Game 10 - Missouri State Bears (4-5) vs.  Oral Roberts Golden Eagles (5-7)
Date and Time	Tuesday, Dec. 16, 2025  | 7:02 p.m.
Location	Great Southern Bank Arena (11,000) | Springfield, Missouri
Tickets	Tickets | (417) 836-7678 | Great Southern Bank Arena Box Office
Promos & Specials	Holiday Game | Promo Calendar Visit from Santa, free cookies, Wear an ugly sweater for 20% off at the team store
Fan Info	Flip Card | Digital Program | Gates open at 5:30 p.m.
Radio	KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (John Miller, Mike Keltner)| Listen Live |  Bears Radio Network | Varsity Network App
Television	ESPN+ (Don West, Mike McClure) | Watch
Series	Missouri State leads 12-10 | Last Meeting: MSU 72, ORU 67 (12/1/24) | Box Score
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Game Notes	Missouri State | Oral Roberts | CUSA Weekly Notebook | MSU Media Guide
Follow	Facebook | Athletics Twitter | Basketball Twitter | Instagram | #WeAreMoState | #ItAllCounts
Bears Mobile App	App Store (Apple Devices) | Google Play Store (Android Devices)
Up Next	Tuesday, Dec. 23 vs. Lindenwood | 2:00 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 returns to Great Southern Bank Arena on Tuesday when the Bears entertain regional rival Oral Roberts. The Bears and Golden Eagles are meeting for the fifth straight season with MoState winning 3 of the last 4 overall and 8-of-10 all-time at home against ORU. Tuesday's game is also MSU's annual Holiday Game with a visit from Santa and free cookies on the concourse. Wear your favorite ugly sweater for 20% off at the team store.
• The Bears are 4-2 at Great Southern Bank Arena this season.
• KenPom ranks the Bears No. 26 in Division I in FTRate (46.2), a "Four Factor" metric that represents a team's ability to get to the line (=FTA/FGA). MSU is shooting .684 at the foul line which ranks 5th in Conference USA. The Bears have recorded more free throw attempts than their opponents in 8-of-9 games. 
• Missouri State forward Keith Palek III (Woodbine, N.J.) is the only player in Conference USA to rank in the top 10 in the league in scoring (17.4), rebounding (7.2) and assists (3.7) per game. The transfer from California (PA) ranks 6th in CUSA in scoring, 7th in rebounding and 7th in assists, while securing double-figure scoring efforts in 8-of-9 contests to date. He also ranks 4th in CUSA (48th nationally) in defensive rebounds per game (6.00). 
• Zaxton King (So., Lawrence, Kan.) has played in 89.2 percent of possible minutes this season, a durability standard that ranks 19th nationally. He also ranks 3rd in CUSA in minutes per game (32.9). He is involved in turnovers on just 6.7 percent of MSU's possessions, which ranks 61st in Division I.
• Missouri State is getting 24.8 percent of its points this season from the free throw line, which ranks 30th in the Division I ranks. Conversely, the Bears are committing just 16.1 fouls per contest, which is 74th-best in DI.
• Darrion Sutton (So., St. Charles, Mo.) ranks 15th in CUSA in offensive rebounds per game (2.2). He has been the Bears' top  bench scorer the last 5 straight games, including 12 points at Xavier last Friday. 
• Senior Antwan Burnett (F, Montgomery, Ala.) turned 25 on Monday, Dec. 15.
• Bears head coach Cuonzo Martin is approaching his 75th win at Missouri State. In two stints with the Bears, Martin's teams are a combined 74-69 (.519) at MSU. He is 4-0 all-time against Oral Roberts.
• Michael Osei-Bonsu's( Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill.) ranks 1st in CUSA in FG% (.684), 2nd in offensive rebounding (3.43), 6th in steals (1.7) and 8th in rebounding (7.1). He ranks 34th nationally in offensive rebounding and draws 8.8 fouls per 40 minutes, which ranks 6th in DI. He has missed the past two games with a minor knee injury. 
• Keith Palek's 23-point, 11-rebound, 5-assist effort against Xavier (12/12/25) made him the first Bear since Gaige Prim (2/17/20 at Southern Illinois) to reach those milestones in a game. 
• MoState is 4th in CUSA in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.31), averaging 14.9 assists and 11.3 turnovers per game.

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 has a 277-226 (.551) career record in his 16th seasons as a Division I head coach with experience at MSU, Tennessee, California and Missouri. His teams have made 9 postseason appearances in that span, including 4 trips to the NCAA Tournament, 4 appearances in the NIT, and a CIT title with the Bears in 2010. 
• Coach Martin is 74-69 (.517) in his fifth season (and second stint) at Missouri State, including 54-21 at home, 14-40 on the road and 5-6 at neutral sites.
• Martin also  boasts 59 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 its 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.
• Martin's return to MoState in 2024-25 featured a roster packed with 15 newcomers for the Bears' final season in the Missouri Valley. MSU's 9-23 overall record was not a fair representation of the club's season performance which included 14 single-digit losses -- which was tied for the fourth-most in the nation.