SPRINGFIELD–Following a second straight losing season to begin his second stint as the Head Coach of the Missouri State men’s basketball program, Cuonzo Martin still believes he and his staff have the Bears on track.

MSU (14-17) closed out its regular season with a 12-point loss, at home, to Middle Tennessee State, on Saturday. The latest loss was the team’s seventh in its last eight games. The headspinning finish dropped the Bears to 9th place in Conference USA standings, and has caused a number of voices in Bear Nation to vent their frustration with the status of the program.

Missouri State must now win four games over five days at this week’s Conference USA Tournament (March 10-14) to keep its season alive. Only by winning the conference tournament title will Martin and company qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The odds aren’t impossible, but the likelihood of that happening, based on their last eight games, isn’t in their favor.

On the heels of Coach Martin’s first year back at the helm, a 9-23 season, one of the worst in program history, there was a real expectation for Martin’s men to improve, significantly, but only winning a handful more of games isn’t the “big step” MSU supporters were hoping for.

However, despite the disappointment in his first two seasons, this go-round, Coach Martin believes the Bears can make a run this postseason and set themselves up for a prosperous 2027 campaign.

“We’re in a position to win a championship,” said Bears Head Coach Cuonzo Martin. “If I’m here, we’re gonna win a championship. I believe that without a doubt. There’s some parts you have to get, and, you know, going into next season, in this conference you know what you need. So, our fanbase, they see the energy the team is competing with and working hard, so just need to add a couple pieces and we’ll do that.”

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