Men's Basketball 3/20/2021 7:22:00 PM Drake Athletic Communications

Drake vs. USC - Postgame Notes

TEAM NOTES

Drake closed out the season with a 26-5 mark, sharing the second-most single-season victories in school history with the 1968-69 Final Four team which posted a 26-5 record.
Drake's 70 victories over the last three seasons are the most in any three-year period in school history.
Drake outrebounded taller USC, 39-35 but this marked just the second time in 22 games this season the Bulldogs had lost a game when outrebounding an opponent.

It also marked just the sixth time this season the Trojans had been outrebounded.

Drake collected 17 offensive rebounds—its second-highest single-game mark trailing only 18 offensive rebounds against Chicago State. The Bulldogs owned a 17-9 advantage in offensive rebonding advantage over USC.
Drake shot a season-low 29.4 percent (20-68), eclipsing the previous low mark of 29.7 percent (19-64) vs. Loyola in the championship of the MVC Tournament.
Despire the cool shooting, Drake finished the season shooting .483, the eight-highest single season percentage in program history.
Drake made seven three-point baskets, pushing its season total to 218 which ranks No. 10 on the school single-season list.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

Joseph Yesufu enjoyed his seventh career 20-plus scoring game—all in the last nine contests—tallying a game-high 26 points including 18 in the first half. Yesufu averaged 23.2 points in his last nine games of the season.
Yesufu made a career-high six three-point baskets, including four in the first half. He had a combined six three-point baskets in his previous four games entering today. It also marked the sixth time this season Yesufu has made three-plus treys in a game.
Darnell Brodie and Garrett Sturtz each collected a team-high seven rebounds.
Garrett Sturtz equaled a career-high in assists with four. He also registered four assists Thursday against Wichita State in the First Four game.

TOURNAMENT NOTES

Drake, making its fifth appearance in the NCAA Tournament, saw its NCAA Tournament record slip to 6-5, including 5-5 in non-consolation games.
Head coach Darian DeVries is 1-1 in NCAA Tournament games.
No. 11 seeds are 1-2 in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Tournament, awaiting the outcome of the BYU-UCLA game later Saturday.
USC, making its 20th all-time NCAA Tournament appearance, improved its NCAA Tournament record to 15-19 while earning its first victory since beating SMU in the first round of the 2017 tournament.
Joseph Yesufu tied a Drake NCAA Tournament single-game record with six three-point baskets with Klayton Korver who also made six against Western Kentucky in 2008. Yesufu's 26 points rank No. 3 on the Drake NCAA Tournament single-game scoring list.
Drake tied a school record in an NCAA Tournament game for offensive rebounds-17, while setting two single-game lows for field goal percentage in a game (.294) and points in one half at 19.

SERIES NOTES

USC evened the all-time series at 1-1 in just the second meeting between the schools since Drake claimed an 80-70 victory past the Trojans in the quarterfinal round of the National Commissioners Invitational in Louisville, Ky., in 1975.

Players Mentioned