Missouri Southern Game Notes (PDF)
Pittsburg State Game Notes (PDF)

Date: November 19-20, 2021
Time: 7:30 PM | 5:30 PM
Location: Joplin, MO 

Joplin, Mo. - The team heads to Joplin for the Missouri Southern Classic, featuring two matchups against former MIAA opponents. Friday's contest comes against the hosts of the tournament in Missouri Southern, and Saturday's competition will be against Pittsburg State.

SCOUTING THE BEARCATS
The Bearcats look to keep their momentum rolling, coming off a 15-6 regular season last year and a 20-8 regular season in 2019-20. Last season, SBU swept the GLVC West Division, earning the #3 seed in the conference tournament. Their 15 conference wins are the second most in a season in program history. Despite losing a key contributor from last year's squad, SBU returns 4 starters, including All-GLVC selections in Quinn Nelson and Mitch Ganote. Nelson led the team in scoring with 324 points (15.4 ppg), three-point field goals made (54, 4th in GLVC), free throw % (60-67, 89.6%, 2nd in GLVC), and minutes played (652, 31.0 per game). He also had 55 rebounds, 42 assists, 15 steals, and 7 blocks. Ganote was a threat all around, recording 4 double-doubles, 5 20-point games, and was 1 rebound shy of a triple-double against Rockhurst. Joe Miller and Jalil Beaubrun also return to the starting lineup and will make a big impact on the floor. A total of 9 Bearcats return from last year's roster, 6 new faces have been added.

The Bearcats are off to a 2-0 start, defeating Trevecca Nazarene in their season opener and Barclay College in their home opener. The team shot 50% from the field against TNU and 55.6% against Barclay. Quinn Nelson leads the team in scoring with 39 points and has made 8 three's this year. He is now 14 away from breaking SBU's career record. Mitch Ganote had a solid game on Tuesday, now has 28 points, 24 rebounds, 13 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks over two games. SBU's two big men have been solid, Jalil Beaubrun with 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 3 blocks, and Juan Morales with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Also with 20+ points are RJ Crawford (21) and Nico Aguirre (21). Off the bench and as first year Bearcats, Drew McMillin (17 points) and Ayden Stone (4-4 from the field, 8 points, 7 rebounds, 2 blocks) have been productive.

SCOUTING THE LIONS
The Missouri Southern Lions enter Friday's contest with a 1-1 record this year. In their season opening tournament held in Kansas City, the Lions fell to Upper Iowa in a high scoring contest, 96-83. The next day, MSSU squeaked by Southern Nazarene 89-88 in double overtime. The Upper Iowa game was very even, the difference being three-pointers. Upper Iowa was 12-25 from deep compared to Southern's 5-20. The Lions have a solid roster, led by Stan Scott and RJ Smith. Scott has 43 points, 18 rebounds, 7 assists, and 6 steals, and holds a lot of responsibility for their double overtime win. Smith has scored 38 points and 20 rebounds. Christian Bundy (29 points, 11 rebounds) and Winston Dessesow (27 points, 11 rebounds) have also been big contributors to the team.

SCOUTING THE GORILLAS
The Pittsburg State Gorillas enter the weekend with an 0-2 record in the early season. They opened the 2021-22 season with a tournament held in Kansas City, falling to Winona State 68-79 and Upper Iowa 66-69. In the season opener against Winona, the Gorillas got off to a slow start, just 6-26 from the field in the first half. Despite a strong second half, they couldn't complete the comeback. They were more consistent against Upper Iowa, scoring 33 in each half, but their opponents had a strong second half to take the game. Iziah James leads the team with 34 points on 11-18 shooting from the field, and 4 steals. With 26 points this year is Cameron Huefner, and Dejon Waters has more rebounds (16) than points (11).

THE COACHES
SBU head coach Clark Sheehy begins his eighth season on the SBU bench after compiling an 97-99 (60-80 conf.) record while at SBU. Coach Sheehy holds a career coaching record of 279-205 across sixteen seasons while coaching six different All-Americans and over 40 athletes that have moved on to play professional basketball.

Jeff Boschee returns to the MSSU bench for his eighth year with the program. Taking over in 2014, Boschee has led the team to a 137-71 over seven seasons. In the shortened COVID year, he led MSSU to a 13-10 record. Prior to that, he led the team to three straight 20-win seasons. Boschee played college ball at the University of Kansas, and was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 1999-2000.

Kim Anderson enters his 5th year as the PSU head coach in 2021. In the previous 4 seasons, Anderson has led the Gorillas to an even 56-56 record. His career collegiate coaching record sits at 357-218, 12 of those seasons taking place at Central Missouri. At UCM, Anderson led the Mules to a 274-95 record, including a 2014 National Championship and 2 Final Four appearances in 2007 and 2009.

ALL-TIME SERIES
SBU trails the all-time series with MSSU 44-53, and leads the all-time series with Pittsburg State 34-31. In 2018-19 against Pitt State as a freshman, Quinn Nelson scored 19 points, hitting 5 three's. He also had 4 rebounds and a pair of steals.