What has happened to the Missouri State basketball team that went on the road two days before Christmas and beat St. Mary’s, arguably the best opponent on their schedule, and had a swagger heading to the holidays?
The new year has been anything but happy for the Bears, who suffered their third loss in eight days and in the most-embarrassing fashion conceivable on Wednesday night — getting blown out of their home floor.
Murray State came into Great Southern Bank Arena and did anything it wanted in a 77-53 Missouri Valley Conference victory. On the heels of a 26-point loss at Bradley after a two-point home heartbreaker on Jan. 3 to Northern Iowa, these are bad times for Coach Dana Ford and his Missouri State team.
“Very disappointing. Embarrassed. It’s a situation we need to get figured out,” Ford said after his team fell to 9-7 overall and 1-4 in the Valley with its most-lopsided home loss since falling to Loyola 72-46 on Jan. 30, 2021.
The frustration over the last two games prompted Missouri State Director of Athletics Kyle Moats to issue a rare, in-season statement about the program. Moats used the social platform ‘X’ (formerly known as Twitter) to express his displeasure.
“Bears Fans:
The last two Bears conference games have not been indicative of the kind of basketball we expect from our Missouri State teams,” Moats wrote. “Like you, I am passionate about our program and share in the frustration many of you have expressed. We expect more.
“I have spoken to coach Ford, and we both expect changes in all aspects of our team’s performance moving forward. He has spoken about the team’s energy and effort, and we will look for improvements in those areas as well as our toughness on the floor and the results in the standings.
“It is coach Ford’s responsibility to get the players to play at a competitive level. It is my job to continually evaluate the program’s progress to make sure that happens.”
Alston Mason led the Bears with 17 points, but that was a mere footnote on this stinker of a performance. The Bears trailed 42-19 at halftime, with many in the crowd of 2,109 putting on their coats and heading to the exits.
No juice for the punched out Bears
Murray State (7-9, 4-1) made seven of its first eight shots of the second half and the lead peaked at 56-23, a stunning lack of competitiveness from a team that began the season 6-1 and was 9-4 at Christmas break.
“It’s disappointing,” Mason said. “We haven’t been playing with a lot of passion or coming out here with a lot of energy, playing like we can win the game. It’s like we’re taking punches on the chin and not responding to it. I think that’s a big thing for our team, being aggressive and being the first one to throw that punch.
“We have to get our juice back.”
But how? Perhaps a moratorium on treating the 3-point shot like it’s an all-you-can-eat buffet would be a start.
The Bears opened the game with an 8-2 lead, moving the ball and defending with vigor. Then it fell apart in a sea of missed 3-pointers and defensive indifference. Murray State grabbed rebounds and unleashed its running game, outsourcing the Bears 24-2 in fast-break points.
“A lot of it has to do with the ball not going in the basket,” Ford said of the Bears’ problems. “That starts trickling to other things. Unfortunately tonight, it was not just our execution like in our last game, but also our effort, our energy and our enthusiasm.
“I don’t think you can say a team that started the year 9-4 with some quality wins and spent time in the top 100 … doesn’t know what it takes to win. They clearly do. I’m not getting them to do what it takes to win.”
Not the same since Northern Iowa loss
The Bears have flat-out been non-competitive after the heartbreaking loss to Northern Iowa, a game that seems to have cut the heart out of the team.
“It was a very disappointing game,” Mason said. “UNI is a good team, but we felt like we were the better team. Losing a game like that does hurt and it does start us off losing some confidence, but I don’t think that is what has defined these last three losses.”
Missouri State made 4 of 19 3-pointers in the first half and were 8-for-32 overall. The Bears’ season 3-point percentage has sagged to 31.4 percent — 10th in the Valley after going 18-for-80 (22.5 percent) the last three games.
“They did a good job of taking some things away,” Ford said of Murray State’s defense, “but for the most part we kind of settled for a good look. Now, if those go in it’s another conversation. But we need to put more of a focus on our two-point distribution.
“We had addressed that for a while, but now we’ve gravitated back to the 3-point line. Unfortunately for us, we’re not making many.”
Racers run to an early knockout
The game was 12-all when the Racers went on a 9-0 run to seize control. By halftime, the only good thing about it for the Bears was that the half was over. Murray closed the half on a 21-4 run over the final 6:30 to take a commanding lead to the locker room.
After not seeing first-half action, senior center Dawson Carper opened the second half for the Bears along with Raphe Ayres, Matthew Lee, Donovan Clay and Chance Moore.
The shakeup didn’t help, especially on defense, as the Racers poured it on with only the final margin in doubt. Murray State, a team with totally an opposite season as the Bears, has won five in a row after a sluggish start.
Asked if he thinks the players are still together, Mason nodded his head.
“I do,” he said. “I think this is one of those times where every team goes through a test. This is one of those tests for us. A lot of teams can sit here and break. We understand how much talent we have and what we’re capable of doing in this league.
“It’s disappointing for all of us, but we’re gonna figure it out. I think we’re going to come together more than we were before.”
Ford asks team to stay together
As for what’s changed since St. Mary’s, the Bears have more healthy players with Matthew Lee and Nick Kramer joining the playing rotation. Asked if he’s able to go back and review what was working earlier, and re-emphasize it, Ford said the coaches study all such scenarios.
“We study our team extensively. We have numbers, video, situations more than you can probably imagine,” Ford said, adding that he agreed with Mason that the team has not splintered.
“They’re together. I don’t think they’re pointing any fingers or anything like that,” Ford said. “They’re going through some hard times, like their coach and their coaching staff. We’re all in it together. It’s just not a good time for us right now.
“It’s a very hard time for our team. I’ll stay away from trying to say low point … but it’s a hard time. It’s very hard for our group.”
Mason, doing an admirable job speaking for the players, put a final spin on the current state of affairs.
“We know our team is very talented and we have a really good group of guys,” Mason said. “Sometimes, you get caught up in talent and hoping that can get you there. Once the talent runs out, that’s when you’re left dry. That’s where we’re at right now.
“For us, we have to work hard these next couple of days and approach each game, each practice with a different mentality.”
The road awaits with a 6 p.m. tipoff on Saturday at Evansville and a Jan. 16 visit to Indiana State, which is tied for the league lead at 4-1.
Missouri State stars
Following Bears’ home games, Lyndal Scranton will recognize his top three stars of the game. From Wednesday night’s 77-53 loss to Murray State:
*** Junior Guard Alston Mason scored 17 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the field, including 3-for-5 from 3-point range.
** Sophomore forward Tyler Bey had five points and four rebounds in 20 minutes. Most noticeable, Bey played with energy and effort.
* Chance Moore was another Bear who played hard to the finish, despite the lopsided margin. Moore had 12 points in 32 minutes.
