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Basketball Bears Return to the Road for Lone Matchup with Redbirds

January 09, 2023

By: MSU Athletics Communications
Game 17 - Missouri State Bears (8-8, 4-2 MVC) at  Illinois State Redbirds (7-10, 2-4 MVC)
Date and Time Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2023 | 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Location CEFCU Arena (9,600) | Normal, Illinois
Tickets GoRedbirds.com | (309) 438-8000
Radio KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (Corey Riggs, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live | Varsity Network
Television ESPN+ (TBA) | Watch
Series Illinois State leads series, 45-35 | Last Meeting: MSU 88, ILST 63, 1/19/22 | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Illinois State | MVC Weekly Release | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
Up Next MSU returns home on Sunday, Jan. 15 vs. Indiana State (2 p.m.) | Tickets

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State wraps up a two-game Valley road swing Wednesday when the Bears square off with Illinois State in Normal, Ill. (7 p.m./ESPN+). MoState, which owns a league-best 15-6 MVC road record over the last three seasons, is 2-1 on The Valley road this season. It will be the only meeting between the Bears and Redbirds this season.
  • Bears head coach Dana Ford is a 2006 graduate of Illinois State where he played for coaches Tom Richardson and Porter Moser from 2002-06 as a regular starter, leading the Redbirds in steals his senior year. Ford is 6-3 in his career against Illinois State, including a 6-2 ledger as Missouri State's head coach.
  • The Bears have won 5 of the last 6 meetings with Redbirds with season sweeps of Illinois State in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Illinois State, which leads the all-time series vs. MSU, 45-35, is one of just two traditional MVC teams with winning series records against the Bears, along with SIU.
  • The Bears rank 39th nationally -- and tops in the MVC -- in bench points per game (27.31). 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 (43.4 pct.) per game with Bear reserves scoring at least 20 points in 12-of-16 games this season and combining for 30 points on 6 occasions.
  • Senior Donovan Clay (G/F, Alton, Ill.) has posted an assist in 17 straight games and has led MSU in assists 10 times this season. Since his return to the starting lineup on Jan. 1, Clay is averaging 17.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game while shooting 53.5 percent from the field (23-of-43).
  • Chance Moore (So., Brookhaven, Ga.) leads all Missouri State players in road-game scoring this season, averaging 13.3 points in true road contests with a .458 FG percentage (27-of-59) and a .406 3-point percentage (13-of-32). He averaged 15.5 points per game last week, second only to Clay's 18.5 points per game.
  • MSU ranks 33rd nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 62.1 points per game this season. 
  • Over the last 5 games, Jonathan Mogbo (Jr., West Palm Beach, Fla.) is averaging 10.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.2 steals, and 2.6 assists per game, while leading the Bears to a 4-1 ledger in that span. His 1.86 steals per game ranks 2nd in the MVC this season.
  • All 13 Missouri State players who have seen the floor this season have started at least one game with 11 different players scoring in double figures. The Bears are one of 41 teams in the nation with at least 11 players who have scored 10 or more points in a game in 2022-23. 
  • The Bears have matched or out-rebounded 5 of their last 6 opponents, posting a +6.6 rebound margin since Dec. 16.
  • Kendle Moore (So., Danville, Ill.) needs 6 threes for 200 in his career (136 games). He also needs 40 points to reach the 1,200-point milestone in his collegiate career, which began at Colorado State..  
  • The Bears are 13 points away from hitting the 10,000-point milestone under fifth-year head coach Dana Ford. Under Ford, the Bears are averaging 71.8 points in his 139 games at Missouri State. During MSU's Division I era, the only head coach to average more points per game than Ford is Steve Alford, who notched 74.5 points per game from 1995-99.
The Series
  • The series between the Bears and Redbirds dates back to the 1967 NCAA Division II national semifinals - a 93-76 win by the Bears en route to their runner-up showing. Illinois State leads the all-time series, 45-35. Against the Redbirds, MSU is 9-28 in Normal, 23-13 in Springfield (8-5 at Great Southern Bank Arena) and 3-4 at neutral sites.. 
  • The teams split last season with ISU winning an early-December game in Normal before MSU claimed a one-sided win in Springfield in mid-January.
  • In Normal (12/1/21), Gaige Prim scored 27 points and snagged 12 rebounds as MSU State dropped a 79-74 decision in overtime in the MVC opener. Prim finished 13-for-15 from the field en route to the 22nd double-double of his career. The Bears led 62-53 with 4:14 left in regulation after Jaylen Minnett buried his third 3-pointer of the ball game. But a quick-striking Redbirds squad closed the gap to 62-61 just two minutes later with a layup from Ryan Schmitt and back-to-back threes by Kendall Lewis and Antonio Reeves. Isiaih Mosley scored a a layup on MSU's next trip to give the Bears a three-point cushion, but Illinois State knocked down another triple by Josiah Strong, with 38 seconds remaining to tie the game and force overtime.
  • In the rematch in Springfield (1/19/22), Prim secured his 25th career double-double, and Mosley exploded for 20 points in the second half -- and 24 overall -- to lift MSU to an 88-63 win. Prim added 17 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Donovan Clay also scored 10 and secured 6 rebounds. The Bears shot 57.7 percent from the field and committed just 11 turnovers to rack up their eighth home win of the season and 10th victory in their last 12 games. Illinois State got 19 points from Mark Freeman and 10 more from Howard Fleming. MSU never trailed and led by 29  midway through the second half. ISU's Antonio Reeves, finished with a season-low 9 points on 4-of-13 shooting.  | Box Score
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 80-59 (.576) in his fifth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 48-18 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena, 25-30 record in away games, and 7-11 mark at neutral sites. He is now 137-124 (.525) in his ninth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is also 48-30 in Valley games (25-14 at home, 23-16 away). 
  • Coach Ford is 6-3 vs. Illinois State overall, including a 6-2 record as head coach at MSU (3-2 at Redbird 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.
  • 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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