Men's Basketball 2/10/2012 1:45:00 PM Drake Athletics

GAME NOTES: Drake vs. Evansville, Feb. 12, Knapp Center

Friday, Feb. 10, 2012

THIS WEEK: The Drake Bulldogs (13-12, 6-8 in the MVC) seek to halt to a three-game losing streak when they take on Evansville (12-12, 7-7 MVC) on Sunday night at the Knapp Center. Drake is tied for sixth place in the Missouri Valley Conference with Northern Iowa, one game behind the fifth-place Purple Aces. The Bulldogs look to sweep the season series for the first time since 2007-08 after winning the first matchup in Evansville, 69-60, on Jan. 13. The Aces, however, will be a formidable foe, having won five of their last eight games, including a 65-57 defeat of then-first-place Creighton on Tuesday at home. Sunday's game is Drake's last on Ron Pearson Court at the Knapp Center until the home finale on Feb. 22 vs. Southern Illinois. The Bulldogs will play three of their last four regular season games on the road.

RADIO/TV: All games can be heard on AM 1350 KRNT in Des Moines, with Larry Cotlar on play-by-play and Dolph Pulliam as analyst. The Evansville game will be televised nationally on ESPNU with Mitch Holthus (play-by-play) and David Kaplan (color) on the call. The game next Wednesday at Bradley will be televised by the MVC TV Network with John Rooney (play-by-play) and Mark Adams (color) calling the action. It will air locally on FOX Sports Midwest, as well as FOX Sports Indiana Plus, FOX Sports K.C., Comcast SportsNet Chicago, and nationally on FOX College Sports, DirecTV (Ch. 671), DISH (418), AT&T U-Verse (748) and ESPN3.com (outside the MVC's six-state footprint).

QUICK NOTES:

Drake has not allowed an opponent to shoot higher than 50 percent from the field in any of its last 10 outings. Opponents in this stretch are shooting a combined 42.1 percent (225-534). This stretch followed a period in which the Bulldogs allowed six opponents in an 11-game stretch to top 50-percent shooting before tightening up on the defensive end.
In Wednesday's game Drake's defense forced Illinois State into 34.8-percent shooting from the field (16-46), the second-lowest figure by a Bulldogs opponent this season. That total included 4-for-20 from three-point range (20 percent). Prior to that game Drake had been 9-1 when holding opponents under 40-percent field-goal shooting.
The Bulldogs are 7-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field, and 0-7 when opponents shoot 50 percent or better. The last time Drake did so was in back-to-back games at Evansville Jan. 13 (61%) and vs. Illinois State Jan. 15 (56%). The Bulldogs are 12-2 when shooting a better percentage than their opponents.
Aaron Hawley has made a career-high four three-pointers in back-to-back games starting in place of the ill Ben Simons (mononucleosis). In the two games the junior is 8-of-15 from three-point range and 0-5 inside the arc, but doing his part to take the shots Simons would normally take.
Karl Madison reasserted himself in state of Illinois homecoming on Wednesday night vs. the Redbirds with 9 points, his most since Dec. 28 vs. Indiana State when he scored a career-high 24. His team-high six assists were his most since Dec. 21 vs. Central Arkansas.
Jeremy Jeffers scored a team-high 13 points at Illinois State on Wednesday, his highest since Dec. 28 vs. Indiana State. Needing somebody to pick up the slack with Ben Simons out, Jeffers launched a career-high 11 field goals. It was the first time in his career he has led the team in scoring.
Jeffers is 16-of-27 from the field (59.3%) in the last five games. He is averaging 10.2 points per game over the last four contests to improve his season scoring average to 6.5.
Drake has matched its win total from last year, when it went 13-18. The Bulldogs need just one more Missouri Valley Conference victory to match the best conference win total (7) of Mark Phelps' tenure as head coach (2008-present). Drake has five regular season games remaining, including four in the conference.
Phelps picked up the first two overtime victories of his career in a span of 11 days in January after dropping the first three overtime games of his career from 2008-11. The first win came Jan. 18 at Southern Illinois, a 75-68 victory in a single overtime session. The second came Jan. 28 in triple overtime against Wichita State, 93-86.
The Bulldogs rank third in the MVC in steals (7.2) and three-point field-goal percentage defense (.337).
The Missouri Valley Conference is No. 8 in the NCAA's latest RPI rankings, with two teams in the top 25. Six of the Bulldogs' MVC losses have come at the hands of No. 23 Creighton (twice), No. 55 Northern Iowa (twice) and No. 82 Missouri State (twice), and the other two have come against No. 113 Illinois State and No. 129 Indiana State. Drake (No. 133) owns wins over No. 20 Wichita State and No. 44 Iowa State.
Drake boasts two of the top six scorers in the Valley, with Rayvonte Rice third at 16.5 points per game and Ben Simons fifth at 16.1. No other school has two players in the conference's top 8.
Rice ranks 99th in the nation in scoring (16.5) and No. 19 in the nation in steals (2.3; No. 1 MVC). He is averaging 2.7 steals per game in MVC-only games and tied his career high with five at Southern Illinois (1/18). He also had five at Creighton (1/3).
Rice's 16.5-point scoring average is on pace to be the best by a Bulldog in 10 seasons (Luke McDonald, 17.9, 2000-01). The next highest averages in recent history are 18.1 by Lynnrick Rogers in 1994-95 and 21.1 by Curt Smith in 1992-93.
Rice is one of 10 Missouri Valley Conference players on the Watch List for the 2012 Larry Bird Player of the Year Trophy. He was named National High-Major Player of the Week by College Sports Madness for games of Jan. 23-29.
Kraidon Woods ranks third in the MVC in blocked shots (1.3; 32) and third also in conference-only games (1.5; 21). His 57 career blocks rank sixth among active Valley players. Woods tied his career high with four blocks and set a career high with four steals vs. Wichita State (1/28/12).
Woods' .641 career field-goal percentage ranks second among active players in the Missouri Valley Conference with at least 50 attempts (82-128).
Jordan Clarke ranks ninth in the MVC in rebounding with a team-leading average of 6.3 per game.
Simons is out indefinitely after missing the first two games of his career Saturday and Wednesday because of mononucleosis. He has topped the 20-point mark four times in his last eight games. He leads the MVC in three-point field goals (57) and ranks No. 67 in the nation in three-point field goals per game (2.5). Simons ranks sixth among active MVC players in career three-pointers (136).
Simons' career-high of 29 points vs. Wichita State (1/28/12) topped his previous high of 24 vs. Iowa State on Nov. 15, 2011, and matched the best output by a Bulldog since Josh Young scored 34 points vs. Morehead State on Nov. 19, 2008. Rice scored 29 earlier this year vs. Central Arkansas (12/21/11) and Ryan Wedel scored 29 vs. Evansville Feb. 23, 2011.
Simons, a co-captain, has made 21 consecutive free throws and 27 of his last 28 from the stripe over his last 11 games to rank No. 1 in the MVC free-throw shooting (.887; 47-53). His last miss came with 4:24 to play vs. Bradley (1/10). Simons ranks No. 1 among active MVC players in career free-throw percentage (.881), of those with at least 40 career attempts.
Drake looks to re-establish its recent home-court dominance after going 3-3 in its last six contests on Ron Pearson Court at the Knapp Center. The Bulldogs had won 11 in a row, dating back to last season, prior to this 3-3 stretch.

LAST OUTING: Illinois State guard Tyler Brown scored a game-high 26 points and forward Jackie Carmichael added 18 points and grabbed 20 rebounds to hold off Drake 64-53 Wednesday night in a Missouri Valley Conference game at Redbird Arena. Redshirt-freshman Jeremy Jeffers led three Bulldogs in double figures with 13 points, shooting 5-of-11 from the field. He was followed by junior Aaron Hawley with 12 and sophomore Rayvonte Rice with 11. Senior Kraidon Woods led the team with five rebounds to go along with four points. All 12 of Hawley's points came via three-point shots, as he matched the career high of four three-pointers he established in his last outing on Saturday. Redshirt-freshman point guard Karl Madison played his most effective and aggressive game in recent weeks, finishing with nine points and six assists. Drake converted 20-of-52 field goals (38.5%) while Illinois State hit 16-of-46 (34.8%). The Redbirds, however, capitalized on 20 Drake fouls to convert 28-of-31 from the free-throw line (90.3%), while Drake made 7-of-13 (53.8%). Illinois State outrebounded Drake 45-23.

ABOUT THE PURPLE ACES: Evansville is 12-12 (7-7 MVC) and coming off one of the biggest wins in the Missouri Valley Conference this season, over then-first-place Creighton. The Purple Aces took down the Bluejays 65-57 Tuesday at the Ford Center. Evansville has won five of its last eight games behind the scoring of Colt Ryan (20.5), who ranks second in the Valley. Troy Taylor leads the team with 4.8 rebounds per game, followed by Ryan and Kenny Harris at 4.5. The Aces are coached by Marty Simmons, with a record of 63-84 in five years at Evansville, and 161-157 in 11 years as a head coach.

BULLDOGS-PURPLE ACES SERIES: Evansville holds a 19-17 advantage in the series with Drake, including a 9-8 mark in games played in Des Moines. The Bulldogs have won the last two matchups after the Purple Aces won four out of five following a stretch of 13 Drake wins in 17 meetings between 2001-2008. The teams have split the last six games in Des Moines.

THE LAST TIME (1/13/12: Drake 69, at Evansville 60): The Bulldogs captured their first road win of the season on Friday, Jan. 13, defeating Evansville 69-60 at the Ford Center. Drake, which had one win away from the Knapp Center on a neutral court over Winthrop at the Paradise Jam on Nov. 19, won its second game in a row and held the Purple Aces, No. 3 in the MVC in scoring (72.7), to their lowest point total of the season. The Bulldogs evened their Missouri Valley Conference record at 3-3. Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) led all scorers with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting, including 3-5 from three-point range. Junior Aaron Hawley (Rogers, Ark.) added 11 points and four players shared the rebounding lead with six apiece to help the Bulldogs to a season-best 38-21 rebounding advantage. Drake built an early 26-9 lead, and saw Evansville cut that lead to just five points early in the second half before going on a 12-4 run to regain control.

BULLDOGS TOP FIVE IN MVC STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Drake holds the following top-five rankings:

3rd in steals (7.2) and three-point field-goal defense (.337)
5th in scoring (67.4), field-goal percentage (.446) and turnover margin (+0.9)

In conference-only play Drake ranks:

1st in three-point field-goal percentage defense (.315)
2nd in steals (7.1)
3rd in defensive rebound pct. (.724) and turnover margin (+1.1)
5th in scoring (66.4), defensive rebound percentage (.724) and and three-point FG made (6.1; 86)

SOPHOMORE SENSATION: Sophomore guard Rayvonte Rice (Champaign, Ill.) is following his tremendous freshman season with a performance worthy of consideration for MVC Player of the Year and all-conference honors.

The 2010-11 all-freshman, all-newcomer and honorable mention All-MVC performer has raised his scoring average to 16.5, third-best in the MVC and No. 99 in the NCAA, and averages 5.8 rebounds per game, up from his team-leading 4.8 figure of a year ago.
Rice ranks No. 1 in the MVC and No. 19 in the NCAA in steals (2.3), and ranks third in minutes played (33.6).
He has scored a career-high 29 points in a game this season (12/21/11 vs. Central Arkansas), 27 (1/7/12 vs. UNI), and three times scored 23 (Winthrop, 11/19; at Iowa, 12/17; vs. Creighton, 1/25). Rice has seven games with 20 or more points (including three in a row in late December), 11 for his career.
Rice recorded the second and third double-doubles of his career in consecutive games in late January, going for 23 points and 11 rebounds in a loss to Creighton Jan 25, followed by 19 points and a career-high 14 rebounds in a Jan. 28 win over Wichita State.
Rice is one of 10 MVC Players on the conference's Watch List for the 2012 Larry Bird Player of the Year Award, and was named in late December to collegehoops.net's Pre-League Play All-MVC team along with Creighton's Doug McDermott, Missouri State's Kyle Weems, Evansville's Colt Ryan and Bradley's Taylor Brown.
He was named National High-Major Player of the Week for Jan. 23-29 by CollegeSportsMadness.com.

SIMONS ELEVATES HIS GAME: Junior forward Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) has significantly raised his level of play this season over that of his first two seasons. He is out indefinitely after contracting mononucleosis. Simons missed the first game of his career on Feb. 4 vs. Missouri State after playing in 87 in a row, and has now missed two games.

Simons earned his first MVC Player of the Week honor Jan. 16 for his two 20-point games in 3 Drake wins.
Simons ranks second on the team in scoring at 16.1 points per game (6th MVC), with outputs of 29 (career high), 24 (tied then-career high) 22, 21, 21 and 20 points, and has led the team in scoring more times (11) than any other Bulldog. He has more than doubled his previous career average of 7.0 and last year's average of 8.1.
Simons, who has scored at least 11 points in all but two of his games this season, leads the Missouri Valley Conference in three-point field goals (57), while ranking second in minutes played (36.3), twice playing all 40 minutes in a game, in addition to 42 minutes in Drake's overtime win at Southern Illinois (1/18) and a career-high 53 minutes in the triple-overtime win vs. Wichita State (1/28).
He is shooting 47.8% from the field, and nearly as well from three-point range, at 41.0% (57-139).
Simons has 13 games this season with three or more three-pointers made, and six with at least four, including a season-high five (7 att.) vs. Winthrop at the Paradise Jam (Nov. 19).

CLARKE STANDS TALL IN PAINT: Junior forward Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) has carried the bulk of the inside load for the Bulldogs with C Seth VanDeest and F Reece Uhlenhopp sidelined because of injury all season.

Clarke ranks ninth in the MVC in rebounding (6.3) and seventh in steals (1.3).
Clarke produced the first two double-doubles of his career in back-to-back mid-December performances, including career highs for points (16) and rebounds (11, tie) vs. Central Arkansas (12/21). One game after that display the Rockville, Md., native established a new career high with 12 boards vs. Indiana State (12/28).
Clarke received the prestigious Prairie Farms/Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Week for the week of Dec. 19-25. The award honors MVC student-athletes for their athletic performance for a one-week period and academic success in the classroom. Clarke posted a double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds in Drake's win over Central Ark. (12/21), and carries a 3.35 cumulative GPA in management and finance.

25-GAME "TALE-OF-THE-TAPE" SHOWS PROGRESS: Playing a more challenging schedule, the Bulldogs have improved statistically in many categories from last year, and their record represents a three-win improvement. Here's a look at some major categories compared to the the same point of 2010-11 and the full season:

Category              2011-12                '10-'11 (1st 25 gms)         '10-'11 (season)
Record                   13-12                               11-14                         13-18
Points                      67.4                                 64.0                           64.4
Opp. Points              67.7                                 66.7                           67.7
Rebounds                 32.0                                 29.8                           30.0
Opp. Reb.                 34.0                                 36.0                           35.6
Rebound diff.             -2.0                                  -6.2                            -5.6
FG%                        .446                                 .429                           .427
Opp. FG%               .436                                 .441                           .450

STARTING LINEUPS: Drake has used six different starting lineups with guards Karl Madison and forward Jordan Clarke the only players to start all 25 games. Forward Ben Simons (23), guard Rayvonte Rice (23), forwards Jeremy Jeffers (17), Aaron Hawley (8), Kraidon Woods (3) and guard David Smith (1) have filled the other spots.

MEET THE CAPTAINS: Ben Simons and Jordan Clarke have been chosen captains by their teammates for 2011-12. Simons, a junior, and Clarke, a redshirt junior, have continued to grow as leaders both on and off the court in each of their third seasons with the Drake program.

CHALLENGING SCHEDULE: Drake's 2011-12 schedule features 15 games against teams that qualified for postseason play last year, and is presently ranked 95th nationally for strength of schedule. Two opponents are ranked in this week's AP Top 25: Creighton (No. 17) and Virginia (19). The MVC schedule includes 12 games against six teams (Missouri St., Indiana St., Wichita St., Creighton, Northern Iowa and Evansville) that advanced to the postseason, while the non-conference schedule included NIT participant Mississippi and CBI invitees Air Force and Boise State.

PHELPS IN GOOD COMPANY ON SENDEK COACHING TREE: Drake head coach Mark Phelps comes from the largest "coaching tree" in Division I college basketball, having been an assistant coach under Arizona State head coach Herb Sendek. Phelps was on Sendek's staff at both North Carolina State and Arizona State. Nine former Sendek full-time assistants are head coaches: Phelps; Jim Christian, TCU; Charlie Coles, Miami of Ohio; John Groce, Ohio; Larry Hunter, Western Carolina; Ron Hunter, Georgia State; Thad Matta, Ohio State; Archie Miller, Dayton; Sean Miller, Arizona.

PHELPS LAYS FOUNDATION WITH BULLDOGS: Head coach Mark Phelps' 44 wins in his first three seasons as head coach were the most by a head coach in his eqiuvalent period in program history. With 57 career wins at this stage of Year 4, Phelps already has more wins than any Drake coach in his first four seasons. No Drake head coach since Maury John (.555 from 1958-62) has had a better winning percentage in his first four seasons than Phelps (.467). Here is a look at the top five coaches ranked by wins in their first four years at the helm:

Most Wins By A Head Coach, First Four Years at Drake
1) 57 Mark Phelps (2008-12)*
2) 55 Maury John (1958-62)
3) 54 Tom Davis (2003-06)
4) 51 Jack McCelland (1948-52)
5) 45 Gary Garner (1981-85)
*with minimum 6 games remaining this season

2012 "ARCH MADNESS": Tickets are on sale now for the 2012 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, to be held March 1-4 at the Scottrade Center in St. Louis. To order please call Ticketmaster (800-745-3000) or go to www.mvc.org for more information.

SEARS BracketBusters X: The Bulldogs will travel to New Mexico State on Sat., Feb. 18, for a 2 p.m. game to be televised by ESPNU as part of the 10th annual BracketBusters series. Drake is participating for the ninth time and is 7-1, including a 3-1 mark on the road.

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