THE BASICS
The Drake men's basketball team will play at Southern Illinois on Monday, Jan. 17 in a rescheduled Missouri Valley Conference game before playing host to Bradley on Wednesday, Jan. 19 for Des Moines Hometown Team Week.
SCOUTING SOUTHERN ILLINOIS
The Salukis are 9-7 overall and recently lost at home to Northern Iowa, 69-68 on Saturday (Jan. 15).
After the UNI loss, Southern Illinois has lost back- to-back MVC games including an 81-76 defeat at Missouri State on Jan. 12.
Junior forward Marcus Domask is having another outstanding season averaging a team-high 16.4 points per game and 4.9 rebounds per game. He. leads the Salukis with 67 assists. Domask dropped 23 points vs. UNI.
Junior guard Lance Jones averages 14.5 points per game through 14 contests. Jones scored 20 points and connected on four 3-pointers vs. UNI. •SIU was picked to finish fifth in the MVC pre- season poll.
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS SERIES NOTES
This will be the 99th meeting between Drake and Southern Illinois in men's basketball. The Salukis lead the all-time series, 60-38.
Drake went 2-0 against Southern Illinois during the 2020-21 season.
Darian DeVries holds a 4-2 record versus South- ern Illinois as a head coach.
SCOUTING BRADLEY
The Braves are 8-9 overall entering Sunday night with a 2-3 MVC record. Terry Roberts paces Bradley averaging 15.5 points per game and has swiped a total of 28 steals.
BRADLEY SERIES NOTES
Bradley leads the all-time series, 90-68 and the Braves won the last meeting on Feb. 27 by a 67-61 final score.
PENNMANSHIP
After being sidelined for seven games for a foot injury, guard
Roman Penn is returning to his All-MVC playing form dishing out 11 assists while committing only two turnovers in his last two contests.
Penn returned to the starting lineup Jan. 2 at Missouri State, scoring 13 points in 25 minutes. He made 8 of 10 shots from the floor in his most recent outing against Illinois State Wednesday (Jan. 12), keying Drake to an 86-75 victory. Penn collected a season-high 16 points and six assists against the Redbirds, while surpassing 1,000 career points. After scoring 223 points as a fresh- man at Siena in 2017-18, Penn has tallied 780 points at Drake to push his career totals to 1,003.
DEVRIES FOR THREE
Tucker DeVries is quickly climbing the charts for most 3-point baskets made by a Drake men's basketball freshman as he now sits in fourth on that list with 41 after passing Klayton Korver and Rayvonte Rice.
DRAKE'S IRON MAN
Wilkins made his 113th consecutive start in the game against Missouri State on Jan. 2. Wilkins ranks 6th all-time in Drake men's basketball history with 209 career 3-pointers made. Bulldog guard from 2014-18 Reed Timmer currently sits in 5th place with 214 shots made from behind the arc. Josh Young (2006-10) is Drake's all-time leader in career 3-point field goals made with 255 treys.
MID-MAJOR TOP 25 POLL
Drake is ranked No. 16 in the latest men's basketball CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
UP NEXT
Drake men's basketball's next scheduled game is Monday (Jan. 17) at Southern Illinois.
