The Drake University men's basketball team begins the second
half of the Missouri Valley Conference schedule Wednesday evening at Southern
Illinois.
The first meeting between the two teams this season is
scheduled to tipoff at SIU Arena at 7:05 p.m. and will be aired via radio in
Des Moines on KRNT 1350-AM.
The Bulldogs are 9-11 this season and 3-6 in the Missouri
Valley Conference after going 1-1 last week with an upset win over Creighton
and a road loss to Missouri State. Drake has won three of its last five games
and has one MVC road win this season, at Illinois State.
Southern Illinois is 8-12 overall and 1-8 in MVC contests
with losses in each of its last four games. Of the Salukis' eight wins, four
have come at SIU Arena this season.
“Every game in our league has proven to be a challenge and
we expect nothing different from Southern Illinois,” Drake head coach Mark
Phelps said. “I feel like they're a team that is much better than their record.
They play extremely hard and while we've had some success there, we expect it
to be a very, very tough game. We need to play better on the road than we did
at Missouri State.”
Senior Ben Simons
(Cadillac, Mich.) led Drake last week with a 19-point performance in that loss
at Missouri State after a 13-point game
with a pair of critical free throws in the win over Creighton. Simons is also
the team's top scorer at 14.4 points per game on 43 percent shooting.
SIU is paced by a pair of newcomers in transfer Desmar
Jackson with 16.3 points per game on 45.4 percent shooting while freshman Anthony
Beane has averaged 9.8 points per game.
“Desmar [Jackson], we know a little bit about him from
playing at Wyoming, and his numbers are terrific,” Phelps said. “Beane is
playing not like a freshman so we'll have our hands full there with those two.”
As a team, SIU averages 65.2 points per game but has scored
just 54.5 points in its last four losses while the Bulldogs are third in the
league in scoring at 72.5 points per game and playing at the fastest pace in
the league.
“We like to play fast, but you have to temper that with
taking good shots,” Phelps said. “You want to be in attack mode, but you still
have to evaluate what is a good shot. We want to play fast, but we also want to
be able to get the ball inside and score around the basket.”
Scoring from the perimeter has not been an issue, however.
The Bulldogs are 10th in the nation in three-pointers per game with
8.9 and 20th in three-point percentage at 38.7 percent. Freshman Micah Mason (Natrona Heights, Pa.) has
been the team's top marksman to date, converting on 50 percent of his attempts.
Following Wednesday's contest, the Bulldogs return home to
host Indiana State on Saturday, Feb. 2. Tipoff against the Sycamores is
scheduled for 6:35 p.m. with the contest being aired on Fox Sports Midwest.
