The Drake University men's basketball continues the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic Saturday afternoon when it faces New Mexico State in Las Vegas. The contest will be televised nationally on FS2 from Orleans Arena.
 
Drake travels to Las Vegas for the final two games of the event after dispatching SIUE and Rider in on-campus games to improve to 8-2 this season and  perfect 5-0 at home. The Bulldogs' 8-2 start to the season is the program's best since 2007-08.
 
In the Bulldogs' last game, freshman D.J. Wilkins sank five three-pointers for a career-high 17 points to defeat Rider, 76-58. New Meixco State, a former Missouri Valley Conference foe of the Bulldogs, is coming off back-to-back wins over Colorado State and CSUN and the high-scoring Aggies are averaging 79.5 points per game.
 
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs are scoring at a 78.6 points per game clip thanks in part to senior Nick Norton amassing a 43-to-7 assist to turnover ratio in the last six games with a pair of double-figure assist games. As a result of Norton's efforts, the Bulldogs have recorded 20 or more assists in two of the last three games and rank 23rd nationally in assists with 17.5 per game.
 
Following Saturday's game, the Bulldogs face either San Diego or Washington Sunday at either 6:30 of 9 p.m. CST.