Louisiana Tech Basketball Hosts Missouri State with CUSA Standings on the Line
louisiana tech basketball welcomes Missouri State to the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court tonight as both teams look to settle positioning in Conference USA late in the regular season. The meeting matters because the Bulldogs enter in a multi-team scramble for the middle of the league while the Bears try to halt a five-game slide that has pushed them toward the lower half of the standings.
Louisiana Tech Basketball's Melian Martinez anchors shot-blocking
The Bulldogs arrive with a defensive profile that has defined their recent stretch: over the last five games LA Tech is averaging 9. 6 steals and 6. 8 blocks per contest, and the team has recorded at least eight steals in each of those five games — the first time that has happened since 2019-20. That uptick has translated into a season mark of 4. 8 blocks per game, good for 25th in the nation, with center Melian Martinez a clear catalyst.
Martinez is averaging 1. 65 blocks per game, the highest rate in Conference USA and one that ranks inside the top 60 nationally; he registered a season-high five blocks in the matchup at Kennesaw State, tying his career high. The interior protection has coincided with other defensive standouts: Kaden Cooper has posted his third double-double in the last five games and over that span has averaged 13. 0 points and 11. 2 rebounds while collecting 13 steals (an average of 2. 6 per contest and multiple steals in each game).
Those numbers help explain why the Bulldogs remain competitive even when the offense falters. What makes this notable is that the defensive surge has arrived at a moment when conference seeding can still swing on a handful of outcomes, so extra possessions and blocked shots carry outsized weight for LA Tech’s postseason positioning.
Missouri State's skid and scoring trio threaten Conference USA standings
Missouri State arrives in Ruston at 13-14 overall and 7-9 in league play, in the middle of a five-game losing streak that has included defeats to Liberty, Louisiana Tech, Delaware, Kennesaw State and a 70-67 setback at FIU. Four of those five losses were decided by four points or fewer, and one loss came when the Panthers hit a game-winning three with 3. 5 seconds remaining to decide a 70-67 game in Miami; the accumulation of narrow defeats has directly pushed the Bears down the standings into a two-way tie for seventh.
The Bears' scoring load rests heavily on three players. Keith Palek III is averaging 17. 6 points per game — fourth in the league — while Kobi Williams and Michael Osei-Bonsu are adding 15. 2 and 14. 3 points per contest, respectively. That trio is responsible for 59. 7 percent of Missouri State’s scoring this season, a concentration that has produced offensive output but left the roster vulnerable when one or two of those options struggle late in tight games.
For louisiana tech basketball, the matchup carries extra local significance: this will be the first time LA Tech has hosted Missouri State in Ruston, though MSU leads the all-time series 2-1. The most recent meeting ended dramatically two weeks ago, when the Bulldogs earned a 79-78 double-overtime victory in Springfield — a close finish that underscored how evenly matched the teams have been head-to-head.
Pending tonight’s result, the outcome will influence several league standings permutations: the Bulldogs sit at 15-12 overall and 8-8 in Conference USA and currently occupy a tie for fourth, while a Missouri State win would offer a chance to snap the Bears’ five-game skid and climb out of the crowded middle. The matchup promises tight possessions, with LA Tech’s defensive gains and MSU’s reliance on its top three scorers likely to determine which side controls late-game execution.
