Missouri State University’s men’s basketball team will play its final road game of the regular season against Sam Houston on Saturday, February 28, at Johnson Coliseum in Huntsville, Texas. The game is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. Central time.
The Bears enter the matchup with a record of 13-15 overall and 7-10 in Conference USA (CUSA), while Sam Houston holds a 20-8 overall record and is 12-5 in conference play. Missouri State leads the all-time series between the two teams, three games to one. In their last meeting on January 28, Sam Houston defeated Missouri State 80-71.
Missouri State has struggled recently, losing six consecutive games. Five of those losses were decided by four points or fewer, with an average scoring margin of -3.7 during that stretch. Eight of the team’s ten conference losses have been by single digits, including six by just one possession.
Kobi Williams has entered Missouri State’s season top ten for both three-pointers made (74) and attempted (199), tying for ninth place in each category. He currently ranks third in CUSA free throw percentage (.851), fourth in three-point percentage (.372), fourth in threes per game (2.74), fourth in minutes per game (35:55), and ninth in scoring (15.1 points per game). Williams has made at least one three-pointer in each of his last 23 games.
Freshman Trey Williams Jr has scored 241 points this season, ranking him thirteenth among MSU freshmen scorers; his fifty three-pointers are fifth-most by a freshman at the school. Over his last six games, he is averaging four assists per contest with a 3.4 assist-to-turnover ratio and scoring nearly nine points per game.
Despite recent results, Missouri State has out-rebounded five of its last six opponents during its losing streak with an average rebound margin of +4.2 per game. However, Sam Houston leads CUSA in rebound margin at +6.9—good for twenty-third nationally—and also ranks fifteenth among Division I programs for total rebounds per game (40.86) and seventeenth for offensive rebounding (13.43).
Keith Palek III scored a season-high twenty-nine points against Louisiana Tech on Thursday and became the thirty-second Bear to surpass five hundred points in a single season; his current total stands at five hundred four points, which ranks twenty-ninth all-time at MSU for single-season scoring. Palek needs fifteen more points to enter the program’s top twenty-five single-season scorers and has recorded thirteen games this year with twenty or more points.
Palek also ranks third in CUSA scoring (18 points per game) and fifth in assists (3.7). Last week against Florida International University he reached one hundred assists for the season—the first Bear taller than six-foot-eight to do so—and now sits at one hundred three assists this year.
Senior Michael Osei-Bonsu reached seven hundred career points on Thursday; his total places him eightieth among Bears all-time scorers as he closes on several former players ahead of him on the list. Osei-Bonsu leads CUSA both in field goal percentage (.561) and offensive rebounding (3.36).
Missouri State has surpassed two hundred made three-pointers this season for the ninth time over ten years and fifth straight campaign; their current tally is two hundred thirteen threes—thirty-nine shy of their all-time high set under Cuonzo Martin during the 2009–10 season.
Sophomore Zaxton King needs ten more career points to reach five hundred across sixty games played after matching his career-high with six rebounds against Louisiana Tech.
Cuonzo Martin returned as head coach after being named to lead Missouri State’s men’s basketball program again on March 27, 2024 following an extensive national search.
“The man who orchestrated Missouri State’s only MVC regular-season championship run during his first tenure in Springfield originally coached at Missouri State from 2008 to 2011.”
Martin brings sixteen seasons’ experience as a Division I head coach across stints at MSU, Tennessee, California, and Missouri with an overall record of two hundred eighty-six wins and two hundred thirty-six losses (.548 winning percentage). His teams have appeared nine times in postseason tournaments—including four NCAA Tournament appearances—as well as capturing a CIT title with Missouri State during his previous stint.
“Coach Martin is 83-79Â (.512) in his fifth season (and second stint) at Missouri State, including 61-25Â at home, 17-48Â on the road and 5-6 at neutral sites.”
Martin was previously named MVC Coach of the Year after leading MSU to its first-ever regular-season conference title during the program’s centennial year.
“Martin was named Missouri State’s 16th head coach in time for the program’s 100th anniversary season and its inaugural campaign at Great Southern Bank Arena.”
“In Martin’s first stint…he guided MoState to a…run to the CIT Postseason Tournament title.”
“His third season…was one of the program’s most memorable…as the Bears finished…on way to its first-ever MVC regular-season title…”
Missouri State will return home next week for games against Western Kentucky on March 5 (“Beach Night / Shirt Giveaway”) followed by Senior Night versus Middle Tennessee on March 7.
