What to like (and question) about Missouri State basketball after its opening-night win
Missouri State men's basketball opened its 2022-23 season with an 82-47 win over Division II Missouri S&T on Wednesday night in front of 3,008 fans at Great Southern Bank Arena.
It was an expected win for the Bears over a Division II opponent to begin Dana Ford's fifth season as the team's head coach. With 14 newcomers, the Bears will be further tested in the weeks ahead — starting next week at BYU.
Here were some things to like about the Bears and a few things to question heading into a more difficult portion of the schedule.
Like - The athleticism is unlike what the Bears have had under Ford
From the starting five to the six players coming off the bench (with more to come when two players get healthy), there is an obvious difference between how athletic the Bears are this year compared to what they have been in recent years.
When Donovan Clay would have been the most athletic player on the floor for last season's team, he's now joined by the likes of Jonathan Mogbo, Dalen Ridgnal, Chance Moore, Matthew Lee and smaller and exceptionally quick guards who are fun to watch run up and down the floor.
Clay, who played with last season's roster and is now the most experienced Bear this season, said the biggest difference comes on the defensive end after holding S&T to 26.5% shooting.
"Our defense is so athletic and everybody can switch and everything," Clay said. "Everybody can switch, rebound and we just gotta keep doing it with that mentality and mindset."
Ford knows how deep the athleticism goes but he wants to see the group go the extra mile with things that can beat size and speed.
"We gotta be disciplined and we've gotta be tougher," Ford said. "We're not the first to the floor yet, which is concerning. We're not grabbing balls with two hands and those things beat athleticism. When you get those athletes to do those things, then we're going to have a good product."
Like - The young players already look comfortable
A pair of newcomers showed they were itching to get on the basketball court and have a role on a team after playing limited minutes at their previous stops.
Moore, an Arkansas transfer, and Oklahoma transfer Alston Mason were the two biggest bright spots for the Bears and they both came off the bench. Moore finished the game with 18 points on 6-of-10 shooting with six boards while Mason scored 13 points including three 3's
"I'm really excited," Moore said. "I'm grateful to get this opportunity. I feel like we've made the most of it so far and I'm just hoping to keep getting better so we can accomplish our goals."
The level of competition will go to a whole different level after the exhibition and Wednesday night's win. But Ford looks at the pair almost like freshmen and he thinks they will have a bright future in the program.
"Those guys are gifted and their bodies have to get right but they're gonna continue to work hard and they're like really good freshmen for us," Ford said. "Both those guys have athleticism and skill so we just have to continue to develop them over time, get them stronger, more mature and more seasoned but I think their talent level is what's going to allow them to be in the mix."
Question - They've only played Division II teams before a trip to BYU next week
The dress rehearsal portion of the Bears' schedule is over. It's time to learn a lot about the team and how much more they have to grow in the weeks ahead before Missouri Valley Conference play begins.
A trip to BYU is set up for Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. in Provo, Utah. It's the Bears' return game after hosting the Cougars in Springfield last season.
BYU might be a little bit better than the Division II programs that the Bears just played.
"We're gonna find out what we really have on Wednesday night," Ford said. "Our guys have played really hard the last couple of games. It doesn't necessarily have to do with winning and losing but we're going to go to a hostile environment. They're obviously a really good team. We'll know a little bit more about ourselves on Wednesday night and when you look at the teams coming up on our schedule, we're going to know about our group really quick."
Like - The Bears appear to be an unselfish team
Missouri State finished Wednesday's game with 14 assists on 32-made shots. The Bears only had 10 games last season in which they had 10 or more assists out of their 34 appearances. In Saturday's exhibition, they had 15 assists on 25 makes.
They're trending in the right direction when the ball often stuck to one player last season.
"There are some things that we need to clean up but we have a very unselfish group that plays hard," Ford said. "There are a lot of things that we can build on so I'm happy about the win and we're going to continue to build this team to be as good as it can be."
Question - The turnovers are unsustainable
On the flip side, the Bears are turning the ball over frequently and that's going to have to change really quickly heading into next week's contests.
Wednesday night ended with 16 turnovers with nine coming in the first half. The Bears had 15 in their exhibition matchup with Newman.
BYU turned Idaho State over 22 times in its season-opener. On the flip side, the Cougars turned it over 23 times in a 60-56 victory over Idaho State. If there was ever a good time to go to Provo, maybe right now is it.
Like - The Bears don't really have a 'star player'
In the exhibition game, it was Bryan Trimble Jr. who scored 20 points in the first half. On Wednesday, it was Moore and Mason scoring 11 and 10 respectively.
On any given night, it appears someone different can be the star for the Bears — whether it's Clay, Lee, Mogbo or someone else. Not even Ford knows who his best player is.
"I think that's a strength of our team," Ford said. "If you can tell me (who our best player is), you'd be giving me news. I think we have a lot of good players."
Question - The Bears didn't do anything on National Signing Day
It's a reasonable question to ask why the Bears didn't have any movement on National Signing Day. No players signed their national letters of intent and there was no expectation for them to do so.
It would appear that the Bears have two open scholarships, at the moment, for next season. More will likely become available with movement after the season but the Bears didn't make any moves during this period.
"It’s hard for us to know what direction next year's roster needs to look like," Ford said. "If there was a kid available that we really liked, whether it was high school, junior college or international, we would have moved on them. On the ones we tried, we didn’t get, so we didn’t have anything to sign.
"We’re very selective. It’s not like recruiting by the masses like we have in the past.
"Like with our freshmen — if we had someone as advanced as they are, we would have taken them. Over the course of our time here, spring has been our best recruiting period outside of Gaige but unfortunately, there was not a Gaige Prim and we wouldn’t have gotten him this time."
Wyatt D. Wheeler is a reporter and columnist with the Springfield News-Leader. You can contact him at 417-371-6987, by email at wwheeler@news-leader.com or Twitter at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the co-host of Sports Talk on Jock Radio weekdays from 4-6 p.m.
This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State men's basketball defeats Missouri S&T on opening night
