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Missouri State

Bey-23

Basketball Bears Wrap Calendar Year at Saint Mary's

December 21, 2023

By: MSU Athletics Communications
Game 13 - Missouri State Bears (8-4) at Saint Mary's Gaels (7-5)
Date and Time Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023 | 7:00 p.m. (Central)
Location University Credit Union Pavilion (3,500) | Moraga, Calif.
Tickets SMCGaels.com | (925) 631-4689
Radio KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (Corey Riggs) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live |
The Varsity Network App
Television ESPN+ (Alex Jensen, Dave Lewis) | Watch
Series Saint Mary's leds 3-1 | Last Meeting: SMC 66, MSU 46 (12/7/22) | Box Score
Live Stats Live Stats
Game Notes Missouri State | Saint Mary's | MVC Weekly Release | MSU Media Guide
Follow Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #MSUBears | #BearsUnite
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Up Next Missouri State returns home on Wednesday, Jan. 3 (8:00 p.m.) vs. UNI | Tickets

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State wraps up the calendar year as well as its non-conference slate this Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN+) when the Bears travel to Moraga, Calif., for the third straight season to take on the Saint Mary's Gaels from the West Coast Conference. MoState is 19-12 in 2023 and in search of its first road victory of the 2023-24 campaign.
  • Sixth-year head coach Dana Ford (97-70) is closing in on 100 wins with the Bears which would make him the eighth Missouri State coach to reach the century mark in wins. 
  • Missouri State is averaging 39.0 points in the paint over the last 2 games, including 40 in last Saturday's one-point loss at Tulsa and 38 in Tuesday's home win over Lindenwood. The club's season-high for scoring in the paint is 46 vs. Abilene Christian (Nov. 20).
  • Alston Mason (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) posted 34 points in Tuesday's home win over Lindenwood, the most points by a Bear since Feb. 23, 2022 when current NBA G-Leaguer Isiaih Mosley dropped 33 points on Bradley. 
  • The Bears rank 35th nationally in rebound margin (+8.2), which is No. 1 in the Missouri Valley, and 5th nationally in defensive rebounds per game (31.37), also tops in the MVC. MoState also ranks 30th in total rebounds per game (41.50) and has not been out-rebounded since Nov. 17 (vs. Florida Gulf Coast) with a +11.1 rebound margin over the 9 games since. Under coach Dana Ford, the Bears are 76-31 when matching or out-rebounding their opponents on the glass.
  • Defensively, the Bears continue to be a dominant force, ranking 15th among all Division I teams in 3-point FG percentage defense (.270), 23rd in total FG percentage defense (.383) and 46th in blocked shots per game (4.8).  
  • Donovan Clay (Sr., Alton, Ill.) needs one more 3-pointer for 100 in his career (139 games) and 30 rebounds for 800. He also needs 1 assist for 100 at MSU (76g). He ranks 75th among active DI players in career scoring  with 1,432 points.
  • Missouri State's next dunk will be the team's 300th during the Dana Ford era. N.J. Benson (So., Mt. Vernon, Ill.) has already collected 18 dunks this season, matching the eighth-best single-season total in team history.
  • Chance Moore (Jr., Brookhaven, Ga.) is averaging 8.5 rebounds over the last 6 games -- all starts -- including a career-high 9 boards in Tuesday's win over Lindenwood.
  • N.J. Benson (So., Mt. Vernon, Ill.) is coming off his third double-double of the season (17 points, 12 rebounds) vs. Lindenwood. Benson ranks 13th nationally in total blocks (27), 25th in blocks per game (2.25) and 36th in offensive rebounds per game (3.33). He will be playing in his 40th career game and needs 4 points and 2 rebounds to reach 100 in each category this season. His 8.2 rebounds per game ranks 2nd in the Missouri Valley Conference
  • Alston Mason (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) has scored in double figures in 9-of-10 appearances this season, with an 23.3 scoring average over the last 5 contests. He also has at least 3 assists and multiple 3-pointers in 8-of-10 games. His 34-point effort vs. Lindenwood on Tuesday was the highest point output by a Bear since Isiaih Mosley's 33-point performance vs. Bradley (2/23/22). He is 4 points shy of 500 as a Bear (41 games).
  • The Bears are 8-2 this season and 87-14 under Dana Ford when they shoot a higher FG percent than their opponent.
The Series
  • Missouri State and Saint Mary's have met four previous times with SMC owning a 3-1 series lead. 
  • The Bears and Gaels first met on Nov. 25, 1989 at the Fresno State Coors Light Classic, with the Bears emerging with a 52-35 win. Chris Stange scored 16 points, and Lee Campbell snagged 13 rebounds to lead Missouri State to its best defensive effort of the season. On Dec. 23, 2011, Brad Waldow and Matthew Dellavedova scored 17 points apiece to lead Saint Mary's to a 77-61 win in the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. Caleb Patterson led MSU with 18 points on 8-of-12 shooting, while Jarmar Gulley scored 14, and Kyle Weems added 11 points and 7 rebounds. MSU led 36-35 with 18:23 left, but a 9-0 run by SMC from there decided the outcome. 
  • Two years ago in Moraga (Dec. 22, 2021), Missouri State took a three-point lead into the half, but SMC erupted for 42 points and shot 62 percent in the second half to score a 75-58 win. Isiaih Mosley scored 19 points in the opening half and finished with a team-high 21, while Donovan Clay posted 11 points and 7 rebounds. SMC got 27 points from Matthias Tass and 16 from Tommy Kuhse. With 12-and-a-half minutes to go, Mosley picked up his third foul with the game tied, 46-46, and the Gaels erupted for an 11-0 run over the next three minutes to pull away. 
  • Last year in Moraga (Dec. 7, 2022), Missouri State trailed Saint Mary's by five at the midway point, but the home-standing Gaels outscored the visitors by 15 in the second half and used a physical inside presence to gain separation down the stretch in a 66-46 road loss. SMC collected 48 points in the paint and shot 51 percent from the field while outscoring Missouri State by a 29-15 margin over the last 14 minutes. Alston Mason and Chance Moore led MSU's scoring efforts with 12 points apiece, both accounting for two 3-pointers.  | Box Score
  • See page 7 of game notes for complete series history.
Coach Dana Ford
  • Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 97-70 (.581) in his sixth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 58-20 (.744) ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena, 28-38 record in away games, and 11-12 mark at neutral sites. He is now 154-135 (.533) in his tenth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is also 57-37 (.606) in Valley games (31-16 at home, 26-21 away).  
  • Coach Ford is 0-2 vs. Saint Mary's in his career (0-2 on the road).
  • He picked up his 150th career win on Nov. 20, 2023 with the Bears' 87-69 win over Abilene Christian in the Virgin Islands and his 100th career victory on Feb. 7, 2021 with a Bears' win at Illinois State (72-62). He coached his 100th game at Missouri State on Dec. 15, 2021 vs. South Dakota State. His win over Oakland on Nov. 27, 2022 in The Bahamas was his 75th victory at MSU, while his OT victory at Drake on Jan. 18, 2023 was his 50th MVC win.
  • In 2022-23, the new-look Bears featured 14 new faces and ultimately turned the squad into Valley contenders. The Bears landed an All-MVC selection in second-teamer Donovan Clay and All-Bench Team honoree Chance Moore. Clay, who was also on the MVC All-Defensive Team, led the Bears in scoring (11.9 ppg) and assists (108) while becoming the first Bear since 2018-19 to reach the century mark in assists. Moore averaged 10.6 points per game and racked up 17 double-figure scoring games.
  • Ford's fifth season in Springfield concluded with a 12-8 conference record, making him the first sideline boss in program history to collect a dozen or more conference wins in three straight seasons. The Bears allowed just 63.2 points per game on the year, which ranked 24th nationally and was the club's best scoring defense in more than a decade. MSU also eclipsed its season record for blocked shots (140) -- a mark that had held for nearly a quarter century -- and ranked second in The Valley in rejections.
  • 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, 39, earned the Ben Jobe Award in 2016 as the nation's top Division I minority coach, a distinction he has been nominated for three times. 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 (Clippers) and Fred Van Vleet (Rockets).
  • Ford was recognized by 417 Magazine as one of its top 100 most-influential professionals in 2022 and 2023. He also serves on the NCAA Men's Basketball Rules Committee. 
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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