Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Missouri State

Gaige Prim

Bears Set to Take on Aces in Valley Finale

February 24, 2022

By: MSU Athletics Communications
GAME 31 - Missouri State Bears (21-9, 12-5 MVC) vs. Evansville Purple Aces (6-22 (2-15 MVC)
Date and Time Saturday, Feb. 26, 2022 | 4:02 p.m. (Central)
Location Ford Center (10,000) | Evansville, Indiana
Tickets Tickets | (812) 488-2237 
Radio KWTO (101.3 FM) (Art Hains, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live
Television ESPN3 (Kyle Peach, Marcus Wilson) | (Watch)
Series Missouri State leads, 40-36 | Last Meeting: MSU 72, UE 58 (1/29/22) | Stats
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State  | Evansville |  MVC Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next MVC Tournament | St. Louis | March 3-6 | Arch Madness Central

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State wraps up the 2021-22 regular season Saturday when the Bears travel to Evansville (4 p.m. / ESPN3) for a showdown against the Purple Aces. It will mark the second straight season that MSU will finish league play at the Ford Center where the Bears have won 3 of the last 4 meetings between the squads.  
  • A Bears' win on Saturday would guarantee coach Dana Ford's squad a share of second place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings, which would be a high-water mark in his four seasons at MSU. The Bears have finished second in The Valley on five previous occassions (1991, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2006) and have won the league just once (2011). 
  • The Bears have won 13 of their last 18 MVC road games with a 5-3 record on the Valley road this season and a 7-2 ledger in league road games a year ago. A win at Evansville Saturday would give MSU 6 or more conference road wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in the program's Division I era.  
  • Missouri State continues to be one of the nation's top performing offenses as the only team in the country to rank in the top 20 in all three shooting categories -- 7th in FT% (.791), 16th in FG% (.484) and 17th in 3pt. FG% (.381). KenPom also ranks MSU 19th in effective FG% (55.1) and 21st in offensive efficiency (114.4). The Bears lead the MVC and rank 44th nationally in scoring offense (77.2), while their 10.6 turnovers per game ranks 26th in the country. 
  • Gaige Prim (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) has scored in double figures in 14 straight games and has scored 20 or more points 6 times in the last 8 contests. In 5 career games against Evansville, Prim is averaging 18.8 points per game and made 38-of-61 field goals (.623) against UE and currently ranks 23rd nationally in FG% (.567) and 29th in double-doubles (10).
  • In Wednesday's win over Bradley, Lu'Cye Patterson (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) became the first Bear since Keandre Cook (vs. St. Joseph's, 11/22/19) to snag 5 steals in a game. One of the league's most-improved players this season, he has tripled his scoring average from a year ago (2.5 to 7.5) and more than doubled his assist total (27 to 68). Patterson has also improved his overall FG percentage by 21.7 percent from his freshman campaign.
  • With his 33-point effort against Bradley on Wednesday, Isiaih Mosley broke team records for points in a conference season (357), points at JQH Arena in a season (294), and scoring average at JQH Arena in a season (20.4), while tying a program record for most 30-point scoring games in a season (6). His 21.0 scoring average in league games leads all Valley players, while his 20.0 points per game overall is tied for the league lead and ranks 20th in the nation. 
  • Bears standouts Gaige Prim (Sr., Aurora, Colo.) and Isiaih Mosley (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) enter the weekend ranked 7th and 14th, respectively, in KenPom's Offensive Player Rankings, the top two in the MVC. Mosley is also 1 point away from becoming just the 7th MSU player to eclipse 600 points in a season and the first since Danny Moore (1996-97).  
  • MoState is just 11 3-pointers shy of a single-season program record. The Bears have converted 259 triples this season, which ranks 27th in the Division I ranks and trails only the 2016-17 squad's 270 treys. Likewise, the team's 8.63 threes per game is on pace to be program's best ever, out-ranking the 2020-21 club's school-record 7.50 average.
  • Ja'Monta Black (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) needs 4 three-pointers to give him 100 for his career against Valley opponents (52 games). Black also ranks 8th in program history with 151 career triples.
  • Donovan Clay (Jr., Alton, Ill.) is coming off a 17-point outing vs. Bradley, his third-best scoring effort as a Bear.
  • 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 .506-.430-.904-20.0) would be the fifth player since 1992-93 to do so.

Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 70-49 (.588) in his fourth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 43-16 ledger at JQH Arena, 22-25 record in away games, and 5-8 mark at neutral sites. He is now 127-114 (.527) in his eighth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is 43-28 in Valley games (23-13 at home, 20-15 away) and is 5-2 all-time against Evansville. 
  • 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 series between the Bears and Aces is a rich one that dates back to March 13, 1959 when Evansville beat MSU in the championship game of the Division II Tournament, 83-67, at Roberts Stadium in Evansville. 
  • MSU now leads the series, 40-36, with Missouri State posting a 23-11 record in Springfield against Evansville (9-4 at JQH Arena), an 13-23 ledger in Evansville (4-7 at Ford Center) and 4-2 mark at neutral sites. Missouri State has not swept the regular-season series since 2013-14.
  • Earlier this season (Jan. 29), Gaige Prim posted a game-high 23 points, and Donovan Clay racked up 11 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists on his birthday to help lift MSU to a 72-58 win. Evansville got 18 points from Jawaun Newton and 17 from Shamar Givance.
  • The Bears overcame a 31-percent shooting effort in the first half to lead 28-21 at the break. MoState pushed ahead by 10 on two occasions early in the second half, both on buckets by Clay, and seemed to have things under control after Mosley splashed home a 3-pointer and a layup to make it 38-29 game with 15:52 left. But the Purple Aces came out of the timeout with their best surge of the evening, reeling off 13 unanswered points over a four-minute stretch to take a 42-38 lead at the under-12. That's when Missouri State turned to Prim to save the day. He scored the Bears' next nine points to return the lead to the home side as part of a 13-0 run for the Bears in the span of less than three-and-a-half minutes. | STATS
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
Print Friendly Version

Sponsors