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Keith Palek - 3235

Missouri State Men Look to Rebound Saturday at FIU

February 19, 2026

By: MSU Athletics Communications
Game 27 - Missouri State (13-13, 7-8 CUSA) vs. FIU Panthers (12-14, 5-10 CUSA)
Date and Time Saturday, Feb. 21, 2026 | 2:00 p.m. (Central)
Location Ocean Bank Convocation Center (5,000) | Miami, Fla.
Tickets Tickets | (305) 348-4263
Radio KWTO (FM 93.3 / AM 560) (Corey Riggs, Mike Keltner) | Listen Live | 
Bears Radio Network | Varsity Network App
Television ESPN+ (Steve Goldstein, George Richards) | Watch
Series Missouri State leads 1-0 | Last Meeting: MSU 79, FIU 71 (1/10/26) | Box Score | Highlights
Live Stats StatBroadcast
Game Notes Missouri State | FIU | CUSA 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, Feb. 26 | at LA Tech | 6:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 28 | at Sam Houston | 4:30 p.m. 

The Ten Count
  • Missouri State looks to get back on track this weekend when the Bears travel to FIU for a Saturday showdown against the Panthers (2 p.m., CT). The contest begins a three-game road stretch for the maroon club before the Bears end the regular season with two home games in early March. The Bears defeated FIU, 79-71, in Springfield on Jan. 10 with Keith Palek III scoring 22 points, and Darrion Sutton snagging 11 rebounds for the home club.  
  • Trey Williams Jr. (Fr., Centralia, Ill.) is tied for 16th on MSU's freshman scoring list with 222 points (8.5 ppg), while his 46 three-pointers is 5th on MSU's freshman chart. He is 62 points from breaking into Missouri State's freshman scoring top 10 and is coming off a career-highs 19 points and 5 triples vs. Kennesaw State on Wednesday.
  • Missouri State's freshman combo of Trey Williams Jr. and Melakhi Cunningham (Fr., Gary, Ind.) combined for 30 points against Kennesaw State on Wednesday, posting career highs with 19 and 11 points, respectively. The scoring surge was a season high for the Bears' freshman class.
  • During Missouri State's four-game losing streak, the Bears are +2.8 in rebounding and +1.0 in turnover margin. However, the maroon squad is shooting just .412 from the field (101-245) in that span to their opponents .493 (111-225). MSU has lost 6 games this year by single digits, including all 4 games in the club's current skid (-4.3).
  • Forward Keith Palek III (Woodbine, N.J.) has scored in double figures in 24-of-26 games this season. He ranks 3rd in CUSA in scoring (17.96), tied for 5th in assists (3.69) and 11th in rebounding (6.77). He needs 31 points to give him 300 in conference play -- a feat not reached by a Bear since Isaiah Mosley (377) and Gaige Prime (324) both did so in 2021-22. His 18.0 scoring average is the club's third-best over the last quarter century.
  • Michael Osei-Bonsu (Sr., Bolingbrook, Ill.) needs 10 points to reach 700 for his MSU career (55 games) and would become the 82nd Bear to reach that scoring milestone. He is closing in on No. 85 Zack Townsend (691), No. 84 Obediah Church (692), No. 83 Tulio DaSilva (693) and No. 82 Mert Bancroft (697) on the career list. 
  • With 198 threes on the season, the Bears are on the verge of eclipsing 200 triples for the 5th straight season and 9th time in 10 years. The most 3-pointers ever by a Cuonzo Martin-coached Bears team is 252 in 2009-10.
  • Missouri State is 8-3 in day games this season.
  • Osei-Bonsu ranks 1st in Conference USA (34th nationally) in FG percentage (.583) and 1st in offensive rebounding (3.26) which is 31st in DI. He has scored in double figures 10 straight games (17.1 ppg) with five 20-point games and 7.4 total rebounds per game in that span. 
  • KenPom ranks the Bears No. 8 nationally in FTRate (45.3), a "Four Factor" metric that represents a team's ability to get to the line (=FTA/FGA). MSU also ranks 31st nationally (3rd in CUSA) in FT attempts per game (24.7).

Series
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 286-234 (.550) 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 83-77 (.519) in his fifth season (and second stint) at Missouri State, including 61-25 at home, 17-46 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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