A battle for first place in Des Moines on Saturday.
Since the loss at SIU on January 4th, Drake has rattled off 9 of 10 wins with only a loss coming at Missouri State in overtime on January 18th.
Drake Leaders:
6-7 Sophomore Tucker DeVries: 19.6 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 1.8 APG, 1.0 SPG
6-0 Senior Roman Penn: 11.7 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 5.2 APG, 0.8 SPG
6-3 Senior Garrett Sturtz: 9.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.0 SPG
6-10 Senior Darnell Brodie: 9.0 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.2 APG, 1.0 BPG
Last Meeting:
SIU pulled out a gritty 53-49 win over the Bulldogs on January 4th. Both teams shot an identical 33.3% from the field. Drake got off to a 16-3 lead at the 13:08 mark of the first half but SIU cut the lead to 3 going into the half. Marcus Domask led all scorers with 21 points on 5-12 shooting and added 8 rebounds. J.D. Muila added 6 points and 10 rebounds off the bench. D.J. Wilkins led Drake scorers with 14 and Darnell Brodie had 7 points, 10 rebounds.
Links:
In our first game against Drake, Ebube played only 1 minute. With his recent playing time starting to increase due to his impact, I gotta think Scottie gets some quality playing time against Drake.
Is it Saturday yet?
Don't really think we will win, but don't think we can't... Drake has been playing at a high level. Keep it around 5 points at the under 4 and hope to close it out.
I go into every game believing we can win and keep the faith until it is apparent we can't Go DawgsDon't really think we will win, but don't think we can't... Drake has been playing at a high level. Keep it around 5 points at the under 4 and hope to close it out.
We proved in the first meeting that we can beat them. Let's beat them again!
Agreed, I just meant I don't expect to win. I always believe and keep believing until hope is gone.I go into every game believing we can win and keep the faith until it is apparent we can't Go DawgsDon't really think we will win, but don't think we can't... Drake has been playing at a high level. Keep it around 5 points at the under 4 and hope to close it out.
Mike Reis with Darian DeVries:
Roman Penn had maybe the worst night of his career in the first game. If he and DeVries are both playing well at the same time, they’re the best team in the league ... hasn’t happened as consistently as you’d have thought this year, but they both appear to be in pretty good form lately. And then the Sturtz factor always looms.
Going to take a massive effort and some marksmanship to get what would be a very significant win.
I believe we are due for a good win at the Knapp Center it has been awhile
We can definitely beat these guys. Call me crazy, but I actually think we match up pretty well against them. I also think if they play like they did against Murray, no one is beating them.
We have to control what we can though, so turnovers under 10 and limit second chance points, those are the big keys in my eyes. If I never have to see that 38 year old 6’3” Sturtz dive in and grab an offensive rebound and stick it back, it’ll be too soon. I don’t think there is any way we are going to hold them under 50 again, but hopefully high50’s/low 60’s. Make them earn everything they get!
This game would also be a great time to have an above average day from outside. Drake is a sneaky good defensive team and we’re going to have to keep them honest from outside if we want to have a chance. Otherwise they are going to pack it in and make our lives miserable.
Drake is favored by 6.5
thats probably fair. i decided to drive up after lunch today. nothing better to do. its time for the saluki crowd to start to be a road presence again and a first place show down is a great place to start.Drake is favored by 6.5
not the best tickets so that probably means a huge crowd for them.
Craving a McBride Special!
Vegas, Kenpom, etc have the Salukis losing and my gut tells me the same. That being said, as most others have said, *IF* SIU plays at a high level AND the GOOD Jones shows up, the Salukis can win. Again though, I'm not expecting it. MY bigger concern is how is this team going to win back to back home games against Bradley AND Northern Iowa. And let's not just chalk up the road finale against UIC as a win either after barely squeaking by in their most recent matchup. IF I wasn't so emotionally invested, I would say this is an AWESOME time of year. But I admit that losses REALLY irk me now that expectations have finally risen. Hopefully this team can surprise me and win ALL 5 remaining games. I remain steadfast, however, and say they'll finish 3-2 and end up 22-9, which matches Kenpom. With all this being said, I will say, IF the Salukis can beat Drake, on the road, they WILL win the Valley and all will be right with the world !!!!!!
Saluki Radio Flashback: 1993 MVC Tournament championship:
