season and 41st season in Division I on Wednesday (7 p.m.) when the Bears entertain long-time, in-state rival Missouri S&T at Great Southern Bank Arena. MSU is 37-3 in home openers during its Division I era, including a 12-2 ledger in home openers at Great Southern Bank Arena. 
  • Coach Dana Ford, who finished fourth in the MVC Coach of the Year voting in 2021-22, was also named as a finalist for the Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year Award for the third time in his career.
  • Missouri State is 62-11 under coach Dana Ford when the Bears shoot a higher field goal percentage than their opponent. Likewise, MoState is 37-4 under Ford when they shoot 50 percent or better from the field with 15 fifty-percent games last season.
  • This is the 141st meeting between the Bears and Miners in a series that dates back to 1910. The Bears lead the series, 116-24 overall, including a 65-8 ledger in Springfield (1-0 at Great Southern Bank Arena). Missouri S&T is MSU's second-longest standing rivalry, just between SEMO (148) and Northwest Missouri (137) in total games played. 
  • 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. Meanwhile, Missouri S&T was tabbed 10th in the 13-team GLVC preseason poll. 
  • Kendle Moore (Sr., Danville, Ill.) accumulated 1,036 career points in 120 games at Colorado State, including 172 career 3-pointers for the Rams. He is one of 14 new players on the 2022-23 Bears roster, including 7 Division I transfers. 
  • The Bears' only returning starter, Donovan Clay (Sr., Alton, Ill.) was named to the Preseason All-MVC second team, the league announced on Oct. 19. It marks the second time in Clay's career that he has earned Valley preseason laurels (also in 2020-21). Last season, Clay earned MVC All-Defensive Team honors after earning a reputation as one of the league's top lock-down defenders. Clay had 36 blocks, 21 steals and 165 defensive rebounds on the season, while averaging 8.4 points and shooting at a 53.7-percent clip from the field. He is 4 points away from 900 in his career (97g).
  • Bryan Trimble, Jr. (Sr., Kansas City, Mo.) paced Missouri State's efforts in last Saturday's 78-58 exhibition win over visiting Newman. Trimble had a game-high 20 points on 7-of-13 field goals to go with 6 three-pointers and 3 rebounds. Returnee Donovan Clay also posted a double-double against Newman, boasting 15 points and 10 rebounds, while going 11-for-11 at the free throw line. 
  • Bears point guard Matthew Lee (Sr., San Juan, Puerto Rico) made national headlines last season as he helped lead the Saint Peter's Peacocks to the NCAA Elite Eight. After guiding his club to NCAA wins over Kentucky, Murray State and Purdue, Lee landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated, some 45 years after his father (Butch Lee) was on the cover. Matthew's father is the only Puerto Rican to win both NCAA (Marquette) and NBA (Lakers) basketball titles.
  • Jonathan Mogbo (Jr., West Palm Beach, Fla.) racked up 5 blocked shots in 24 minutes during the Bears' exhibition win over Newman last Saturday. Mogbo, a transfer from Northeastern Oklahoma A&M (NEO), ranked 17th nationally last season among all NJCAA players with 10.5 rebounds per game.
Bears vs. Miners
  • This is the 141st meeting between the Bears and Miners in a series that dates back to 1910.
  • The Bears lead the series, 116-24 overall, including a 65-8 ledger in Springfield (1-0 at Great Southern Bank Arena).
  • Missouri S&T is MSU's second-longest standing rivalry, just between SEMO (148) and Northwest Missouri (137) in total games played. 
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 72-51 (.585) in his fifth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 43-16 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena, 23-26 record in away games, and 6-9 mark at neutral sites. He is now 129-116 (.527) 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 1-0 all-time against Missouri S&T (1-0 at home).
  • 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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