Game 23 - Missouri State Bears (7-15, 0-11 MVC) vs.  Murray State Racers (11-11, 5-6 MVC)
Date and Time	Saturday, February 1, 2025 | 2:02 p.m. (Central)
Location	Great Southern Bank Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Missouri
Tickets	Tickets | (417) 836-7678 | Great Southern Bank Arena Box Office
Promos & Specials	Cub Crawl Baby Race | Promo Calendar
Fan Info	Digital Program | Gates Open at 1:00 p.m.
Radio	KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (Art Hains, Corey Riggs, Mike Keltner) | MSU Radio Network | Listen Live | The Varsity Network App
Television	ESPN+ (Casey Roehl, Jay Spoonhour) | Watch
Series	Murray State leads 6-5 | Last Meeting:  MSU 60, MUR 35 (3/7/24) | Box Score
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	Missouri State | Murray State | MVC Weekly Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow	Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #GoBears | #ItAllCounts
Bears Mobile App	App Store (Apple Devices) | Google Play Store (Android Devices)
Up Next	Next Home Game: Wednesday, Feb. 5 vs. Northern Iowa, 6:00 p.m. | Tickets

Accessibility
Missouri State University is committed to providing an accessible and supportive environment for those with disabilities. To request reasonable disability accommodations, contact the Deputy Compliance Officer at (417) 836-6755 or DeputyComplianceOfficer@MissouriState.edu. 

The Ten Count

• Missouri State kicks off a two-game home swing on Saturday when the Bears host Murray State at 2 p.m., at Great Southern Bank Arena. The proud programs have met 11 times -- five times in the postseason -- including a 73-64 Bears win in the 1952 NAIA national championship game in Kansas City. This will be the only regular-season meeting between the squads.
• Chase Martin (Sr., Columbia, Mo.) is coming off an 11-point outing at Indiana State for his first double-figure scoring game in Valley play. Martin's next appearance will be the 50th of his career (151 points, 49 rebounds). 
• Of MSU's 11 Valley losses, 7 have been by 10 points or less including 2 in OT and 2 others by 3 points or less.
• The Bears were whistled for 24 personal fouls at Indiana State on Wednesday, the team's most in conference play this season and most since the Washington State game (Dec. 14).
• MoState ranks 2nd in the MVC in offensive rebounds per game (10.95), just behind league-leader UIC (11.19).
• Michael Osei-Bonsu (Jr., Bolingbrook, Ill.) leads the MVC in total rebounds (161) and offensive rebounds per game (3.14) and enters the weekend No. 2 in The Valley in total rebounds per game (7.3) and double-doubles (4). He is coming off a 14-point outing at Indiana State -- his 14th double-figure scoring game of the campaign.
• Zaxton King's 41 three-pointers this season ties him for 6th all-time among Missouri State freshman shooters, while his 214 points ranks 16th all-time among MSU freshmen.
• Jalen Hampton (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) needs 14 points for 500 in his career (54 games). He ranks 5th in the MVC in double-doubles (3), 6th in offensive rebounds per game (2.10), 8th in total rebounds per game (6.4) and 8th in defensive rebounds per contest (4.29).
• At 15.2 points per game, Dez White is on pace to rank among MSU's top 10 per-game scorers over the last 25 seasons. He is 4 points away from 600 for his career (56 games). He ranks 3rd in the MVC in 3-point percentage (.392), 3rd in 3-pointers per game (2.76), 4th in scoring (15.2), and 4th in FT percentage (.859).
• Missouri State has forced 13.27 turnovers per game which ranks 2nd in the MVC. The Bears have recorded 10 or more takeaways in 19-of-22 games this winter.
• Vincent Brady II (Jr., Indianapolis, Ind.) needs 111 points to reach 1,000 for his career (83 games).
• Missouri State junior Sam Murray II (Gulfport, Miss.) spent two seasons at Murray State, racking up 63 points, 70 rebounds and 16 blocked shots in 40 games for the Racers from 2022-24.
• Over the last 4 games, the Bears are shooting .497 (95-of-191) from the field and .402 (35-for-87) from three.
• Murray State ranks 25th nationally and 1st in the MVC in free throw attempts per game (23.6).
   

Coach Cuonzo Martin

• After an extensive national search, Missouri State University announced Cuonzo Martin as its men's basketball head coach on March 27, 2024. The man who orchestrated Missouri State's only MVC regular-season championship run during his first tenure in Springfield originally coached at Missouri State from 2008 to 2011.
• Martin begins his second tenure at MoState with a 271-213 (.560) career record in 15 seasons as a Division I head coach with experience at MSU, Tennessee, California and Missouri. His teams have made nine postseason appearances in that span, including four trips to the NCAA Tournament, four appearances in the NIT, and a CIT title with the Bears in 2010. 
• Coach Martin is also 68-56 (.548) in his fourth season (and second stint) at Missouri State University. Martin is 1-0 vs. Murray State in his career (2011 NIT).
• Martin also boasts 56 college graduates during his career with stints at MoState, Tennessee (2011-14), California (2014-17) and Missouri (2017-22).
• A native of East St. Louis, Ill., Martin was a star player at Purdue from 1991-95 for coach Gene Keady and then played four years professionally. He was on the coaching staff at Purdue for eight years under Keady and Matt Painter before accepting his first head coaching position at MSU on March 26, 2008.
• In Martin's first stint in Springfield (2008-11), he was named Missouri State's 16th head coach in time for the program's 100th anniversary season and its inaugural campaign at Great Southern Bank Arena. In his second season (2009-10), Martin guided MoState to a 24-12 overall ledger, a 19-2 home record, and an impressive run to the CIT Postseason Tournament title.
• His third season at MSU (2010-11) was one of the program's most memorable, as the Bears finished 26-9 overall on the way to the program's first-ever MVC regular-season title with a 15-3 league record. The Bears fell to Indiana State in the finals of the MVC Tournament in St. Louis and capped an unforgettable campaign by advancing to the second round of the NIT. Martin was named 2011 MVC Coach of the Year and recipient of the Ben Jobe Award as the nation's top minority head coach. Over Martin's last two years at MoState, the Bears were 35-3 at home and did not lose a non-conference home game.

The Series

• The Bears and Racers have played 11 times with the Racers leading the series, 6-5, including five postseason games. 
• The clubs met twice in the NAIA national playoffs with Murray State winning an opening-round game in 1943, and the Bears beating the Racers in the 1952 national championship game. Also in the postseason, MoState and coach Cuonzo Martin defeated Murray, 89-76 in the first round of the NIT (3/15/11). The Racers avenged the loss in the 2014 CIT second round, 66-63, in Springfield (3/19/14).  
• Last season in Springfield (1/20/24), Murray State blitzed the Bears, 77-53, with 19 points from JaCobi Wood, 18 from Quincy Anderson and 13 from Rob Perry to win their fourth in a row. The visitors shot 54 percent in the second half and 51 percent for the game while out-rebounding the Bears by a 39-35 margin. Missouri State got a team-high 17 points from Alston Mason who was 3-of-5 from 3-point range, while Chance Moore added a dozen points to go with his 5 rebounds. The Bears jumped out to an 8-2 lead before a 30-3 Racers' run over a nine-minute stretch sealed it.
• The clubs met twice more in 2024-25 with Murray State winning 82-72, at Racer Arena (2/14/24) after N.J. Benson's free throw with 7:34 left in the game drew the Bears within three. But the hot-shooting Racers ended the game on a 13-6 run to put the Bears away. Matthew Lee led MoState with 22 points and 7 assists, while Nick Ellington's led the Racers with 23 points. The clubs met again in St. Louis in the 8 vs. 9 opening-round game at Enterprise Center (3/7/24). Missouri State got 22 points from Alston Mason and a double-double from Benson to turn back the Racers, 60-35, holding Murray to 21.1 percent from the field and a tournament record-low total of 35 points. Chance Moore also played a pivotal role for the Bears, scoring 12 points with a pair of triples. The Bears led wire-to-wire and used a 17-0 run over a key six-minute stretch in the second half to put it on ice. | Box Score