Peoria, Ill. – With its 80-71 victory Friday night against Bradley, the Drake University men's basketball team improved to 15-2 in Missouri Valley Conference play – equaling the most conference wins in program history. The Bulldogs' 24-2 overall record matches their best start in school history and moves the Bulldogs one win away from clinching their second league title in the last three years and the No. 1 seed at next week's MVC Tournament.
Darnell Brodie led all scorers with a career-high 21 points on 10-of-13 shooting. Brodie was instrumental in helping the Bulldogs dig themselves out of an early nine-point hole, scoring 14 of Drake's 21 points during one first-half span.
"We got off to a slow start, but after that I thought we were pretty good," said Drake head coach
Darian DeVries. "The guys really stepped up their defense. We were just too passive early."
Brodie recorded back-to-back buckets to jumpstart a 12-1 run that helped the Bulldogs take a 41-31 advantage at halftime. Joe Yesufu continued his hot streak with 16 points, including a pair of 3-pointers to close the first half. Yesufu, the reigning MVC Player of the Week, finished 4-of-7 from 3-point range, marking the fourth-straight game he has connected on at least four triples.
"That balance was key for us again," DeVries said. "Joe [Yesufu] had a nice burst before halftime that was big. It's what they've done all year and why we've been successful, we've had different guys step up every night."
DJ Wilkins opened the second half with a 3-pointer, and
Tremell Murphy added two free throws as Drake continued to apply pressure, expanding its run to 17-1 as the Bulldogs took control for good. Wilkins ended with 16 points on 4-of-7 shooting from 3 and added five assists.
Wilkins and Yesufu were major reasons the Bulldogs shot 12-of-22 (54.5 percent) from behind the arc.
"DJ played a heck of a game and was our best defender all night," DeVries said. "Offensively he made plays, created for people and knocked down some big threes for us. I thought he was tremendous for us tonight."
Murphy posted 13 points and set a career-best with 12 rebounds to record his second double-double of the season. He matched his season-high with four assists. Bradley was led by Ja'Shon Henry's 17 points in a relatively crisp game that only saw 15 total turnovers.
Garrett Sturtz also notched four assists, setting a new personal best for the junior in assists to go along with 11 points.
With two blocks and two steals, Brodie joined Sturtz as the only Bulldogs with multiple blocks and steals in the same game this season.
"I thought Brodie really took over the game midway through the first half, was really physical and started to rebound," Drake head coach
Darian DeVries said. "He did some really good stuff and it was a heck of a performance from him."
Drake caps its regular-season slate Saturday with a rematch against Bradley, and the Bulldogs will aim to clinch at least a share of the MVC title for the second time in three years. Drake would also lock up the No. 1 seed in the MVC Tournament with a win.
Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be broadcasted on ESPN+.
