DES MOINES, Iowa – On the night the Drake University men's basketball team put its 2019 Missouri Valley Conference championship banner in the rafters forever, it tied a school record with 17 made 3-pointers en route to a season-opening 86-55 victory over Kennesaw State on Thursday night at the Knapp Center.
 
DJ Wilkins backed up his preseason All-MVC honors by scoring a game-best 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting. He connected on four of his seven 3-point tries as the Bulldogs finished 17-of-29 (58.6 percent) from deep as a team.
 
"It's great to get the season started tonight," said Drake's second-year head coach, Darian DeVries. "I thought the guys came out really energized at home, and the banner ceremony really added to it. I'm proud of the guys and the way they played, the way they shared the ball. It was great to get off to a good start."
 
Anthony Murphy started off the scoring with a 3-pointer from the left corner less than a minute into the game, setting the tone for a Bulldog barrage from deep.
 
Drake hit on 9-of-15 trey attempts in the first half as they were spurred on by Jonah Jackson, who scored 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting from deep in his Bulldog debut.
 
Jackson needed only 46 seconds in the first half to hit threes from each corner, and Antonio Pilipovic nailed another one from downtown to push Drake's surge to 9-0. Kennesaw State responded with a three of its own before DJ Wilkins swished a pair of triples in just 20 seconds.
 
The 15-3 blitz expanded the Bulldogs' lead to 24-11 and marked the beginning of the end for Kennesaw State.
 
Roman Penn finished his Drake debut with 10 points on 5-of-5 shooting. Despite not attempting a 3-pointer, Penn played a significant role in Drake's perimeter prowess; six of his game-high seven assists led to 3-pointers.
 
"Roman was great," DeVries said. "That's the reason he's out there. He's in such control of the offense and the defense. He really dictates the tempo on both ends of the floor. I thought he was fantastic in terms of just a nice, solid floor game. That's just kind of what he is, a guy who affects winning, and he certainly did that tonight."  
With Penn at the controls, the Bulldogs' shot chart was an analytics advocate's dream come true. Drake scored 81 of its 86 points either from 3-point range or in the paint. Some of that was because the Bulldogs attempted only two free throws on the night.
 
Defensively, the Bulldogs clamped down the Owls to the tune of 34.5 percent shooting and 25.0 percent from the three-point arc. Drake's defensive switches were sharp and forced Kennesaw State into many late-clock situations. The Owls turned it over on a shot-clock violation on their opening possession of the game.
 
Drake (1-0, 0-0 MVC) travels to Cincinnati on Monday for a 6 p.m. tip against the Bearcats. The game will be broadcast regionally on select Fox Sports Networks and on ESPN3.