Game 30 ► Missouri State (11-18, 3-14 MVC) at Indiana State (9-20, 6-11 MVC)
February 28, 2009 ► 2:05 p.m. EST ► Terre Haute, Ind. ► Hulman Center (10,200)
Game Day Central
Series: Missouri State Leads 34-16
Streak: Missouri State Won 14 of 16
Television: WTWO (NBC)
Play-By-Play: Jason Pensky
Analyst: Jim Waugh
Radio: ESPN Radio AM 1130/1300
Play-By-Play: Brian Fritz
Analyst: Matt Renn
Internet: GoSycamores.com
Storylines
Indiana State (9-20, 6-11 MVC) will look to end the regular season on a high note on Saturday, when the Sycamores welcome in Missouri State (11-18, 9-8 MVC) on Senior Night for the final game for both squads before the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Tip off is set for 2:05 p.m. on Nellie & John Wooden Court at Hulman Center, with the game being televised live on WTWO.
The Sycamores had a five-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night with a 76-70 loss at Wichita State. With the loss, the Sycamores will now play be forced to play in the opening round of the Valley Tournament on Thursday night at 6 p.m. against Wichita State, Southern Illinois or Drake.
Senior Jay Tunnell's 22 point effort was his fourth 20-plus point scoring effort in his last six games and he added seven rebounds for ISU in the loss as well. Junior Rashad Reed finished with 19 points, thanks to a 12-for-13 effort from the charity stripe, and grabbed six rebounds while junior Harry Marshall finished with 11 points in 38 minutes of action on a sprained ankle he injured on Monday in practice.
Missouri State took a 13-point lead on a jumper by Will Creekmore with 16:34 left in its game on Tuesday night against Creighton, but the Bluejays stormed back with 42 points the rest of the way to earn a 65-59 victory on Senior Night at JQH Arena in Springfield, Mo.
Senior Spencer Laurie, Will Creekmore and Chris Cooks each finished with 11 points to lead the way for the Bears, while senior player Wade Knapp added 10. It was Missouri State's first Senior Night loss in 20 seasons, dating back to the finale of the 1988-89 season at Hammons Student Center.
Missouri State leads the all-time series between the two schools 34-16, which dates back to the 1951-52 season. ISU's win at Missouri State on Valentine's Day snapped a six-game losing streak to the Bears and a 33-year losing streak overall in Sprinfield. ISU's last win against MSU at home came in 2005, when the Sycamores picked up a 74-72 win.
About The Coaches
Kevin McKenna (Creighton ?93) is in his second season as the head coach at Indiana State (24-36). In his first season with the Sycamores, McKenna led the team to its highest win total since the 2000-01 season and an impressive 12-2 record at home in the Hulman Center. McKenna came to Indiana State after spending nine seasons as an assistant coach at Creighton under head coach Dana Altman, where he helped the Bluejays advance to four NCAA tournament appearances. From 2001-05, McKenna spent four years as the head coach (89-33) at NCAA Division II Nebraska-Omaha, where he guided the Mavericks to four consecutive 20-win seasons and three appearances in the NCAA Division II Tournament.
Cuonzo Martin (Purdue ?00) is in his first season as a collegiate head coach (11-18) after spending eight seasons as an assistant coach and associate head coach at Purdue (2000-08) where he was a standout performer for coach Gene Keady from 1991-95. While at Purdue, the Boilermakers made three NCAA Tournament appearances and earned two NIT berths as well. Prior to returning to his alma mater as and assistant coach, Martin played professional basketball for four years, including two stops with the Milwaukee Bucks and one with the Vancouver Grizzlies of the NBA.
Scouting The Bears
► Missouri State University is located in Springfield, Mo., and has an enrollment of 21,407 students. The Bears are members of the Missouri Valley Conference and play their home games at JQH Arena (11,000).
► The Bears finished with an overall record of 17-16 during the 2007-08 season under head coach Barry Hinson. In conference play, Missouri State posted a 8-10 mark in Valley play which tied them for seventh in the conference. MSU ended its season with a 63-58 loss to Illinois State in the quarterfinals of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in St. Louis.
► Bears senior guard Shane Laurie for the remainder of the 2008-09 season, after he suffered his second concussion of the season on Feb. 7 against Southern Illinois.
► The Bears are led by senior forward Chris Cooks, who leads the team with 12.9 points per game and 6.3 rebounds per contest. Redshirt freshman forward Kyle Weems has also played well, averaging 10.0 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per contest while being tied for the team lead with 24 blocked shots.
► Missouri State Bears took a 13-point lead on a jumper by Will Creekmore with 16:34 left in the game, but the visiting Creighton Bluejays stormed back with 42 points the rest of the way to pick up a 65-59 victory on Senior Night at JQH Arena in Springfield on Tuesday.
Last Time Against The Bears
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - Indiana State had not defeated Missouri State in Springfield since 1976 heading into Saturday night's match up. However, the Sycamores (7-19, 5-10 MVC) shook off their historical haunts and earned a 76-71 victory over the Bears (10-16, 3-12 MVC) at the new JQH Arena on Valentine's Day.
ISU jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead after a jumper by Jay Tunnell at the 17:12 mark. That lead would later widen to nine points at 13-4 after a jumper by Carl Richard. However, Missouri State came right back with a 15-5 run, capped off by a jumper by Chris Cooks, to take a 19-18 lead over the Sycamores with 9:56 remaining in the first half.
The Bears widened that lead to 24-18 after a three pointer by Spencer Laurie at the 7:03 mark, before a jumper by Rashad Reed and two free throws from Aaron Carter cut the lead to two at 24-22 with 5:11 left to go. Missouri State came right back and extended the lead to seven points at 33-26 after Kyle Weems converted on the traditional three-point play with just over two minutes remaining in the half. The lead stayed at seven after another jumper by Cooks with 52 seconds remaining in the half, but two free throws from Reed cut the lead to five in favor of the Bears at halftime 35-30.
Coming out of the locker room, Missouri State controlled the momentum early and widened the lead to seven points at 39-32 with 18:48 left on the clock after a free throw from Cooks. However, that point would be the last for the Bears for almost three minutes as the Sycamores answered with a 15-0 run to take a 47-39 lead at the 16:06 mark.
The Bears clawed back into the game and cut the ISU lead to two at 51-49, but the Sycamores answered with six straight points to go back up by eight at 57-49 after jumper by Jordan Printy with 10:58 remaining in the game. ISU held as much as a nine-point advantage at the 6:22 mark after a jumper by Tunnell, but the Bears would cut the lead to one at 68-67 after a three pointer by Justin Fuehrmeyer with 3:34 left in the game. After a jumper by Printy put the Sycamores back up by three points, a bucket by Weems and two free throws from Wade Knapp gave the Bears 71-70 lead with 1:01 left on the clock.
Harry Marshall later made both two free throws to put ISU up 74-71 and after two more makes from the line with a second remaining, the Sycamores picked up the 76-71 victory over the Bears.
Tunnell Keeps Movin' On Up
With his 22 point effort at Wichita State on Tuesday, senior Jay Tunnell moved into sole possession of 25th place on ISU's all-time scoring list with 1,117 points. With three points today against Missouri State, Tunnell will move ahead of Dick Atha (1,119 points) into sole possession of 24th place on the list. In addition to his scoring numbers, Tunnell needs just 12 rebounds to collect 600 in his stellar four-year career at ISU.
The Drive For Five
With its 69-62 win over Toledo last Saturday in the ESPNU BracketBusters series, Indiana State extended its season-long winning streak to five games. The last time the Sycamores won five games in a row was during the 2006-07 season, when the team picked up five straight wins from Dec. 28 to Jan. 10. During the streak, the Sycamores averaged 73.4 points per game (up from 62.5 season average) and are shot 47.8 percent from the field (up from 40.8 season average). In addition, ISU is protecting the ball better as they posted a 1.2 turnover/assist ratio (up from 0.8 season average).
Converting From The Charity Stripe
The Sycamores start and finish each practice by shooting free throws and it looks like that effort is paying off. In the team's last six games, the Sycamores are shooting 84.4 percent (103-of-122) from the charity stripe including an astounding season high 28-34 effort at Wichita State on Tuessday. The Sycamores also finished 21-for-22 from the free throw line in the team's 76-71 win at Missouri State. ISU started the recent streak by shooting 91.7 percent (11-for-12) from the line at Illinois State and added a 20-for-23 performance against Toledo last Saturday.
20 Point Games Piling Up For Tunnell
Through 97 career games, senior forward Jay Tunnell scored 20 points or more in a game just once. However, that number has gone up significantly in his last six games, as he has topped the 20 point plateau four times. The scoring barrage began with a career-high 28 points on 8-of-9 shooting from three point range in the overtime win at Illinois State on Feb. 8. He followed that up by scoring 25 points in a win at home against Drake on Feb. 11 and then tallied 20 points in Wednesday's win on the road at Indiana State. On Tuesday at Wichita State, Tunnell scored a game-high 22 points in his home state of Kansas. Tunnell has scored in double figures in seven on his last eight games and has raised his scoring average from 9.9 points to 12.1 points per contest during that stretch.
Sharing The Wealth
People know about sophomore guard Harry Marshall's ability to score on the court, but he shares the wealth with his teammates as well. In just 19 games played for the Sycamores, Marshall leads the team with 81 assists and is second in the conference with 4.3 assists per Valley game. Marshall set a new career high with nine assists at Illinois State, topping his previous career mark of seven set at Creighton earlier this season, and set a new team season high as well.
Sycamores Win Second Straight ESPNU BracketBusters Game
With Indiana State's 69-62 win over Toledo on Saturday, ISU is now 3-2 all-time in the BracketBusters series, with victories over Western Michigan in 2006 (59-57), Murray State in 2008 (79-62) and now Toledo. However, the Sycamores have not been as successful in return games from the series, as they are 1-3 including a 67-61 loss to Murray State at Hulman Center this season.
Who Should We Guard?
Opposing defenses have had a hard time defending the Sycamores' balanced scoring attack during the Sycamores' recent winning streak. Over the last four games, the quartet of Jay Tunnell (25-13-20-17), Harry Marshall (10-19-14-16), Rashad Reed (15-14-15-15)and Jordan Printy (11-10-13-13) have all scored in double figures which resulted in four wins for the Sycamores. ISU has now had at least four players score in double figures 11 times this season and currently have three players averaging double figures in scoring in Marshall (14.5 ppg), Tunnell (12.1 ppg) and Reed (10.9 ppg).
The Road Warriors
Normally, playing on the road in Missouri Valley Conference play has not been kind to Indiana State, which won no more than one MVC road game in each of its last five seasons. However, in a year when road wins are up throughout the league, ISU earned its fourth win on the road in league play and its third in the span of 10 days on Wednesday with its 78-72 win at Southern Illinois. The Sycamores won their first conference game of the season on the road at UNI (85-84 OT) and also picked up an overtime win against Illinois State at Redbird Arena (75-73 OT) before defeating Missouri State at the new JQH Arena (76-71) last Saturday.
It's Finally Over
If there was one road trip on the schedule that the Sycamores did not look forward to each season, it had to be to Springfield, Mo., to take on Missouri State. The Sycamores had not won in Springfield since Jan. 6, 1976, when the Sycamores picked up a 60-59 win over the Bears. However, after 18 straight losses at Missouri State and no wins since the Bears joined the Missouri Valley Conference in 1992, the Sycamores changed their fate in their maiden visit to JQH Arena and picked up a 76-71 victory on Saturday. The Sycamores shot 50 percent from the field in the game and finished the game 21-for-22 from the free throw line to propel them to the victory.
JP Can Do It All
Redshirt freshman Jordan Printy has continued to improve throughout his first season on the court for the Sycamores and capped off last week with the best all-around game of his career at Missouri State on Feb. 14. The Marion, Iowa, native set new career highs with seven rebounds and five assists and added 10 points for ISU as the team picked up its third consecutive win. In his recent shooting hot streak, Printy has scored in double figures in four straight games and nine times in the last 14 games. That's a major improvement from just one double-digit effort in the first 15 games to start the season.
Tunnell Vision
Coming off a career performance on Feb. 8 against Illinois State, many would not have expected senior Jay Tunnell to rival it in the following game against Drake. However, that's exactly what the Topeka, Kan., native did as he scored 25 points and shot 10-for-11 from the field, including a 5-for-6 effort from three point range. After scoring a career-high 28 points on Sunday at Illinois State, it marked the first time that Tunnell had scored 20 or more points in back-to-back games. In that two-game stretch, Tunnell shot 19-for-23 from the field (.826), 13-for-15 from three point range (.867) and scored 53 points.
Protecting The Rock
Turnovers have plagued Indiana State all season, but the team protected the basketball extremely well in last week's win against Drake. The Sycamores turned the ball over just six times to the Bulldogs, which tied a season low for the team. That previous mark was set in a loss to Arkansas State on Dec. 1. The Sycamores have started a new trend in limiting turnovers during their five-game winning streak, averaging just 11 turnovers per game which is down from the team's season average of nearly 15 per game.
No, You Take It!
Four players finished in double figures against Drake, thanks to a season-best night distributing the ball around by the Sycamores. ISU recorded a season-high 17 assists against the Bulldogs, topping the previous mark of 16 set a game earlier at Illinois State. Junior Harry Marshall led the way with six assists, while junior Rashad Reed chipped in with five and freshman Carl Richard tied his career high with three dimes. Since dishing out just eight assists on Jan. 21 against Southern Illinois, the Sycamores have posted double-digit assist efforts in nine straight games.
Extra Time Pays Dividends
Indiana State is no stranger to winning games in overtime, as seen in the team's thrilling 75-73 win over Illinois State on Feb. 8 on ESPNU. In fact, the Sycamores have won all three of their overtime games this season and their last five games in a row when needing extra time. In addition, head coach Kevin McKenna is now 5-0 in games decided in overtime in his time at Indiana State with all five of those wins coming against Valley opponents. The last time ISU lost in overtime was on Dec. 2, 2006, when ISU dropped a 73-70 decision to in-state rival Ball State under head coach Royce Waltman.
An Instant Classic on ESPNU
Indiana State's game against Illinois State was its first game ever televised on ESPNU and some were tabbing it as an instant classic following the game. The Sycamores trailed by 12 points with 2:38 remaining in the game and came back to send the game to overtime and to an eventual 75-73 win on a buzzer beater by junior Harry Marshall. Marshall finished with a career-high 24 points with that last second shot and senior Jay Tunnell chipped in with a career-high 28 points on 8-for-9 shooting from three point range to fuel the comeback for the Sycamores.
A Milestone Game For Tunnell
Heading into Sunday's game at Illinois State, senior forward Jay Tunnell needed just eight points to become just the 31st player in school history to score 1,000 points. The Topeka, Kan., native scored those eight points plus 20, as he finished with a career-high 28 points to give him 1,020 in his four seasons at ISU. In addition, he connected on a career-high eight three-pointers and finished 8-for-9 overall in the game from long distance. Tunnell also recorded the fifth double-double of his career, as he pulled down a season-high 12 rebounds in the overtime win of the Redbirds as well.
The Marshall Plan
When the game was on the line on Sunday at Illinois State in overtime, most knew that junior guard Harry Marshall would make something happen. He did just that, as he rose up from just inside the three point line and hit the game winning shot at the buzzer to give the Sycamores a 75-73 win over the Redbirds. With that bucket, Marshall achieved a new career high with 24 points to go along with his career high nine assists in the game. Man of those assists went to teammate Jay Tunnell, who tallied a career-high 28 points against the Redbirds.
The Dynamic Duo
Senior Jay Tunnell and junior Harry Marshall became the second pair of Sycamores to each score 20 points in a game this season with their career performances at Illinois State on Sunday. Tunnell scored a career-high 28 points while Marshall finished with a career-high 24 points. Tunnel and sophomore Aaron Carter were the other duo to achieve the feat, as each scored 20 points against Ohio on Dec. 8 in Louisville, Ky.
