- The Bears look to get back in the win column this week when they travel to Little Rock on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. (ESPN+). It will be Missouri State’s first trip to the Jack Stephens Center since 2011, but will mark the third straight season the teams have met on the hardwood.
- Bears’ super-senior Gaige Prim (F, Aurora, Colo.) starts the week ranked 35th nationally in scoring (19.0 ppg), which ranks 2nd in the Missouri Valley and 5th nationally among all players 6-foot-9 or taller. Prim has four double-doubles in 8 games this season and four 20-point games.
- The Bears have shot 71-percent or better from the free throw line in all 8 games this season and currently lead the Missouri Valley Conference — and rank 19th nationally — in free throw percentage (.793).
- Jaylen Minnett (Sr., Terre Haute, Ind.) has knocked down multiple 3-pointers in all 6 games he has played at Missouri State, firing at a 50-percent (23-for-46) clip from beyond the arc this season, which leads the MVC and ranks 14th nationally. His 3.83 triples per game also leads The Valley and ranks 10th nationally. The graduate transfer from IUPUI has now accumulated 308 career threes (117 games) with at least one triple in 20 consecutive ball games.
- Lu’Cye Patterson (So., Minneapolis, Minn.) is coming off the first two double-figure scoring games of his career with 10 points at Illinois State on Dec. 1, before reeling off 16 points on 8-of-10 shooting vs. No. 12 BYU on Saturday. For the week, Patterson was 12-for-17 (.706) from the field with 6 rebounds and 4 assists in 53 minutes off the bench.
- Missouri State ranks 33rd nationally in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom, while boasting 2 of the top 50 offensive performers in the nation. Prim (127.3) ranks 3rd in offensive efficiency behind Iowa’s Keegan Murray (141.2) and Purdue’s Zach Edley (131.6), while Isiaih Mosley (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) (104.2) ranks 46th on the national roster of more than 2,200 DI players. The Bears’ tandem represents the only Missouri Valley players in the top 50 individual rankings.
- Led by Jaylen Minnett’s 19 points, the Bears racked up 41 points off the bench vs. No. 12 BYU on Saturday which accounted for 60 percent of the team’s scoring. The last time Missouri State got at least 60 percent of its scoring from its reserves was March 7, 2020 vs. Valparaiso (in St. Louis) when the Bears got 55-of-82 points (67.1 percent) from the bench in an 89-82 semifinal loss.
- Ja’Monta Black (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) is just 4 three-pointers away from 100 career and 7 points from 400 (64 games).
- Despite getting to the line just 7 times in the last 5 games, Isiaih Mosley (Jr., Columbia, Mo.) leads the MVC and ranks 24th nationally in free throw percentage (.917) on 22-of-24 makes at the stripe. Last season, Mosley led the Valley in free throw shooting (.847) and became the first Bear to lead the conference in scoring (19.8 ppg). He also finished third in the MVC Larry Bird Player of the Year voting.
- Keaton Hervey (Sr., Cedar Park, Texas) has started the last 3 games, averaging 20.7 minutes per game in that span. Hervey is averaging 10.3 points per 40 minutes and 9.0 points per game on the road this season.
- Freshman Isaac Haney (G, Springfield, Mo.) snagged 4 steals vs. No. 12 BYU on Saturday while posting season-highs in points (6), rebounds (4) and minutes (26).
Coach Dana Ford
- Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 53-44 (.546) in his fourth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 32-14 ledger at JQH Arena, 16-22 record in away games, and 5-8 mark at neutral sites. He is now 110-109 (.502) in his eighth season as a head coach. Ford is 1-1 all-time against Little Rock.
- Ford picked up his 100th career victory on Feb. 7, 2021 at Illinois State (72-62).
- Last season, Ford was named to ESPN’s College Basketball 40 Under 40 list at No. 35 and was on the list of national finalists for both the Skip Prosser Award and Ben Jobe Award. The Bears completed the 2020-21 campaign with a 17-7 overall record and 12-6 ledger in the Missouri Valley Conference (third) before advancing to the MVC Tournament semifinals. Missouri State was 7-2 in road conference games to match a program high-water mark, while Isiaih Mosley and Gaige Prim earned All-MVC first team honors, and Demarcus Sharp earned a spot on the MVC All-Newcomer Team.
- 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, 37, earned the Ben Jobe Award in 2016 as the nation’s top Division I minority coach. 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, swaying Tennessee State 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 (Trail Blazers) and Fred Van Vleet (Raptors).
Series History
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- Missouri State leads the all-time series with Little Rock, 8-1, in a rivalry that dates back to a 1986 neutral-site win for MSU at the Hawaii Pacific Tournament (Nov. 30, 1986). The Bears are 5-1 at home against the Trojans and 2-0 in Little Rock. MSU captured seven straight wins in the series until a Nov. 5, 2019 loss in the season opener, 67-66.
- In the 2019 game, Little Rock’s Ruot Monyyong knocked down an open 20-footer with 2.3 seconds remaining to lift the Trojans to a one-point win. The game-winning two-pointer spoiled a late steal by Ja’Monta Black that gave the Bears the ball with the lead in the final 13 seconds. MSU, which led by as many as eight, was paced by Lamont West’s 12 points, while Tyrik Dixon and Josh Hall added 11 apiece. LR was led by Ben Coupet’s 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting. | Box Score
- The Bears avenged the loss last season at JQH Arena (Dec. 21, 2020) with the sophomore tandem of Isiaih Mosley and Ja’Monta Black both notching (then) career highs in an 85-77 Bears win. Black posted 26 points and was 7-of-11 from the field, all from 3-point range, to tie a JQH Arena record. Mosley matched Black’s 26 points, also going 7-of-11, with a game-high 8 rebounds and team-high 6 assists. Dana Ford‘s Bears led by as many as 14 points in the second half. LR was led by Markquis Nowell’s 18 points. | Box Score
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.
- This year’s Rebound Foundation game will be Sunday, Feb. 6 vs. Loyola.
- Pledge to assist the Rebound Challenge today! Pledge Link
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