ARTICLE BY ADAM ROGAN
The Bulldogs remained winless in the Missouri Valley Conference this season after a rough second half at Illinois State.
Drake managed to shrink a 10-point deficit down to three in the closing minutes of the first half and the start of the second, but that was as close the score would get. The Redbirds responded with 17 unanswered points in under five minutes.
Drake again closed the gap to within three possessions at the 9:19 mark behind another strong performance from sophomore guard Reed Timmer (19 points, four assists, four rebounds). Still, that wouldn’t be enough as the Illinois State offense lit up the scoreboard on the way to a 64-76 victory.
Drake’s shooting was solid, 24-of-44 from the field, but Illinois State’s 15 threes on 28 attempts is what doomed the Bulldogs. That, and Drake’s inability to hold onto the ball.
The Bulldogs committed 21 turnovers while their defense only generated nine takeaways. Illinois State used that to its advantage and outscored Drake 13-2 in points off turnovers.
Drake sophomore Ore Arogundade shined coming off of the bench, pulling down a game-high and personal season-high eight rebounds, scoring nine and not committing a single turnover in 29 minutes.
The Bulldogs will return to the Knapp Center this Saturday to host Bradley for a 2 p.m. matchup in which Drake will aim to prevent losing its 10th straight game. Bradley and Drake are currently ranked ninth and 10th in the MVC, so the game is sure to be a close one.
Hi Adam,
Are you getting close to writing and article about the depths to which Drake’s Men’s basketball program has sunk? I certainly hope so. Someone on the inside needs to call out our Athletic Director for the last two hires and at the same time awaken our new president to what Drake basketball once meant and was.
I’m 60 years old aND an as video Drake fan from afar…San Francisco. I lettered in golf 3 years and was graduated from Drake in 1977. I remember watching on tv when we lost by 3 or 4 to Lew Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul Jabbar) and UCLA in the semi-finals of the NCAA tourney. I watching us win our fair share agains t the likes of St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati and Memphis. I remember our losing to Marquette by 1 in 1977…the year they won the NCAA tourney with coach Al McGuire. I remember when we were on a par with Creighton, Butler, Northern Iowa and even Wichita State…almost. The programs at these schools have blown by us over the years! Why? Is it recruiting, coaching, facilities, the schools overall commitment? Are Omaha, St. Louis, Wichita, Cedar Falls, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and the other cities more desirable that Des Moines? Breaking it down…Des Moines is a much nicer city than it was in our glory years, the schools academic reputation has improved over the years and we have built the Knapp Center and the Shivers Practice Facility. I say it is the University’s unwillingness to make a real statement with a coaching hire. Maybe SMU is a bad example now that Larry Brown has them on probation, but they are 18-1 and they have Tom Jankovich as the heir apparent coach as the highest paid assistant in the countr.. They were in the tank for decades and decided to get out. And what about our crowds? I remember 10,000+ at nearly every game at Veterans Memorial Auditorium. Now we can’t get 4,000 to game (more like 2,500) and cannot get bigger crowds with free tickets for kids. The public basically is saying that the “product” has no value. This is very sad. Look at Creighton where they get 17,500+ to the Century Link Center. I remember when they couldn’t get 6,000 years as go. Drake’s program has sunk do far. If you look at average record and attendance the past thirty years we must be near the bottom.of Division 1. This cannot continue. If we can raise $10,000,000 for the practice facility we c as n raise the same amount to augment what the university is willing to pay a coach. Find a $1,000,000 coach with a “name” that has done cache
Sorry…sent before I could correct typos…anyway…hire a coach that rocks the basketball world. We’re on life support…we need the paddles. Slow and methodical isn’t going to work. We need to admit to the basketball world how broken our program is and make a huge statement showing that it will be fixed FOR SURE in five years or less.