The Salukis try to build off their win at Bradley in a mid-week game against the Missouri State Bears in Springfield.
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Meeting the Bears as a team:
The Bears got off to a late start to the season because of COVID but were able to get off to a 9-1 start before running into the Drake and Loyola trains. Missouri State has been a very impressive offensive team this year. The Bears are 78th in the country in effective FG %, 23rd in the country in 2 point FG % and 56th in the country in free throw %. The Bears are also similarly impressive on defense, they're 99th in the country in effective field goal % against and 47th in the country in defensive rebounding %. The Bears have pushed the ball more than any Missouri Valley team since conference play has begun, they're #1 in the MVC in tempo.
Missouri State has struggled this year with offensive rebounding as they're 286th in the country in offensive rebounding %. They're also 243rd in the country in 3 point FG %. Since conference play has begun, the Bears are dead last in 3 point shooting in the Missouri Valley (30.4%).
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Meeting the Bears players:
The Missouri Valley Conference's leading scoring is 6'5 Sophomore Isiaih Mosley (21.4 PPG). Mosley is 33rd in the country in % of possessions run through him and 57th in the country in % of shots taken by him when he's on the court. One thing Mosley does really well is get to the free throw line, he's 47th in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes and when he gets to the line, he makes his free throws as he's 59th in the country in free throw percentage (87.9%). Aside from his scoring, Mosley has been an impressive passer this season as well. Mosley is the team leader in assists (3.5 APG) and he's 152nd in the country in assist rate. Since Missouri Valley Conference play has begun, Mosley has taken the Marcus Domask role of playing all the minutes, he leads the entire Missouri Valley in % of minutes played. Mosley is currently behind Loyola's Cameron Krutwig in 2nd place in KenPom's Missouri Valley Conference's all-KenPom team.
As dangerous as Mosley is, Missouri State also has another weapon in 6'8 Senior Gaige Prim. Prim is the Missouri Valley Conference's leading rebounder (9.1 RPG) and the Bears' leading player in steals (1.1 SPG) and blocks (1.2 BPG). Like Mosley, Prim gets a lot of possessions run through him, he's 70th in the country in % of possessions run through him when he's on the court. Also like Mosley, Prim draws a lot of fouls as he's 101st in the country in fouls drawn per 40 minutes. The Salukis' bigs are going to have their hands full on the glass as Prim is 20th in the country in offensive rebounding % and 134th in the country in defensive rebounding %. Prim is currently 3rd in KenPom's Missouri Valley Conference's all-KenPom team behind Krutwig and Mosley.
6'7 Junior JUCO transfer Keaton Hervey has been impressive this season, especially since conference play has begun. Hervey is 116th in the country in effective FG% and 88th in the country in true shooting %. Since Missouri Valley Conference play has begun, Hervey is 4th in the conference in 3 point shooting % (13-27, 48%).
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Last Season:
On February 8th, 2020, in front of a crowd of 6,528 at the Banterra Center; Marcus Domask hit a game winning shot to beat the Bears 68-66. The Salukis were led by Barret Benson who had 24 points and 7 rebounds. Gaige Prim had 16 points and 4 rebounds in the loss.
On February 29th, 2020, the Bears got revenge on the Salukis in the MVC regular season finale winning 84-59 in Springfield. The Bears led nearly the entire way and outscored the Salukis 45-28 in the 2nd half. The Salukis were led by 28 points from Lance Jones. Gaige Prim had 14 points off the bench on Senior Day for Missouri State.
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Past SIU/Missouri State meetings on YouTube:
1999:
2/10 Southwest Missouri State 72 SIU 68 (Road)
2001:
2/7 SIU 68 Southwest Missouri State 65 (Home)
2002:
3/3 SIU 84 Southwest Missouri State 63 (MVC Tournament Semifinals)
2003:
2/8 SIU 76 Southwest Missouri State 75 (Road)
3/9 SIU 64 Southwest Missouri State 55 (MVC Tournament Semifinals)
2005:
3/6 Southwest Missouri State 65 SIU 61 (MVC Tournament Semifinals)
2006:
2/7 SIU 66 Missouri State 64 (Home)
2007:
2/13 SIU 51 Missouri State 47 (Road)
2017:
1/7 SIU 75 Missouri State 67 (Road)
2019:
2/6 Missouri State 65 SIU 59 (Road)
2020:
2/8 SIU 68 Missouri State 66 (Marcus Domask Buzzer Beater) (Home)
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TV Info:
MVC TV Network* = Fox Sports Midwest%, NBC Sports Chicago!, Fox Sports Kansas City, Fox Sports Indiana Plus&, Fox Sports Go, and ESPN3 (subject to blackout in MVC's four-state footprint of MO, IL, IA, and IN)
%--The telecast will also be available through the FOX Sports GO app and FOXSportsGo.com plus AT&T U-verse 1748 and DirecTV 671.
&--Cleared live on FOX Sports Plus channels in Indiana (Evansville, Terre Haute and Indianapolis).
!--Due to Chicago Bulls basketball, the game will clear NBC Sports Chicago Plus with clearances including Comcast/Xfinity ch. 201 in the Chicago area/South Bend, Ind., & on Comcast/Xfinity ch. 285 in the Peoria, Springfield, Rockford and Champaign, Ill., markets, along with being made available in DIRECTV, DISH Network, AT&T U-verse, RCN, and WOW! homes among others.
#--The FOX Sports Midwest-Indiana-Kansas City footprint states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska will be blacked out on ESPN3, but ESPN3 will be permitted to clear the telecast on immediate tape-delay.
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Links:
Bryan Mullins MVC Teleconference 2/9
Bryan Mullins pregame with Mike Reis
Rodney Watson Interview with Missouri State's Isiaih Mosley
Mike Reis Interview with Missouri State Head Coach Dana Ford
Filewich held his own against Childs; let's see if he can do the same against Prim who is a beast.
Bryan Mullins pregame with Mike Reis:
Will be tough win but no out of the realm of possibilities.
Will be tough win but no out of the realm of possibilities.
As this season has already been deemed a learning one at this point, I don't have any expectations. I honestly would be shocked if they could keep this game within 10pts. Prim is a beast and the Salukis don't, currently, have anyone to match up with that.
On a side note, he has already communicated that he WILL be returning next season. I think you'll see similar situations across the Valley. It's incredibly premature, and anything can happen, but as things stand now, it will be very difficult to break into the top 5 (in the MVC) next season as well. Future is still bright, just not immediate.
Only way we win is if MSU forgets they can score inside at will and they launch a bunch of threes. With Ford as the coach that is very possible
Ticky tack fouls on Filewich
Yeah 2 fouls on Filewich pretty quickly. D'Avanzo looking good off the bench so far but gonna need a lot of him and Sekou with Prim.
SIU 12
Missouri St 12
7:52 1st
Think there's been 8 combined points in the last 10 minutes of this game. Rough watch but probably favors SIU.
D’Avanzo... yikes.
This game is real sloppy. We’re lucky they’re missing easy buckets just as much as us.
Lance Jones is struggling on the offensive end. 0-7 and has missed some bunnies.
Missouri St 24
SIU 21
Halftime
D'Avanzo the leading scorer with 9. Ben Harvey leading rebounder with 5.
Hot mess of a first half, both ways. Really, really poor play.
Chance to steal one, maybe, but the fellas need to wake up.
