Men's Basketball 3/7/2021 4:50:00 PM Drake Athletic Communications

Drake vs. Loyola Postgame Notes - March 7

TEAM NOTES

The Bulldogs, playing in the MVC Tournament championship for the first time since 2008, slipped to 25-4 overall and await post-season opportunities.
The 25 wins are the third most wins in school single-season history trailing the 26-5 record by 1969 NCAA Final Four team and the 28-5 mark by 2008 team which swept both the MVC regular season and post-season tournament titles
Drake's 25 wins are also second only to Belmont (26) nationally this season.
Darian DeVries, the 2021 MVC Coach of the Year, sees his MVC Tournament career coaching record fall to 4-3, having led teams to three-straight semifinal round appearances along with one trip to the championship during his three year coaching tenure.
After setting an MVC Tournament record with just two turnovers in a semifinal win against Missouri State, the Bulldogs committed eight turnovers, including seven in the first half.
Drake did score 11 second-chance points compared to three by Loyola.
Drake snapped Loyola's string of 17 straight games in holding an opponent to 58 or fewer points.
Drake also became just the second Loyola opponent in the last 10 MVC Tournament games, dating back to 2017, to score more than 55 points.

INDIVIDUAL NOTES

DJ Wilkins and Tremell Murphy led Drake with 20 points apiece, with each scoring 12 in the second half.
Murphy earned his fourth career 20-plus scoring game, including his second straight MVC Tournament game. Murphy made eight of 10 shots for the second straight game, finishing the tournament shooting 80 percent from the floor (16-20), while averaging 20.0 points.
In his four career MVC Tournament games, Murphy is averaging 19.8 points per game.
It marked Wilkins' fifth career 20-plus scoring game, including his third this season. Wilkins made four three-point baskets, marking the seventh game this season making four or more treys in a game
Joseph Yesufu extended his double-figure scoring streak to seven games by adding 12 points. He tied a season high with three steals.
Darnell Brodie enjoyed his seventh career double-figure rebounding game, including a third straight contest, with a game-high 11 boards. He shared MVC Tournament honors for most rebounds (21) with Missouri State's Gaige Prim.

TOURNAMENT NOTES

Tremell Murphy and Joseph Yesufu were selected to the five-man All-MVC Tournament team
Drake's MVC Tournament record is 21-42, including a 2-2 record as the No. 2 seed; a 1-1 record in the championship and an 0-1 mark against Loyola.
Today's championship marked the third time former MVC players will faced one another as coaches. The only previous championship games with former MVC players facing one another as coaches:

SERIES NOTES

Loyola owns a 22-14 advantage in the series against Drake, having won two of the last three meetings

Players Mentioned