The Drake University men's basketball team begins a two-game trek through Illinois starting with Saturday afternoon's contest at Loyola. Tipoff between the Bulldogs and Ramblers is scheduled for 1 p.m. with the contest being broadcast on Comcast Sports Net Chicago and The Valley On ESPN3.
The Bulldogs are aiming for their first MVC win of the season after starting the Valley season with seven-straight losses to fall to 5-14 overall. Loyola returns to its home court with a 1-6 mark in MVC action and an 8-11 overall record.
Drake's leading scorer, Reed Timmer, is coming off back-to-back 20-point games after scoring 27 points against SIU and 21 versus Missouri State. He has now scored 20 or more points seven times this season. Freshman Dominik Olejniczak is coming off a career-high 14 points against MSU as is Ore Arogundade, who scored 12 points.
Veteran guard Karl Madison has returned to the starting lineup in the last two games and responded with a season-high eight assists in Wednesday's loss to Missouri State. Over the last four games, he boasts an 18-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
The Ramblers are led by Milton Doyle's 11.5 points per game on 45.1 percent shooting.
Drake currently ranks 13th nationally in three-point percentage at 40.6 percent. However, the Bulldogs have shot 35.5 percent in their seven MVC games to date. The Bulldogs have shot 40 percent or better from the arc in 12 of their 19 games this season and over the last three seasons the team is 7-28 when failing to shoot 40 percent or better from the arc.
Three Bulldogs - Reed Timmer (.484), Graham Woodward (.394) and Kale Abrahamson (.385) - rank in the top 11 in the MVC in three-point percentage. Timmer and Abrahamson also rank in the top 10 in the MVC in scoring at 17.8 and 13.5 points per game, respectively.
Saturday's game is the fifth meeting between the two programs as MVC opponents with Loyola having won three of those previous four meetings. Overall, the Ramblers lead the series by a 13-10 margin.
Following Saturday's game, the Bulldogs remain on the road to take on Illinois State Tuesday evening at 7 p.m.
