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Missouri State

Ford vs. Evansville

Bears Set for Music City Matchup with Belmont

January 05, 2023

By: MSU Athletics Communications
Game 16 - Missouri State Bears (8-7, 4-1 MVC) at  Belmont Bruins (10-6, 3-2 MVC)
Date and Time Saturday, Jan. 7, 2023 | 4:00 p.m. (Central)
Location Curb Event Center (5,000) | Nashville, Tenn.
Tickets BelmontBruins.com | (615) 460-2255
Radio KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (Don West, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live | Varsity Network
Television ESPN+ (Steve Layman, Greg Sage, Noah Syverson) | Watch
Series First Meeting
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Belmont | MVC Weekly Release | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next MSU travels to Illinois State on Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7:00 p.m. | Tickets

The Ten Count
  • After sweeping a two-game Valley home stand vs. Drake and Evansville, the Missouri State Bears return to the road Saturday (4 p.m./ ESPN+) for their first-ever matchup against MVC newcomer Belmont. The Bruins are 5-1 at home this season and are coming off a 77-71 road win at UIC on Wednesday. 
  • MSU forward Dalen Ridgnal (Sr., Kansas City, Mo.) was named the Missouri Valley Conference Newcomer of the Week on Monday after leading the Bears to wins over MVC preseason favorite Drake and a rare road win at UNI. For the week, Ridgnal averaged 16.0 points and 7.5 rebounds, both team highs, while squaring up 7-of-14 threes (.500) and 11-of-19 (.579) field goals overall. He posted game- and career-highs 24 points and 11 rebounds at UNI (Dec. 28) for his first career double-double. He narrowly missed another double-double in Wednesday's win over Evansville after logging 14 points and 9 rebounds.
  • Both Missouri State and Belmont finished as runners-up in their respective conferences last season, while both clubs earned berths in the NIT (Bears vs. Oklahoma; and Belmont vs. Vanderbilt).
  • Coach Dana Ford's squad is coming off season-high 46 points in the paint vs. Evansville on Wednesday, eclipsing 42 close-range points in its win at UIC (11/30/22). 
  • The Bears rank 36th nationally -- and tops in the MVC -- in bench points per game (27.87). Missouri State's 55 bench points at Oral Roberts on Dec. 16 matched the most points ever by MSU's reserves (also done 3/7/20 vs. Valpo) and set a club record for most bench points in a road game. MSU also ranks 6th nationally in bench minutes (43.5 pct.) per game with Bear reserves scoring at least 20 points in 12-of-15 games this season and combining for 30 points on 6 occasions.
  • Senior Donovan Clay (G/F, Alton, Ill.) has posted an assist in 16 straight games and has led MSU in assists 10 times this season (6 games in a row). The Belmont game will be Clay's 50th as a Bear, averaging 8.4 points and 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 assists in two seasons at MSU.
  • Chance Moore (So., Brookhaven, Ga.) leads all Missouri State players in road-game scoring this season, averaging 13.6 points in true road contests with a .510 FG percentage (25-of-49) and a .480 3-point percentage (12-of-25). He is coming off a team-high 19-point outing vs. Evansville on Wednesday, 
  • MSU ranks 29th nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 61.3 points per game this season. The Bears have also surrendered 57.4 ppg in league play, which is 3rd in the MVC behind Bradley (53.6) and Southern Illinois (55.6).
  • Missouri State's current 4-game win streak is the team's longest of the season and matches the club's longest from last season (twice). The last time MSU reeled off 5 wins in a row was during a 7-game win streak from 2/6/21 to 2/28/21.  
  • Missouri State's 23 conference road wins under fifth-year head coach Dana Ford are the most by any Valley school in that span (Drake 20). Over the last three seasons, Ford's Bears are 15-5 on the Valley road, also a league-best.
  • The Bears are 41-5 under coach Dana Ford when they shoot 50 percent or better from the field (4-1 this season).
  • Kendle Moore (So., Danville, Ill.) is 1 FG shy of 400 for his career (135 games), while needing 7 threes for 200.  
  • Belmont ranks 10th nationally in 3-point FG percentage (.398) and 14th in 3-pointers per game (9.9), both MVC bests.
The Series
  • This is the first-ever meeting between Missouri State and Belmont in men's basketball.
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 80-58 (.580) in his fifth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 48-18 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena, 25-29 record in away games, and 7-11 mark at neutral sites. He is now 137-123 (.527) in his ninth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is also 48-29 in Valley games (25-14 at home, 23-15 away). 
  • Coach Ford is 2-6 vs. Belmont (0-4 at Curb Event Center, 2-2 at Gentry Complex).
  • 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.
  • CollegeInsider.com recently named Ford one of the dozen "Coaching Names to Remember" for the 2021-22 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
  • This year's Rebound Foundation game is vs. Murray State on Feb. 21.
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