As the Bears prepare for a home game against Murray State on Jan. 10, Missouri State Director of Athletics Kyle Moats spends about 15 minutes during pre-game sitting alone, on the bench, watching the Bears warm up.
A couple of hours later, he is stationed outside the Bears’ locker room and wearing a scowl.
After looking sharp in the game’s first three minutes, running to an 8-2 lead, Missouri State is flat-out embarrassed on its home court. Murray State leads 42-19 by halftime and many fans in the already tiny crowd of 2,109 head for the exits, without even making an effort to cheer or boo before departing.
Moats and Missouri State President Clif Smart view the second half glumly from the university’s suite at Great Southern Bank Arena. Things don’t get any better. Murray State opens a 33-point lead early in the half and winds up prevailing 77-53. The Bears quickly shake hands with the opponents and, led by a brisk-walking Coach Dana Ford, file into the locker room.
Inside, you could hear the proverbial pin drop. Ford goes to his office, leaving the players to discuss the humbling defeat among themselves for 10 minutes.
Moats waits outside the locker room. He is not happy. Neither is anyone inside the locked door. Christmas — and all those feel-good vibes after the St. Mary’s victory — seems about 18 weeks ago instead of 18 days.
“We’re not taking things personally. We’ve got to take things personally,” guard Raphe Ayres says, before forward Cesare Edwards pipes up about Murray State’s obvious advantage in enthusiasm before the game.
“They were the louder team in warm-ups, they had way more energy during warm-ups,” Edwards says. “I’m not gonna say nobody, but … we were the quieter team. Even though we’re working on ourselves, getting up shots and feeling good … it starts in warm-ups.”
Senior Donovan Clay, the team’s most-tenured player, quickly interjects that the Bears’ season is far from over. He points out the Bears are 9-7 with time to turn it around — but acknowledges the clock is ticking.
“We still can have a 20-win season, but we’ve been talking about this (crap) for too long,” Clay says. “I’m gonna tell you, I’ve not been aggressive enough. I shot poorly. Our shots are gonna start falling. We’re wide-open and missing shots.
“We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’re doing to us. We’re not a bad team. We beat St. Mary’s, we beat Kent State, we’ve beat good teams. When we beat them, everybody was ready to play, jumping in the air and stuff. Now, there’s none of that. It ain’t right.
“You can see it in faces. You can’t tell nobody nothing. You can see it in faces. No matter what you see, you can see it in body language and you could see it before the game. At the end of the day, it’s us. We’re a team.”
Several players begin talking at once with someone loudly saying that the performance “doesn’t come down to (stinking) warm-ups.”
Clay strongly disagrees and, with a rising voice says, “before the Kent State game, we were ready to fight for each other. It’s not the same. We don’t put on our warm-ups any more. We’ve got to change, bro. We’ve got to be a team, bro. It starts there. You think that’s small, but it’s big. At the end of the day, we’ve got to start being a team.
“You don’t hear me talking enough and that’s on me,” Clay says. “I’m gonna start being aggressive. I’m gonna keep talking, whether you can hear me or not. This is my last year.”
Ayres tells Clay, “it’s not just you, everybody has to start being more aggressive.”
Clay again assures his teammates that the Bears cannot quit, that there is time to make their dreams come true.
“Them three games we just lost, there’s nothing we can do to change that,” Clay says. “But moving forward … it’s over. We have to move on. At the end of the season, nobody is going to remember us getting beat by Murray State. But we have to lock in, now.
“Adversity and slumps hit. When they do, (brothers) have to stay together. Don’t be mad at nobody. It’s a slump. You’ve got to fight through this stuff. As a team.”
Sitting still in a feeling of quiet fury
Ford and his staff enter the room and the sixth-year Bears coach is measured and delicate with his words. There’s no throwing of clipboards or smashing lockers or launching into a monologue of F bombs, as you’ve seen in the movies.
“Listen up,” Ford begins, followed by a 15-second pause of silence. “First of all, we’re all in it together. Whether it’s good, bad or ugly, we’re in this together. We all play a part in fixing it. Every person in here plays a little part in fixing it. Every single one of us.
“Where I have to do a better job is getting you guys to play with that same fire, same energy, same passion, same effort that I’ve seen us play with numerous times. In wins and losses. That’s where it starts. That’s where it starts. What we have to realize is, we all share the same responsibility. It’s the same percent, however we want to divide it up.
“We can’t do it without each other. We cannot do it. It’s not just basketball. If it was just basketball, we would not have won any games. One of my responsibilities is to figure out what it is. I’ve got to be able to educate you guys on what it is.
“Now, let me say this. It’s no different than in life. You’re gonna have some hard times. And these are hard times. Every team probably goes through it at some point in time. How we handle hard will dictate how we move forward.”
Ford points to the white board and the word “elevate.” He underlines the first ‘L’ in the word.
“Listen guys, it’s about this L in elevate. Now more than ever, we’ve got to love each other. Now, more than ever. That’s the only way to fix it. It’s got to really, really, really mean something to us. It’s got to keep you up at night. It’s got to make you want to change somebody. You got to start with love. Period. Just like in your own family, in your own real life.
“You’ve got to love, in good times and bad. You can’t pick and choose in life. Right now we’re in bad times. Let’s break.”
The players and coaches huddle up.
“I’m telling you, we’ve got to stay together, good and bad,” Ford adds, before the players break the huddle with a hushed chant.
Athletic Director Kyle Moats has Twitter fingers
About an hour after the post-game media conference, with guard Alston Mason and Ford speaking for the team, Moats goes to an unprecedented measure by issuing a statement on his social media feed X (formerly Twitter). He is upset and frustrated and feels that fans need to know he’s right there with them.
“The last two Bears conference games have not been indicative of the kind of basketball we expect from our Missouri State teams,” Moats writes. “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.”
The season definitely is on the brink. So is Ford’s future as the Bears’ coach beyond this season, if things don’t change in a hurry.
Coming up in Chapter 5:
After five defeats in six games, the Bears grasp for a turning point as one of the top teams in the league comes to Great Southern Bank Arena.
“Just play ball. Just play ball,” head coach Dana Ford says.
Bears Insider Ch. 5 >>>
A major upset, celebration and renewed hope
