Garland, a Gary, Indiana native, turned down a scholarship offer to play for the Indiana Hoosiers and coach Bobby Knight in 1985. He also stiff-armed Jerry Tarkanian’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels on the recruiting trail, among others.

However, Garland took a chance after he and his parents forged a tremendous connection with Coach Charlie Spoonhour, a down-home personality who at the time was only three years into his first head-coaching job in D-I.

The pair kick-started what would become five NCAA Tournaments and two National Invitation Tournaments (NIT) over the next few seasons, as the Bears played a ball-controlled style of offense and emphasized aggressive defense.

The breakthrough came in March 1986, Garland’s first year in the program, as the Bears reached the quarterfinals of the NIT. The next season, the Bears reached their first NCAA Tournament and upset No. 4 seed Clemson in the opening round.

Garland went on to become the Bears’ leading scorer twice, averaging 16.5 points as a junior and 21.2 points as a senior.  He also was a two-time all-conference choice and the Mid-Continent Player of the Year as a senior, when he scored a school-record 720 points, a mark that still stands.

His 1,248 points remain the best total for any two-year player in program history. His .504 shooting percentage in the first year for his 3-point field goals still stands as a school record.

Before his arrival, Garland had climbed out of Gary, Ind., and played two seasons at Southeastern (Iowa) Community College for Jim Wyatt, a former colleague of Spoonhour’s.

The 1986 Bears finished 24-8, beating Pittsburgh and Marquette in Hammons Student Center – the so-called Spoon’s Temple of Doom – before losing by one point at Florida.

The two NIT games in Springfield, with their electric atmosphere broadcast on TV, brought national attention to Southwest Missouri State, giving Spoonhour more credibility on the recruiting trail.

The Bears finished with school-record 28-6 record the next year, including a 13-1 record to win the Mid-Continent championship.

Many will never forget a game at Brigham Young, when Garland went on a scoring binge in the final 15 seconds to force overtime and then won the game on a bank shot.

He went on to play six seasons in the National Basketball Association as a starter for the Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets. He scored 4,799 points, including a career-best 1,145 points for the 1988-1989 Nuggets.

Garland was inducted into the Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.