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Bears Continue Valley Swing with Visit from Bradley

December 01, 2022

By: MSU Athletics Communications
Game 8 - Missouri State Bears (4-3, 1-0 MVC) vs. Bradley Braves (5-3, 1-0 MVC)
Date and Time Saturday, Dec. 3, 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 Beach Night | Leis, Mugs, Roll-A-Banas | Season Promos
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
Varsity App
Television ESPN+ (Kevin Lehman, Harry Schroeder) | Watch 
Series Missouri State leads 43-25 | Last Meeting: MSU 83, BU 67 (2/23/22) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Bradley | MVC Weekly Release | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next Wednesday, Nov. 7 at Saint Mary's | 9 p.m. (Central)

The Ten Count
  • Coming off back-to-back wins, Missouri State returns to Great Southern Bank Arena on Saturday at 7 p.m. when the Bears entertain Bradley University (ESPN+). Both clubs are coming off wins in their league openers on Wednesday evening and looking to break away from the pack with a potential 2-0 start in the early portion of Valley play.
  • The Bears are 28-4 all-time in Missouri Valley Conference home openers, including an 12-2 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena and 3-1 mark under head coach Dana Ford
  • Preseason All-MVC selection Donovan Clay (Sr., Alton, Ill.) ranks 5th in The Valley in assists per game (4.00) and 10th in rebounds per game (6.43). He has led the Bears in rebounding 6 times and in assists 4 times this season.  
  • Chance Moore (So., Brookhaven, Ga.) ranks 48th nationally and 1st in the MVC in FG percentage (.600) and is coming off a 7-of-11 shooting effort in Wednesday's league opener at UIC with a team-high 17 points.  
  • The countdown to 1,000 career points has begun for Donovan Clay (Sr., Alton, Ill.). Clay is currently at 961 points in 104 games (including 63 games at Valparaiso) and enters the weekend needing 39 points to reach 1,000.  
  • Missouri State has won 4 straight games in the series with Bradley, including season sweeps of the Braves each of the past two seasons. The Bears are 26-6 all-time at home against BU, including a 12-3 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena. 
  • Missouri State is coming off 10 blocks and 11 steals in the Valley opener at UIC, the first time the Bears have reached double figures in both categories since Nov. 16, 2007 vs. Harding. MSU last blocked 10 shots on Feb. 6, 2018 at Indiana State (12). 
  • Dalen Ridgnal (Sr., Kansas City, Mo.) is 3 rebounds away from 100 for his NCAA career. The transfer from Georgia has played in 35 career Division I games.
  • Donovan Clay is sitting at 49 career double-figure scoring games (17 at MSU). The senior co-captain has played 104 career games (41 at MSU) and has scored 10 or more points 17 times as a Bear.
  • Missouri State is one of just 12 Division I teams that will play on the road in four different time zones during in its non-conference schedule. MSU's trips to BYU (Mountain), Nassau (Eastern), Saint Mary's (Pacific) and Oral Roberts (Central) will conclude a non-MVC slate that will take the Bears some 11,812 air and ground miles. 
  • Behind Chance Moore's team-leading 15.5 points per game -- all off the bench -- the Bears rank 54th nationally and lead the MVC in bench scoring at 29.38 points per game. 
  • Coming off its best defensive outing of the young season, Missouri State now leads the MVC in rebound margin (+4.57) and defensive field goal percentage (.384) while ranking second in the conference in scoring defense (59.1).
  • With the Bears' win at UIC on Wednesday, Missouri State has now racked up more conference road wins (22) during Dana Ford's tenure as head coach than any other MVC team, ahead of Loyola (21), Drake (20) and UNI (17) since 2018-19. Over the last three seasons, the Bears are 44-21 overall, 14-5 in Valley road games and 16-8 in true road games.
The Series
  • The series between Missouri State and Bradley dates back to 1991 when the Bears joined the MVC. Missouri State leads the rivalry, 43-25, including 4 in a row.
  • The Bears are also 26-6 at home against the Braves, including a 12-3 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena.
  • Missouri State swept the 2021-22 series, starting with a 71-69 win in Peoria on 1/5/22 behind a clutch 3-pointer at the buzzer from Isiaih Mosley. The Bears were led by Lu'Cye Patterson's 20 points, while Ja'Monta Black added 17 points, and Mosley scored 11. MSU led by as many as 18 points on two occasions before BU battled back to regain the lead twice in the final 72 seconds before Mosley's shot.
  • In the encore in Springfield on 2/23/22, Mosley scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, while the Bears shot 53.2 percent from the field in an 83-67 win. Donovan Clay also added 17 points and 7 rebounds on a 7-for-7 shooting effort. Box Score
     
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 76-54 (.585) in his fifth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 45-17 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena, 24-27 record in away games, and 7-11 mark at neutral sites. He is now 133-119 (.528) in his ninth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is also 45-28 in Valley games (23-13 at home, 22-15 away). 
  • He is 6-3 all-time against Bradley (4-1 at Great Southern Bank Arena).
  • 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. His win over Oakland on Nov. 27 in The Bahamas was his 75th victory at MSU.
  • 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."
  • 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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