WhoÂ’s Bret Vandergard and whatÂ’s he done for us lately?

[PointGuard]

Game #5, Nov. 30, 2018: Missouri State Bears (3-1) at Ohio State Buckeyes (2-2)

I got up to Buckeye territory early so I could make some contacts with high school coaches and others who might help us with recruiting in Ohio in the future. We’re taking on a big time program in our game tonight. One of the Buckeyes’ losses was to #1 Syracuse, but the rest of their schedule early this season has been soft. Following 4 straight NCAA Tourney appearances, the Buckeyes had a down year last season. I expect them to be fighting hard to win at home tonight and get their record above .500.

Duany Braswell, their 6-7 SF, is averaging 19.9 ppg and 6.8 rpg. We need to keep him in check tonight. Coach V is starting Quinton Asbury at SF. Asbury is a better defender than Aaron Wells. But Braswell is a stud though, so if he ignites, it’s imperative we control the rest of the team.

Kenneth Grandison is challenging Ricky Lee for the starting PF position, but while Grandison is a better scorer, Lee is a better rebounder, so Lee gets the nod again tonight.

7 minutes into the game we trail by 10 as we can’t get our offense untracked. The rest of the first half was even worse. By the end of the 1st half we had hit just 24% of our shots and trailed 47-22. SG Brent Gregory was our lone offensive light. He had 9 points. But the Buckeyes’ C R. R. Burmann scorched us with 16 points.

We continued to have shooting woes in the 2nd half and fell behind by as much as 27 points before closing the gap slightly in the final minutes of the game. We were out-rebounded 38-27.

Final Score: Ohio State—66, Missouri State (3-2)—50.

Leading players for Missouri State: SG Brent Gregory-16 pts, 4 reb; PG Bart McCain-11 pts, 2 assists, 1 reb.

Player of the Game: Ohio State’s C R. T. Borman-22 pts, 1 assist, 7 reb, 1 steal.

[PointGuard]

Game #6, Dec. 3, 2018: Missouri State Bears (3-2) at Saint Louis Billikens (3-3)

A big bunch of us from Branson caravanned over to St. Louis for tonight’s game. We had a great Mexican dinner and several trips to margaritaville before the game. So while we’re definitely in the minority at tonight’s game, the Bears rooters are gonna be hootin’ and hollerin’.

Brenda saw Meaghan Kriley in the crowd before the game and got together with her. Brenda’s interest in the Bears seems to have been supplanted by her efforts to move Meaghan and Coach Vandergard closer to the altar. Bret is much too slow movin’ for Brenda taste. But by the time the game gets started she’ll be back beside me adding her magnificent voice to our caterwauls.

After winning their first 3 games this season, the Billikens have gone into a 3-game tailspin, as their offense has failed to ignite.

The Bears jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead, giving us plenty to holler about. The Saint Louis fans out-cheered us as the Billikens came back to tie the game at 10-10 with 16 minutes left in the half. Missouri State then went on a run to pull away to a 24-13 lead with about 9 minutes till the halftime break. St. Louis then climbed back into the game and just before the end of the half tied the game at 27-27. SG Brent Gregory led the Bears’ scoring with 9 points, but the Billikens counterpart, Emmett Morris dropped in 11 to lead all scorers.

Buddy and his pals went outside for the half and must have downed some booze, because they came back and whooped and hollered louder than they did even in the first half. During the halftime break, I spent some more time with Meaghan trying to give her some tips on how to lasso a man. Well they all worked for me anyway. Meaghan's a smart woman, but too wrapped up in her work.

The Billikens took a small lead early in the 2nd half, but Missouri State caught fire midway through the half to take a 43-36 lead with 10-1/2 minutes to go. Our group was going wild and got louder as the Bears took a 10 point advantage with 8 minutes on the clock. From that point on, the Bears seemed determined to bury the Billikens and steadily increased their lead.

It was a big road win for Missouri State. The Bears outshot Saint Louis 54% to 35% and dominated the boards 34-20.

Our group went out partyin’ after the game and got so drunk we all got hotel rooms in St. Louis to avoid killin’ ourselves by trying to drive back to Branson that night.

Final Score: Missouri State (4-2)—72, Saint Louis—55.

Leading players for Missouri State: PG Bart McCain-14 pts, 3 assists, 1 reb, 2 steals; SG Cleveland Brown-11 pts, 1 assist, 5 reb; PG Terrance Simmons-10 points, 1 assist, 2 reb, 2 steals; SG Brent Gregory-9 pts, 1 assists, 2 reb, 1 steal; C Donte Hartfield-7 pts, 2 assists, 7 reb, 3 steals, 1 block.

Player of the Game: PG Bart McCain-14 pts, 3 assists, 1 reb, 2 steals.

For the Billikens: SG Emmett Morris-20 pts, 4 reb, 1 steal.

[PointGuard]

Man, we’re in the middle of 4 straight road games. Sucks, man! I had hoped to be playing more, but I we have some good big men who have been playing here for a while so it’s hard breaking into the lineup. I’ve gotten into all 6 games, but am averaging under 4 minutes a game. That sucks also! The refs are making some tough calls against me also. So I think Coach V is too worried about me picking up fouls. But looking at my stats, they are pretty good if I were playing 40 minutes per game. I’d be averaging about 11 ppg, nearly 13 rpg, 5-1/2 apg, and 3-1/2 spg. I brought that up to Coach V hoping he’d take it into consideration and give me more minutes. They make the other big guy’s 40 mpg stats pale in comparison. I didn’t mention the 18 fouls per game I’d be committing if I played 40 minutes a game. But I think my size just draws the refs attention.

[PointGuard]

Game #7, Dec. 6, 2018: Missouri State Bears (4-2) at Drexel Dragons (3-3)

Joey Jones is starting at center in place of Donte Hartfield tonight. I think Coach looked more closely at the stats after I brought things up and saw that Joey is outplaying Donte. Now if he just gets me into the game more.

I think we got a good chance tonight. The Dragons haven’t played that tough a schedule and have lost one game at home, so hopefully we can put another L on him in their gym tonight. Quintin Asbury is starting again at SF instead of Aaron Wells. Aaron has had a rough start this season after playing a couple strong years for the Bears.

Wow, Coach put me into the game with 14 minutes to go in the 1st half. We were trailing 7-6 at that point. Drexel hit a quick bucket and then stole a pass that resulted in a 3 point play. Bart McCain then hit me with a nice pass down low along the left baseline and I was able to drive on my man to the slam down a dunk on which he fouled me. I made the free throw to cut the Dragons lead to 12-9. I got about 4 minutes on the court then returned to the bench to become a cheer leader.

With just under 7 minutes to go, I nearly fell off my chair as Coach motioned me to head back into the game with us trailing 18-15. Damned refs called a touch foul against me 30 seconds later. I got the ball low in the post and put up a 6 footer that would have gone down if I hadn’t been fouled on the shot. I dropped in both shots to cut the lead to 20-19. The refs tagged me with another foul when I had to check the point guard outside. That sent me to the bench with 4-1/2 minutes left in the half.

We went to the locker room down 39-30. But the real difference was that the refs sent the Dragons to the line 11 more times than we got there and they scored 10 more points on free throws. PF Ricky Lee topped our scoring with 6 points but I was right behind him with 5.

The fouls continued to pile up against us in the 2nd half. Two of our big guys were called for their 3rd fouls early in the half, so I was brought back in with 17 minutes to go at which point we were trailing 45-36.

I grabbed a rebound and put it back up and in a couple minutes later. I was called for my 3rd foul at the 13:30 mark. This foul was justified as I had to stop the Dragon’s center from being able to drive the basket. But that put me back on the bench.

With several of our players being burdened with 4 fouls apiece, Coach put me back into the game with 7:40 remaining. But by that time Drexel had a 69-48 lead. I played until the 2:08 mark and we’d cut the Dragons’ lead to 75-57 at that point. We fired away from outside but missed them all from that point. For the game we had an 18 point deficit at the charity stripe. We also hit just 37% of our FG attempts. I think we need to work the ball more inside...get it to me for some easy buckets that will improve our shooting percentage.

I got to play 16 minutes and score 7 points but just pulled down 2 rebounds. Not bad scoring, but I'd have had more boards if the Dragons hadn't teamed up against me and completely blocked me out from pulling down more rebounds.

Final Score: Drexel—78, Missouri State (4-3)—57.

Leading players for Missouri State: SF Aaron Wells-9 pts, 3 reb; PF Ricky Lee-8 pts, 1 assist, 4 reb.

Player of the Game: Drexel’s C Brian Izzo-17 pts, 1 assist, 2 reb.

[PointGuard]

Game #8, Dec. 14, 2018: Missouri State Bears (4-3) at Penn State Nittany Lions (3-4)

The Nittany Lions have yet to impress this season since they’ve had mixed results against a rather weak schedule. They have balanced scoring throughout their lineup, but we’re going to focus on PG Matt Spencer who’s hit for the highest percentage of any of their players.

Joey Jones will be starting again at center for us, but Aaron Wells returns to the starting lineup at SF. We need to get our offense in gear if we want a chance to win.

We played consistently well throughout the first half and gradually built up a solid lead. Led by SG Brent Gregory’s 17 points, we led 41-25 at the halftime break. We hit 61% of our FG attempts and held a 15-8 rebounding advantage.

We held onto a double digit lead throughout the 2nd half as we outplayed Penn State in all aspects of the game.

Coach V gave more minutes to reserve C Marquis Hollins. Hollins played 19 solid minutes, scoring 6, pulling down 3 rebounds, dishing out 2 assists, and getting 2 steals and a block. While Marquis still has a lot to learn defensively, his size intimidates opponents inside, limiting shot attempts. Additionally tonight he only picked up 2 fouls.

Final Score: Missouri State (5-3)—78, Penn State—67

Leading players for Missouri State: SG Brent Gregory-27 pts, 1 assist, 5 reb, 1 steal; PG Bart McCain-15 pts, 1 reb, 1 steal; SG Cleveland Brown-8 pts, 2 assists, 1 reb.

Player of the Game: SG Brent Gregory-27 pts, 1 assist, 5 reb, 1 steal

Award: SG Brent Gregory was named Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Week.

[PointGuard]

Bret Vandergard and I have been playing racquetball regularly. He’s a very good player, but not surprisingly, so am I. After our most recent game, I invited him to bring Meghan Kriley over to a football party at a local sports bar. He works all the time, but finally agreed to check with her.

I was a bit surprised when they showed up, but happy to see them. I had brought Candy Marshall along and she was sitting next to me. She and I have had some very good times together, but she’s just one of many I spend time with. She’s pretty hot though and plenty stacked. Bret, being the gentleman that I am not, pulled out the chair next to me for Meghan to sit down, but she moved over to the chair opposite me and sat down. I think she caught my smirk when she did it. The woman is a fox but thinks she’s so good she’s above most everyone else. Anyways, we all enjoyed watching the Raiders upset the Broncos. I noticed Candy eyeing Bret, but that’s ok with me. Maybe even Miss High and Mighty noticed…heh!

[PointGuard]

Game #9, Dec. 21, 2018: Oregon State Beavers (7-4) at Missouri State Bears (5-3)

This is the first game this season I’ve attended. I fell a while back and broke a couple ribs. Healing is slow when you get older. The ribs hurt like the devil but it’s slowly gotten better. I decided I finally needed to get out and wanted to see my Bears play. Sharon, my daughter, was dead set against me going. Eventually she realized that I was going to get to this game one way or another, so she said OK as long as she came along to help me. She wanted me to ride in a wheel chair and sit down handicapped area, but there’s no way I was going to do that. So she hung onto me as I hobbled up the stairs to our seats along with the other Fan Club members.

Oregon State has played better than anticipated this season. Included in their resume is a win over #17 Illinois. Their perimeter players provide the bulk of their scoring. SF Quintin Asbury is familiar with their system since he played (and started) for them for 2 years before transferring here, so I wasn’t surprised to see him starting tonight. I’m hoping he has a burn in him to show his old team and coach up. It would also be nice to see Brent Gregory put up some big numbers like he did in the Bears last game, but I imagine the Beavers will be all over him.

Sharon looks bored and stay so even when the game starts. She should have let me come alone. She’s playing with her phone rather than watching the game.

The Bears take advantage of a couple steals and resultant fast breaks to take a 9-4 lead, but with 16:37 left in the half, PG Bart McCain picks up his 2nd foul. The Bears go on a run that increases their lead to 19-6 at the 13:51 mark. Our fans are roaring. Even that doesn’t get Sharon’s nose out of her phone’s screen. The Bears increase their lead to 20 with 5-1/2 minutes remaining until the break. The other members of the Go Bears Fan Club are saying I’m the one bringing the Bears their good luck tonight.

The half mercifully ends for the Beavers since they trail 46-23. The Bears are controlling the boards 15-6, have a 14-6 turnover advantage, and outshoot the Beavs 59% to 44%. SF Quintin Asbury has risen to the occasion against his old team and leads our scoring with 10 points.

During the half Bob Prescott, who is also a member of the Fan Club, sits down next to me and monopolizes my time during the break. He’s a nice guy. But I get the feeling he would like to take our relationship beyond both being in the Fan Club. I had a good marriage to my husband Steve, but he had a heart attack and we lost him a few years ago. I’m not looking for a replacement.

Finally in the 2nd half I get Sharon to put her phone away and try to explain a little about the game to her. She listens and nods, but I know she won’t remember any of what I’m saying.

The Bears shooting is cold in the early stages of the 2nd half. Our lead shrinks to 16 with 11 minutes to go. The Bears wake up at that point and quickly re-establish a 24 point lead. Even though Coach V substitutes freely, we run away with a sound thrashing of Oregon State. The Bears dominate all team stats including holding a 19-8 turnover advantage.

Final Score: Missouri State (6-3)—78, Oregon State—53.

Leading players for Missouri State: SF Quintin Asbury—19 pts, 1 assist, 6 reb; SG Brent Gregory-15 pts, 5 assists, 3 reb, 2 steals; PF/SF Kenneth Grandison-9 pts, 1 assist, 2 reb; PF Ricky Lee-8 pts, 1 assist, 4 reb, 1 steal.

Player of the Game: SF Quintin Asbury—19 pts, 1 assist, 6 reb.

Our RPI is now 73rd best in the country.

[PointGuard]

Scoring: Brent Gregory-14.2 ppg, Bart McCain-10.4 ppg, Quintin Asbury-5.9 ppg, Kenneth Grandison-5.8 ppg, Donte Hartfield-5.7 ppg, Ricky Lee-5.2 ppg

Rebounding: Brent Gregory-4.1 rpg, Joey Jones-3.9 rpg, Donte Hartfield-3.8 rpg, Ricky Lee-3.7 rpg, Aaron Wells-3.0 rpg

Assists: Brent Gregory-2.0 apg, Bart mcCain-1.6 apg, Aaron Wells-1.4 apg, Terrence Simmons-1.1 apg, Cleveland Brown-1.0 apg, Donte Hartfield-1.0 apg

[PointGuard]

Game #10, Dec. 28, 2018: Northern Iowa Panthers (7-3, 0-0) at Missouri State Bears (6-3, 0-0)

We kick off MVC play with a game against a team that has performed very well in their pre-conference games. Northern Iowa is led by their stellar SG Edwin Walton who is averaging 15.9 ppg and is hitting over 50% of his FG attempts and also his 3’s. In addition, Kevin Stewart and his replacement at point guard, Ronnie Towns, are averaging a combined 13.9 ppg. Rounding out their perimeter game is the combination of Tarrell Holmes and Adam Bergmann who together are averaging 12.0 ppg at the SF position. Since this is a home game, it’s one the Bears need to salt away. And while the Panthers have a slightly better record than the Bears, our schedule has been tougher. Coach V seemed confident that his team was prepared to handle Northern Iowa tonight.

Brent Gregory scorches the net with a 3 to open the game and while Edwin Walton comes right back with a field goal, we stretch our lead to 21-5 after 8 minutes of play. With 6 minutes left in the first half, we’d expanded our lead to 21 points. The half ends with the Bears leading 45-26. Coach V kept fresh legs on the court throughout the half and 10 of the 12 players who got into the game scored. Brent Gregory knocked down 9 points, grabbed 3 rebounds, dished out 3 assists, and stole the ball 3 times. Even though he was double-teamed, Edwin Walton scored 10 points for Northern Iowa.

Our shooting cooled off in the 2nd half, but the team maintained its defensive intensity. We slowly increased our lead throughout the half and ran away with a lopsided victory. Complete dominance by the Bears: control of the boards to the tune of 37-23, outshooting the Panthers 49% to 33%, a 15-6 turnover advantage, 32-8 for points in the paint, 19-5 on 2nd chance points, and 22-4 on fast-break points.

Final Score: Missouri State (7-3, 1st place tie)—78, Northern Iowa—46.

Leading players for Missouri State: SG Brent Gregory-18 pts, 5 assists, 4 reb, 3 steals; C Marquis Hollins-9 pts, 2 assists, 4 reb, 1 steal; PF Kenneth Grandison-9 pts, 4 reb; SF Quinton Asbury-6 pts, 8 reb, 1 steal.

Player of the Game: SG Brent Gregory-18 pts, 5 assists, 4 reb, 3 steals.

[PointGuard]

Game #11, Dec. 31, 2018: Missouri State Bears (7-3, 1-0) at Illinois State Redbirds (3-7, 0-1)

One of Illinois State’s 3 wins was over Utah, so they can be dangerous. Even though the Redbirds shoot well particularly from beyond the arc, their offense has sputtered. That’s because they are error-prone and turn the ball over nearly 19 times a game. In addition their foul-shooting is poor.

Surprisingly, while the Bears are favored, the spread is extremely close. I got together with Bret Vandergard for a beer a couple days before the game, and he let it slip that they plan to pressure the Redbirds to exploit their tendency to turn over the ball. With the spread like it is, this is a helluva opportunity and I’m betting heavily on the Bears to beat the spread.

If the weather were better I’d make the 6 hour drive up to Normal, Illinois to enjoy my expected windfall. But since it’s snowing and blustery, I decide to just listen to the game on the radio. Unfortunately ESPN2 isn’t carrying the game on TV.

Bret’s starting lineup is McCain at PG, Gregory at SG, Asbury at SF, Grandison at PF, and Jones at C. All but Jones are excellent defensively, a further indication that Bret plans to employ a solid defense against the Redbirds. Jones has been the Bears best rebounder so he should make up for Grandison’s less-than-stellar rebounding skills.

Illinois State scores the first 4 points of the game as the Bears turn the ball over twice. Not good. The Redbirds don’t make a turnover until the 15:25 mark of the first half. The Bears finally get their first lead at 7-6 with 13:25 left in the half. Defense predominates leading to both teams shooting poorly. Turnovers mount for both teams throughout the half. In the latter part of the half, the Bears finally begin hitting some shots and pull away for a 28-20 halftime advantage. Both teams turn the ball over 7 times in the first half, but the Bears hold a 41% to 38% shooting advantage and out-rebound the Redbirds 17-12. SF Quinton Asbury is the top scorer for the Bears with 5 points.

As the refs continue their calls against the Bears in the 2nd half (like they were doing in the 1st half), Bret finally has had enough and gets tagged with a T at the 15:26 mark. That doesn’t happen to him much, so these hometown refs must really be bad. A minute later the Bears have 3 starters (McCain, Gregory and Asbury) on the bench with 3 fouls apiece and Illinois State has used this to build a 35-33 lead. With 9:17 to go, the refs tag the Bears with their 10th foul of the half. At this point they’ve only charged one foul against Illinois State. After trailing by 7, the Bears make a run and take a 54-52 lead with 4:40 left in the game. The refs immediately call another foul sending Illinois State again to the line allowing them to tie the game. The Bears turn the ball over 2 times in a row and together with a continuing parade to the foul line for the Redbirds, Illinois State goes ahead by 6. Brent Gregory cuts the lead to 4 with 32 seconds to play, but the Bears have to foul and Illinois State buries both shots to go up by 6. Missouri State hits a late shot but there’s not enough time to make up the difference.

That p***es me off! I’d like to kill those refs. A 12 point differential on free throws in favor of Illinois State was the difference this game. This is the first time I’ve lost money betting on Missouri State. Bret was unable to make good on his plan to burn the Redbirds with turnovers as they made just 13 (while the Bears had 15 turnovers). I’m not a happy man! I don’t like losing money, particularly big amounts of money. So what has Bret Vandergard done for ME recently? Not a damned thing. Bret doesn’t know it, but he owes me for his failure to get his team to perform as they should have.

Final Score: Illinois State—66, Missouri State (7-4, 1-1, 2nd place tie)—62.

Leading players for Missouri State: PG Brent Gregory-16 pts, 3 reb, 1 steal; PF Kenneth Grandison-8 pts, 1 reb.

Player of the Game: Illinois State’s C Vernon Harmon-10 pts, 5 assists, 4 reb, 5 steals, 1 block.

Others for Illinois State: PG John Gresham-17 pts, PF Brett Washington-13 pts.