The Drake men's basketball team heads south following a tough bout against UNI last Saturday, to take on the Missouri State Bears (11-14, 5-7 MVC) at JQH Arena Wednesday, Feb. 12.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ and on the radio at ESPN 1350.
The Bulldogs (16-9, 6-6 MVC) travel to Missouri State following a hard-fought loss on the road against the UNI Panthers. Sophomore center Liam Robbins led Drake for the second game in a row, with 17 points. Earlier in the week, Robbins set a career scoring record with 29 points at home against Bradley.
At guard, sophomore D.J. Wilkins followed Robbins with 16 points, 12 of which came from shots beyond the arc as he matched a season-high in three-pointers and posted his most points in an MVC game this season.
Roman Penn maintained consistency on both ends of the court with 12 points, eight assists, four rebounds, and two steals. Penn continues to be an important asset for the Bulldogs after transferring from Siena last year and ranks among the national leaders in both assists and assist-to-turnover ratio. As a team, Drake has the fewest turnovers in the league in MVC games and the best assist-to-turnover ratio. In MVC games, every Bulldog that averages 15 or more minutes per game has a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.
Drake has won five-straight games against Missouri State, including three-straight games at JQH Arena. Prior to that recent success, Drake had won just once in Springfield.
The two teams met earlier this season in the Knapp Center, where Drake took the victory, 71-69, behind 17 points from Penn.
The Bears are returning home off a buzzer-beater loss at SIU. Josh Hall led Missouri State with 17 points and seven rebounds in the loss. The team is led in scoring for the season by Keandre Cooke's with 14.9 points per game. In the first meeting this season, Cooke had 12 points and 13 rebounds.
Following their game in Missouri, the Bulldogs will head back home to the Knapp Center for back-to-back games against Evansville on Sunday, Feb. 16, and Valparaiso on Wednesday, Feb. 19.
