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Missouri State

Mosley vs UNI

Bears' Home Stretch Starts Sunday with Key Game at UNI

February 18, 2022

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 29 - Missouri State Bears (20-8, 11-4 MVC) vs. Northern Iowa Panthers (15-10, 11-4 MVC)
Date and Time Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022 |  1:00 p.m. (Central)
Location McLeod Center (6,500) | Cedar Falls, Iowa
Tickets Tickets | (319) 273-4849
Radio KWTO (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television ESPNU (Clay Matvick, Kevin Lehman) | Watch
Series Missouri State leads, 45-38 | Last Meeting: UNI 85, MSU 84 (1/8/22) | Stats
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State  | Northern Iowa |  MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next Wednesday, Feb. 23 vs. Bradley | 7 p.m. | JQH Arena | Senior Night | Tickets
"Clear Your Account" Student Giveaway

The Ten Count
  • After reeling off its third straight win on Tuesday, Missouri State returns to the road this weekend when the Bears square off with fellow Valley front runner Northern Iowa on Sunday at 1 p.m. (ESPNU). MSU is gunning for a season split with the Panthers for the second year in a row, a feat that would give the Bears their 12th MVC victory of the campaign.
  • Missouri State picked up its 20th win of the season in Tuesday's win over Indiana State, making the Bears the first team in the MVC to reach that milestone this season. It is coach Dana Ford's first 20-win campaign with the Bears and the second of his career. It also mark's the Missouri State program's 30th all-time 20-win effort (first since 2013-14) and its 17th of the Division I era (since 1982-83). All 16 previous 20-win Bears teams of their DI era have gone on to play in a postseason tournament -- 6 NCAA, 8 NIT, 2 CIT.
  • Bears head coach Dana Ford is 13-4 in his last 17 Valley road games. MSU's fourth-year sideline boss guided the Bears to a 7-2 ledger on the Valley Road last season, matching a program high-water mark, while picking up that trend this winter with a 5-2 start away from home in league contests.
  • Over the last 6 games, Gaige Prim (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) is averaging a team-best 22.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, while helping the Bears roll to a 5-1 record in that stretch. Prim has also converted 59.5 percent of his field goals (47-for-79) and 75.0 percent of his free throws (38-of-49) in that stretch with 1.8 blocks per game. He is coming off his 10th double-double of the season in Tuesday's win over Indiana State after he racked up 32 points and 11 rebounds, while splashing home 18-of-21 free throws -- just one FT shy of a school record and one point shy of a career high. Prim has scored in double figures in 12 straight games and has scored 20 or more points 5 times in the last 6 contests.
  • Under coach Dana Ford, the Bears have now reeled off 4 straight Valley seasons with a .500 record or better. MSU last did so in a six-year stretch from 2001-02 to 2006-07, some 15 years ago. The Bears have reached 10 or more Valley wins in three of Ford's four seasons in Springfield.
  • Isiaih Mosley (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) has racked up 31 games of 20 or more points in his career, including 16 this season. He has also accounted for ten 20-point halves in his career, most recently with a 24-point second-half at Loyola (Feb. 6). Mosley also has had a 22-point half at McLeod Center last season (Dec. 27) and a 27-point half against the Panthers earlier this season (Jan. 8) in Springfield as part of his record-setting 43-point scoring performance.
  • The Bears have out-rebounded 5 of their last 6 opponents with a +7.33 rebound margin and 5-1 record in that stretch.
  • The Bears rank 5th in the NCAA in FT percentage (.798), 11th in 3-point FG percentage (.385) and 18th in FG percentage (.482), while posting 77.3 points per game (44th). The Bears and Davidson are the only teams to rank in the top 20 nationally in all three shooting categories. Missouri State also ranks 25th in turnovers per game (10.6), which leads the MVC.
  • Jaylen Minnett (Sr., Terre Haute, Ind.) has played a huge role in MSU's current 3-game winning streak, averaging 15.7 points and 4.3 threes per contest on 13-of-29 (.448) from long range in that span.
  • Ja'Monta Black (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) is averaging 11.2 points per game in his career against UNI (5 games), while converting 14-of-30 (.467) from 3-point range against the Panthers. Black is averaging 9.8 ppg on the road this season.
  • Lu'Cye Patterson (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) has scored in double figures 3 times in the last 4 games (10.5 ppg).
  • Only four Division I players in the last 30 seasons have shot 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent at the foul line, while averaging 15.0 points per game. Isiaih Mosley (currently .502-.431-.926-20.0) would be the fifth player since 1992-93 to do so.
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 69-48 (.590) in his fourth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 42-16 ledger at JQH Arena, 22-24 record in away games, and 5-8 mark at neutral sites. He is now 126-113 (.527) in his eighth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is 42-27 in Valley games (22-13 at home, 20-14 away) and is 1-6 all-time against Northern Iowa.
  • CollegeInsider.com recently named Ford one of the dozen "Coaching Names to Remember" for the 2021-22 season.
  • 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
  • The Bears are 45-38 all-time against Northern Iowa in a series that dates back to 1983 when the clubs were charter members of the Mid-Continent Conference. MSU is 20-20 all-time in Cedar Falls (4-12 at McLeod), 23-16 at home, and 2-2 at neutral sites against the Panthers.
  • The teams split last year (all in Cedar Falls) as the Bears broke a five-game losing streak to UNI in the MVC opener.
  • Earlier this year at JQH Arena (Jan. 8), Isiaih Mosley fired in a career-high 43 points, including 27 in the second half, but it was not quite enough as the homestanding Bears fell, 85-84. Mosley's output was the third-highest scoring total in MSU history and most in the club's DI era. He was 16-for-24 from the field, with 5 threes, 9 rebounds and 4 assists. UNI was led by A.J. Green's 33 points, while Noah Carter added 16.
  • There were nine ties and 10 lead changes in the contest, and the Bears held UNI without a field goal for more than three-and-a-half minutes late in the game, as the visitors scored solely on free throws from the 6:50 mark until Trae Berhow's running layup tied the game, 72-72, with just over three minutes remaining. Green and Mosley then did the heavy lifting for their respective teams with Green putting UNI up 76-73 on a mid-range jumper with just under two minutes to go, before Mosley sank his fourth 3-pointer of the game to knot things up, 76-76, with 1:34 to play. UNI then got a video review to overturn an MSU rebound, and Green made 3 FTs with just under a minute remaining to decide the game.
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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