How Missouri State basketball pulled off a win over undefeated Evansville with six players

Missouri State didn't have enough players to go five-on-five in practice leading up to the Bears' Wednesday night bout with Evansville.

Two starting guards had foot injuries — Alston Mason with a sprained ankle and Damien Mayo Jr. with a bone bruise, both sustained in Saturday's win over South Carolina State — which added to Tyler Bey's sprained MCL, Davion Hill's continued absence for personal reasons and Nick Kramer's ongoing recovery from back surgery.

The Bears, winners of their last five going into the game, were suddenly down to six players who were a part of their main rotation and three who were further down the bench. A matchup with undefeated Evansville to begin league play suddenly didn't look too promising to those on the outside looking in.

But after a 90-78 win over the Purple Aces, the Bears gave another reason why this Missouri State men's basketball team might be a little different than the ones it's had in recent seasons.

More: Short-handed Missouri State basketball cruise past previously-unbeaten Evansville

"Coach always says that when somebody goes down, you have to step up," fifth-year senior Donovan Clay said. "I think that's what players did today."

Missouri State's sixth consecutive win is its longest since the end of the 2020-21 season. That stretch saw the Bears win seven straight when they haven't won eight straight since winning nine during the 2010-11 season when Missouri State last won the Missouri Valley Conference regular season title.

"I was pretty impressed," sixth-year head coach Dana Ford said. "I was definitely proud of the guys. We practiced the last couple of days shorthanded, so we anticipated not having those guys available. Ideally, we want to be deeper than six but when you're at home, you can get away with things like that."

Six players played all but one recorded minute for the Bears with point guard Matthew Lee playing the full 40 minutes. Chance Moore, who scored a career-high 28 points, played 39 with Clay adding 37.

Raphe Ayres stepped into the starting lineup while the Bears went with a starting rotation that featured Clay and N.J. Benson amid his breakout sophomore season.

There was never a doubt that the Bears were going to come out on top after they finished the first half with a 17-4 run that put them up 14 at the break.

The performance further showed the Bears what they are capable of.

"It's unfortunate that we have guys out, but we still locked in on the game plan," Clay said. "We still feel like we can beat any team, no matter the circumstances."

The gritty performance saw four players finish scoring double-digits. Moore led the team while Lee added 20, Clay with 19 and Benson with 16 points and 13 rebounds.

Evansville tied its season-high with 13 turnovers, which turned into 18 MSU points. The Bears were aggressive in driving the lane, and that turned into 20 called personal fouls against the Aces and MSU going 25 of 32 from the line — Lee going 10 of 14 for half of his points.

The Bears got tired toward the end of the game when Evansville cut a 20-point lead with 5:31 left to 11 with 1:28 left but they were able to pull it off in the end.

"It all comes down to conditioning," Ford said. "I felt like our conditioning was good and there were a couple of times when the guys got tired. We made some energy plays that got us going a little bit. For the most part, I felt like the flow of the game allowed us to play at a speed where fatigue didn't really matter. We just have some good athletes."

Missouri State may be in a similar spot come Saturday afternoon's showdown at Drake (6-1, 1-0), which beat Valparaiso 83-65 on Wednesday.

Ford said he was hopeful to have Mason and Mayo back for the game but said they would both probably be out. There is a chance Bey could return after missing the last three games with his sprained MCL.

Kramer won't be cleared until at least Jan. 1 following a back surgery. Hill has been absent due to a personal matter and is expected to rejoin the Bears at some point this season.

Until then, the Bears will take the next few days lightly. They don't practice after home victories and Friday will be the day before a game which they typically hold a light practice. After a few days of treatment, Ford hopes it could turn into one of the three questionable players finding their way onto the court.

"It's really important that we get there with the amount of guys we have available right now," Ford said. "If not, we still have enough."

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 X at @WyattWheeler_NL. He's also the host of the weekly "Wyatt's World Podcast" on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and other podcasting platforms

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Missouri State beats Evansville despite banged-up roster