The No. 25 Drake men's basketball team returns to the road this weekend for a two-game Missouri Valley Conference series at Valparaiso. The two-game set begins Saturday at 1 p.m. on ESPN3 followed by a Sunday contest at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
The weekend series will be a homecoming for the five Bulldogs who hail from the area around Valparaiso, affectionately known as The Region. One of those Region natives, Tremell Murphy, leads the Bulldogs into the weekend after posting a career-high 30 points in just 27 minutes in the Bulldogs 95-60 drubbing of Illinois State. The 35-point victory improved Drake to 17-0 this season and keeps the Bulldogs as one of three unbeaten teams left in the nation and was the Bulldogs' fourth biggest margin of victory in an MVC game.
 
That school-record 17-0 start to the season has the Bulldogs nationally ranked for the first time since 2008 and the 33^rd time in school history. The team's 8-0 start to the Valley season is the third time Drake has started 8-0 or better in league play.
 
That record has guaranteed Drake its third-straight winning season, something that has only previously happened five times in program history and once in the last 40 years.
 
In addition to Murphy's recent offensive outburst, Darnell Brodie's efforts in the paint kept the Bulldogs undefeated. The forward has hauled in 10 or more rebounds in three of the last four games and has a pair of double-doubles in that span. In the Bulldogs' 78-76 overtime victory against Illinois State last week, he had a career-high 20 points with 10 rebounds. His 20 points came on a perfect 10-of-10 shooting night. For his efforts, he was named the MVC Newcomer of the Week and is currently second in the league in rebounding during the conference season with 9.1 boards per game.
 
Valparaiso takes to its home court with a 6-11 overall record and 3-5 mark in Valley games. Ben Krikke is one of two Crusaders averaging double figures at 12.4 points per game. 
 
Following this weekend's series, the Bulldogs return home for three-straight nationally televised games against UNI (Feb. 10) and Loyola (Feb. 13-14).