The Missouri State Bears continue a two-game MVC road swing on Wednesday night against Indiana State in Terre Haute (6 p.m.) in a key Valley matchup for MSU.
Series History
The Bears and Sycamores have split the regular-season series each of the last seven seasons, and Missouri State owns a 42-25 all-time series lead after earning an 81-75 overtime win over ISU on New Year's Eve.
Jarred Dixon scored four of his 19 points in overtime and Alize Johnson became the third MVC player to post 30 points and 15 rebounds in the same game to help the Bears to the win at JQH Arena on Dec. 31. MSU was just 4-of-15 from long range but held the Sycamores to just 37 percent from the field with 12 turnovers. Brenton Scott his six threes and finished with 22 points and 9 rebounds for ISU.
Scouting the Sycamores
Seventh-year head coach Greg Lansing has seven lettermen and three starters back from a 15-17 club that was 8-10 and tied with MSU for sixth in the MVC standings.
Leading the way for ISU is junior Brenton Scott who averages 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds per game with 44 treys. Senior Everett Clemons is also posting 5.7 rebounds per game for the Sycamores and firing at a .521 clip from the field with 35 steals. ISU leads The Valley with 8.8 3-pointers made per game this season.
The Ten Count
Alize Johnson (Jr., Williamsport, Pa.) leads the MVC with 10.1 rebounds per game. He has recorded 10 or more rebounds in seven straight ball games and 13 times overall this season with a league-best 10 double-doubles.
Dequon Miller (Sr., Charleston, W.Va.) has scored in double figures in five of six MVC games this season. He is averaging 13.5 points against Valley foes and shares the team lead with 11 treys in conference play. He also ranks third among all MVC players with a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio on the MVC circuit.
Missouri State's opponents have combined to make 77.1 percent of their free throws this season - the highest opponent free throw percentage among all Division I teams. The Bears are 5-1 this season when shooting a higher FT%.
This will be the 50th career appearance for MSU sophomores Obediah Church (Springfield, Ill.) and Jarred Dixon (Kansas City, Mo.). The tandem have combined for 706 points and 390 rebounds in their impressive young careers.
The Bears have not been out-rebounded in 7 games and are now 12-1 when out-rebounding their opponents.
Indiana State leads all Missouri Valley Conference squads with 8.8 3-pointers per game and 10.7 in league games.
MSU's 50-percent shooting effort at Loyola on Sunday was the club's top performance from the field in 11 games. MSU has reached the 50-percent plateau five times this season, but just once since firing at a .508 clip on Dec. 10.
The Bears are looking for their first season sweep of Indiana State since 2007-08. The clubs have split the regular-season series each of the last seven seasons. MSU's last win in Terre Haute was Jan. 7, 2012.
Austin Ruder (Jr., Nixa, Mo.) has hit a 3-pointer in 4 straight games and is MSU's active scoring leader (657 points). He now ranks 79th on the Bears' career scoring list, just 6 points behind Dorrian Williams (2012-16).
The last time a first-year MVC player led The Valley in rebounding with at least 10.0 per game was 1979-80 by Drake's Lewis Lloyd (15.0 rpg). MSU's Johnson is averaging 12.0 rebounds in league play through six games.
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