Bears Begin Valley Play at UIC Wednesday

The Ten Count

• Missouri State opens up its 33rd season in the Missouri Valley Conference on Wednesday when the Bears travel to the Windy City to take on UIC (7 p.m./ESPN+). It will mark the first meeting between the Bears and Flames since 2001 and the first matchup as league foes since Missouri State parted the Mid-Continent Conference in 1990. MSU is 313-261 (.545) all-time in Missouri Valley Conference games.
• In MVC openers, Missouri State is 20-12 all-time, including a 2-2 record under head coach Dana Ford.
• Missouri State is 65-11 under coach Dana Ford when the Bears shoot a higher field goal percentage than their opponent. Likewise, MoState is 39-4 under Ford when they shoot 50 percent or better from the field (2-0 this season). 
• The Bears were picked 4th in the new-look, 12-team Missouri Valley Conference this season, the league announced Oct. 19 with its preseason poll of coaches, media and communications staffs. Coach Dana Ford returns one starter — Preseason All-MVC forward Donovan Clay — from a 23-11 squad that finished as MVC runners-up and played in the NIT.  
• Five Missouri State players scored in double figures in Sunday’s win over Oakland, marking the first time since Dec. 30, 2021 (vs. Evangel). Bryan Trimble Jr. (Sr., Kansas City, Mo.) scored 14 points, while James Graham (Jr., Milwaukee, Wis.) and Kendle Moore (Sr., Danville, Ill.) added 13 points apiece. Donovan Clay (Sr., Alton, Ill.) and Alston Mason (So., Overland Park, Kan.) added 11 and 10 points, respectively in the game. MSU trailed 23-13 with 8:39 left in the first half, then went on a 38-13 over the next fourteen-and-a-half minutes to run away with the victory.
• The countdown to 1,000 career points has begun for Donovan Clay (Sr., Alton, Ill.). Clay is currently at 944 points in 103 games, including 63 games at Valparaiso. His next start will be the 100th of his career. 
• In his 115th career game, Akron transfer Bryan Trimble Jr. (Kansas City, Mo.) recorded his 200th career 3-pointer in MSU’s win over Oakland on Nov. 27 in The Bahamas. Trimble scored a team-high 14 points in the win. 
• Missouri State is coming off a season-best 19 points off turnovers in its win over Oakland on Sunday in The Bahamas. MSU forced 14 turnovers and snagged 8 steals in the contest.
• A total of 8 different Missouri State players have scored in double figures through the club’s first 6 ball games. MSU’s balanced scoring efforts have also seen 6 different players score MSU’s first points.
• In seven seasons together with UIC in the Mid-Continent Conference (1983-84 to 1989-90), the Bears opened league play against the Flames just twice (both in Chicago). The Bears fell 82-78 on 1/7/84 in coach Charlie Spoonhour’s first conference game as MSU’s head coach; and later dropped a 66-61 game on 1/13/90 in MSU’s final season in the league. 
• Missouri State is one of just 12 Division I teams that will play on the road in four different time zones during in its non-conference schedule. MSU’s trips to BYU (Mountain), Nassau (Eastern), Saint Mary’s (Pacific) and Oral Roberts (Central) will conclude a non-MVC slate that will take the Bears some 11,812 air and ground miles. 
• MSU starts the week No. 129 in the ESPN Basketball Power Index and No. 131 in KenPom. 
• In Monday’s NCAA rankings, the Bears rank 51st nationally and 1st in MVC in bench points per game (30.0)
  38th in scoring defense (60.5 ppg), which ranks 2nd in the MVC. The Bears also lead the MVC in rebounding margin (3.7).

The Series

• Missouri State leads the all-time series with UIC, 13-4. As members of the Mid-Continent Conference together from 1984 to 1990, the Bears were 9-0 at home and 4-3 in Chicago against the Flames.
• The only neutral-site game in the series is the most-recent match-up between the clubs (12/21/01) at Valley High School in Las Vegas. UIC shot an even 50-percent from the field in an 86-80 win over Barry Hinson’s Bears. Cedrick Banks scored 24 points (12-of-13 free throws), while Jordan Kardos scored 14 for UIC. The Bears tried to overcome 19 turnovers with 18 points by Terrance McGee and 14 from Mike Wallace. McGee made 4-of-5 threes, helping MSU go 10-of-19 from distance and shoot .560 overall. Daniel Novak also pumped in 12 points for MSU.

Coach Dana Ford

• Dana Ford (Illinois State, 2006) is 75-54 (.581) in his fifth season as Missouri State head coach, including a 45-17 ledger at Great Southern Bank Arena, 23-27 record in away games, and 7-11 mark at neutral sites. He is now 132-119 (.526) in his ninth season as a head coach, including four seasons at Tennessee State. Ford is also 44-28 in Valley games (23-13 at home, 21-15 away). 
• He is 0-0 all-time against UIC.
• He picked up his 100th career victory on Feb. 7, 2021 at Illinois State (72-62) and coached his 100th game at Missouri State on Dec. 15, 2021 vs. South Dakota State. His win over Oakland on Nov. 27 in The Bahamas was his 75th victory at MSU.
• CollegeInsider.com recently named Ford one of the dozen “Coaching Names to Remember” for the 2021-22 season.
• He picked up his 100th career victory on Feb. 7, 2021 at Illinois State (72-62) and coached his 100th game at Missouri State on Dec. 15, 2021 vs. South Dakota State.
• In a breakout 2021-22 campaign, Missouri State finished the season as one of the nation’s most-efficient offensive teams, ranking 2nd nationally in free throw percentage (.797), 14th in field goal percentage (.482) and 23rd in 3-point FG percentage (.374) — the only DI team to rank in the top 25 in all three. KenPom also rated the Bears 21st in effective FG percentage (54.6) and 23rd in adjusted offensive efficiency (113.2). MSU led the MVC in all of those metrics, except 3-point percentage, while also leading The Valley in scoring (77.3) and turnovers per game (10.6), which ranked 38th and 34th in the country, respectively.
• Likewise, the 2021-22 Bears finished as runners-up in the Missouri Valley Conference, racking up a 23-11 overall record and 13-5 record in the league. The Bears’ season win total was the program’s most since 2011 and the 10th-best in team history. The squad advanced to the MVC Tournament semifinals for the third straight year and also represented The Valley in the NIT in Ford’s first postseason tournament showing at MoState. The Bears also set team records for 3-point field goals (283) while boasting two first-team all-conference players in the school’s all-time best scoring tandem – Gaige Prim and Isiaih Mosley — while Donovan Clay earned MVC All-Defensive Team honors, and Isaac Haney landed on the MVC All-Freshman Team. Jaylen Minnett was also named to the MVC All-Bench squad.
• For the third time in his head coaching career, Ford was a finalist for the Ben Jobe Award at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season.
• 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, 38, 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, 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).

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.
• Pledge to assist the Rebound Challenge today!  Pledge Link