TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - The league-leading Indiana State Sycamores will be looking to bounce back Sunday afternoon when they travel to Springfield, Mo. to face Missouri State for the first time this season at 3 p.m. ET. The Sycamores will look to make it four straight Valley road wins when they face off against the Bears.
 
Springfield has not been historically nice to the Sycamores, as Indiana State is just 6-34 against Missouri State on the road all-time. Indiana State's winning percentage on the road against the Bears (17.6 percent) is the lowest out of any other Valley opponent that Indiana State has faced two or more times on the road (this only excludes UIC as the Sycamores are 0-1 against the Flames in Chicago all-time).
 
The Sycamores are coming off their first Valley loss of the season, a 69-61 loss to Southern Illinois at home Wednesday night which also snapped a four-game win streak. With the loss, ISU splits its season series with the Salukis. Indiana State led by 15 points in the first half before losing by eight, which is ISU's largest overall deficit in Valley play this season. The Sycamores have trailed by just 22:01 in Valley play this year.
 
Indiana State scored just 28 points in the paint Wednesday night against Southern Illinois. It was just the fifth time this season the Sycamores have scored 28 or less points in the paint. Three of those five games were losses and one was an 88-61 win at Miami (Ohio) in which ISU hit 16 3-pointers. The other game was a two-point win against Drake with 11 made 3-pointers. ISU attempted 23 3-pointers Wednesday and made just eight of them.

SERIES HISTORY
Indiana State trails the all-time series against Missouri State 52-57 dating back to 1952, but the Sycamores overwhelmingly trail the Bears on the road, 6-34. The two teams split their season series last year with each team taking the win on its respective home court. The Sycamores are just 2-8 against the Bears in their last eight meetings with Missouri State, and will be looking for their first win in Springfield since Feb. 23, 2019.

LAST GAME AGAINST THE BEARS
Indiana State was not able to contain Missouri State's Gaige Prim as the forward scored a game high 32 points during the Bears' 79-70 victory Tuesday night at JQH Arena.
 
Indiana State (11-15, 4-10 MVC) held the Bears to 31.4 percent (11-of-35) in the first half of play while shooting 37.9 percent (11-of-29). Six Sycamores found the scoring column led by Cooper Neese's nine points to go with four rebounds. Cameron Henry dropped in seven points while Kailex Stephens and Simon Wilbar added five points each.
 
ISU scored the first seven points before the Bears were able to get into the scoring column. Terre Haute native Jaylen Minnett had a team high 14 points for Missouri State (20-8, 11-4 MVC) in the first half of play while Preseason MVC First Team selections Isiaih Mosley and Gaige Prim combined for 13 points. It was a back-and-forth first half with four ties and lead changes, but ISU scored the final six points to take a 33-31 lead into the locker room.
 
Neese pushed ISU's lead to 38-33 a minute into the second half with his first 3-pointer of the game before the Bears began to chip away and tie the game at 42. The Sycamores then reeled off an 9-2 run to lead 51-44 with 12:29 to play. Missouri State scored five-straight to pull back within a single possession.

LAST TIME OUT
It was a tale of two halves Wednesday night as the Valley leader Indiana State welcomed the Valley's second-ranked team Southern Illinois to Hulman Center for Blackout Cancer Night in front of the largest home crowd of the season. The Sycamores led by double digits at halftime but were outscored by 18 in the second half as they suffered their first Valley loss of the season, 69-61.
 
Indiana State (13-5, 6-1 MVC) led Southern Illinois (13-5, 5-2 MVC) by 15 points midway through the first half and still held a double-digit lead after the first 20 minutes, going into halftime up by 10. The Salukis used an 11-3 run early in the second half to cut their deficit to three before taking the lead in the middle of a 10-0 run later in the half. The Sycamores would tie things up on three occasions in the last 6:45 but could never quite recover the lead.
 
Four Sycamores scored in double figures, led by Courvoisier McCauley with 13 points. McCauley, Julian Larry, and Robbie Avila each extended their double-digit scoring streaks while Trenton Gibson put up double figures for the first time since Nov. 27.
 
LARRY NAMED MVC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Julian Larry was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week Jan. 10 after posting back-to-back 18-point outings, helping the Sycamores go 2-0 on the week and remain unbeaten in Valley play. Larry shot 12-of-14 on the week including 3-of-3 from distance. He also connected on 9-of-10 from the charity stripe and dished out 10 assists with four steals across the two games. In Wednesday's win at Illinois State, Larry shot a perfect 7-of-7 from the field with five assists and not a single turnover.
 
LARRY LEGEND 2.0?
Julian Larry is the lone Sycamores to play in all 18 games this season but has just recently emerged as he has played his way into the starting lineup. He has started each of the last five games, and in that span, he is leading the Sycamores in scoring with 15.6 points per game. He has posted 18 or more points in three of those games and twice has shot 100 percent from the field (8-of-8 against Evansville, 7-of-7 at Illinois State), and he is shooting 78.4 percent from the field.
 
Larry is dishing out 4.6 assists per game across the last five games and has committed just one or no turnovers in three of those games. He holds a 2.6 assist-to-turnover ratio while averaging two steals per game.
 
NEW FACE SETS THE PACE
Grad transfer Courvoisier McCauley is leading the way for the Sycamores in his first year at Indiana State. He leads the team in total points (283, 105 more points than ISU's second leading scoring Cameron Henry with 178 points) while averaging a team-high 16.6 points. He also leads the Sycamores on the glass with 5.5 rebounds per game. His 16.6 points per game rank sixth in the Valley, and he's top-20 in the league in boards per game.
 
McCauley has two double-doubles this season and is one of just 15 players in the Valley to record two or more on the year. He is also the lone Valley player with multiple 30-point outings this season. With five 20+-point games, McCauley joins just eight other Valley players with five or more this year.
 
A TALE OF TWO HALVES
The Sycamores have struggled to put together 40 consistent minutes of basketball this season, as shown by their scoring margin in the first half compared to the second half through 18 games so far. The Sycamores are outscoring their opponents by 10.3 points in the first half compared to just 0.3 points in the second half.
 
Indiana State has given up a double-digit lead on five different occasions this season. The Sycamores recovered and won two of those games but have lost the last three games in which they blew a double-digit lead, two in regulation and one in overtime. In four of those five games, Indiana State led by 14 or more points in the first half.
 
The Sycamores let go of the lead against Drake and Southern Illinois in their first two Valley games but still won each of those games. Since then, Indiana State has blown a double-digit lead and lost to Southern Indiana (in overtime), Duquesne, and most recently Southern Illinois.
 
BIG WINS, NARROW LOSSES
When the Sycamores win, they seem to win big. When they lose, they mostly lose by a small margin. In games decided by 11 or more points this season, Indiana State is 8-0. However, in games decided by 10 or less points, the Sycamores are 5-5. Three of those five wins were against Valley opponents while the other two were against opponents at the Gulf Showcase. Two of those five losses were by three or less points, one by six points, one by eight points, and one by 10 points.

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