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Missouri State

Trey Williams

Men's Basketball Set to Take on Blue Raiders

January 16, 2026

By: MSU Athletics Communications
Game 18  - Missouri State Bears (10-7, 4-2 CUSA) at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (10-7, 4-2 CUSA)
Date and Time Saturday, January 17, 2026 | 5:00 p.m. (Central)
Location Murphy Center (11,520) | Murfreesboro, Tenn. 
Tickets Tickets | (615) 898-5261
Radio KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (Corey Riggs, Mike Keltner) | Listen Live | Bears Radio Network | Varsity Network App
Television ESPN+ (Jake Rose, Kyle Turnham) | Watch
Series Series tied 2-2 | Last Meeting: MTSU 77, MSU 73 (ot) (12/5/23) | Box Score
Live Stats StatBroadcast
Game Notes Missouri State | Middle Tennessee | 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 Thursday, Jan. 22 | 8:00 p.m. | at New Mexico State | CBS Sports Network
    
The Ten Count
  • Missouri State continues its longest conference road swing since 1984-85 on Saturday afternoon (5 p.m.) when the Bears take on Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro (ESPN+). It will mark the second of four straight Conference USA road games for MoState (4-2) which is tied for second place in CUSA with MTSU and WKU.  
  • Forward Keith Palek III (Woodbine, N.J.) has scored in double figures in 16-of-17 games this season is the only player to rank in the top 10 in Conference USA in scoring (3rd, 17.9), rebounding (9th, 7.0) and assists (9th, 3.6). On a national scale, Palek ranks 50th in FG attempts (238), which leads CUSA, 47th in FT attempts (118) and 72nd in defensive rebounds per game (5.65).
  • Saturday will mark Zaxton King's (So., Lawrence, Kan.) 50th game as a Bear. He has 434 career points, 131 rebounds and 78 assists at MSU and is averaging 3.0 assists over the last two games.
  • KenPom ranks the Bears No. 9 nationally in FTRate (47.1), a "Four Factor" metric that represents a team's ability to get to the line (=FTA/FGA). The Bears also rank 46th nationally (3rd in CUSA) in FT attempts per game (24.6) and have attempted more free throws than their opponents in 12-of-17 games.
  • Keith Palek III (Sr., Woodbine, N.J.) has logged back-to-back 20-point games, including a game-high 24 at WKU on Wednesday and 22 points in MSU's home win over FIU last Saturday. He has 8 20-point games to his credit this season and needs just 60 points to reach the 1,500-point scoring milestone. He also has  677 rebounds and 248 assists in his 105 career ball games.
  • Forward Michael Osei-Bonsu (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill.) ranks 4th in CUSA in offensive rebounding per game (3.29), which ranks 41st nationally. He averages 7.5 FT attempts per 40 minutes, which is 15th best in Division I.
  • Under Cuonzo Martin, the Bears are 59-13 (9-2 this season) when shooting a higher FG% than their opponents.
  • Thursday was Antwan Burnett's (Sr., Montgomery, Ala.) 25th birthday. He has 5 assists and 3 steals over the last two ball games -- his first two starts as a Bear -- and eclipsed 100 career assists on Wednesday at WKU.
  • Kobi Williams (Jr., St. Louis, Mo.) eclipsed 1,000 career points on Wednesday night at Western Kentucky. His 3-pointer from the left corner with 1:47 left in the first half put him at the milestone mark in his 75th career game. The Truman State transfer accounted for 772 points in 58 games in Kirksville before coming to MSU this season. He ranks 3rd in CUSA in FT percentage (.844) and 4th in CUSA in minutes per game (34:14).
  • Over the last two games, Darrion Sutton (So., St. Louis, Mo.) is averaging 7.0 points and 7.0 rebounds in just 16.5 minutes off the bench while shooting 75.0 percent (6-of-8) from the field.
Series
  • Series tied, 2-2
  • Last Meeting: MTSU 77, MSU 73 (ot) (12/5/23) | Box Score
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 283-228 (.554) 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 80-71 (.530) in his fifth season (and second stint) at Missouri State, including 60-21 at home, 15-44 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.
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