The Basics
The Drake men's basketball team will officially begin the 2022-23 season by playing host to IUPUI at the Knapp Center on Wednesday, Nov. 9 at 7 p.m., before welcoming Wofford to Des Moines on Monday, Nov. 14 for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
 
Broadcast Information
Both the IUPUI and Wofford games will be broadcasted locally on Mediacom MC22 and streamed on ESPN+.
 
1350/102.1 ESPN Des Moines is back as the radio home of Drake Bulldog men's basketball. Michael Admire is back to describe the play-by-play action with analyst Paul Doerrfeld.
 
Exhibition Recap
Senior transfer forward Sardaar Calhoun scored 35 points in his Drake debut as the short-handed Bulldogs defeated Minnesota Duluth, 100-77, in their lone exhibition tune-up Thursday night.
 
Senior center Darnell Brodie added 25 points and a game-high 15 rebounds. The 6-foot 10-inch Brodie collected 13 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. Brodie's regular season career high in scoring is 21 at Bradley Feb. 26, 2021.
 
Calhoun, a transfer from Texas Tech, displayed both a strong perimeter and inside attack, making seven of nine three-point shots. Redshirt junior guard Okay Djamgouz contributed 16 points with three three-point baskets for Drake.
 
Preseason Expectations
The Drake University men's basketball team was predicted to finish first in the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll, the league announced on Wednesday, Oct. 19.
 
The Bulldogs were selected as the preseason favorite for the 2022-23 season in the MVC receiving 52 out of 54 possible first place votes. The voting panel was made up of MVC coaches, sports information directors and media members. Bradley and Southern Illinois both earned one first place vote. Drake finished the 2021-22 campaign tied for third with a 13-5 conference record. With the departure of Loyola, The Valley added Belmont, Murray State and UIC to the conference.
 
2021-22 MVC Freshman of the Year Tucker DeVries was named MVC Preseason Player of the Year. Roman Penn will join DeVries on the 2022-23 MVC Preseason First Team. Penn set the Drake program record for assists last season while averaging 11.1 points per game and 3.9 assists per game running the point. 
 
Garrett Sturtz earned a place on the All-MVC Second Team last season and is a Preseason All-MVC Second Team member this season. The guard from Newton, Iowa, became a mainstay in the starting lineup leading the team in rebounds (7.1 per game) and total steals (52).
 
D.J. Wilkins enters the 2022-23 campaign on the Preseason All-MVC Third Team. The lockdown defender was on the MVC All-Defensive Team last season.
 
Success in the DeVries Era
Drake has appeared in three post-season tournaments during the four-year coaching tenure of Darian DeVries, who guided the Bulldogs to the 2021 NCAA Tournament. He also led Drake to the College Insiders Tournament in his first year in 2019 as well as the College Basketball Invitational last year.
 
DeVries also has coached Drake to at least the semifinal round of the State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament in each of his four seasons at the Drake helm, including the championship game the past two years.
 
DeVries has guided the Bulldogs to an unprecedented four straight 20-plus win seasons. He led the Bulldogs to a share of the MVC regular season title in his first year in 2019 as well as consecutive second-place finishes the past two seasons.
 
Breakout Candidate
Swingman Tucker DeVries is quickly becoming a household name in the Missouri Valley Conference.
 
DeVries, who was the highest ranked incoming recruit nationally (No. 98) by any MVC school, was named the 2022 MVC Freshmen of the Year and was also selected to the MVC All-Tournament Team, while earning second team NABC all- district honors.
 
He also was named as a finalist for the The Kyle Macy Award, which is presented annually to the top freshman in Division-I college basketball,
 
DeVries is ranked No. 12 national among the top 25 college basketball star breakout candidates for 2022-23 by College Basketball Report.
 
DeVries set the Drake single-season freshman scoring record at 502, surpassing Rayvonte Rice who scored 428 points in 2010-11 as well as the freshmen season rebounding mark at 165.
 
DeVries was one of just five first-year freshmen in NCAA DI to have reached 400 points (502) and 65 three-pointers (75) this year.
 
He led Drake in scoring (13.9 avg.), reaching double figures in 31 of 37 games. He also made a team-high 75 three-point baskets, making three or more treys in 13 games.
 
He scored 20 or more points in four games, tying a career high with 24 at Loyola Feb. 19.
 
DeVries earned his first double-double at UNI Jan. 11, collecting 11 points and a career-high 11 rebounds.
 
Veteran Unit
Fifth year seniors Garrett Sturtz (132), D.J. Wilkins (127), Darnell Brodie (101) and Roman Penn (87) have combined to appear in 447 games for Drake entering the 2022-23 season.
 
Three players have scored 1,000 or more career points: D.J. Wilkins (1,279), Roman Penn (1,221) and Garrett Sturtz (1,069).
 
Grumpy Old Men
D.J. Wilkins and Roman Penn are both 25 years of age.
Drake will start the season with a roster whose average age is 21.5. Drake is believed to be the fifth oldest team in NCAA Division I men's basketball.
Three players are currently working on their Master's degrees at Drake: Roman Penn, D.J. Wilkins and Garrett Sturtz.
 
Meet the Newcomers
Six-foot 6-inch swingman Sardaar Calhoun and 6-10 forward Eric Northweather are among the newcomers expected to make their presences known this season.
 
Calhoun, a native Tappahannock, Va., appeared in eight games for Texas Tech to begin the 2021-22 season. Calhoun played in 25 games with Florida State during the 2020-21 campaign averaging 5.3 points, while shooting 39.7 percent beyond the three-point line.
 
Before arriving in Tallahassee, Fla., Calhoun played for two seasons at Missouri-West Plains, averaging 18.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 1.2 as- sists over a 59-game span. He set Missouri-West Plains records for points in a single game (48) and career scoring average (18.6 avg.), while finishing second in school history in points scored (1,075), career 3-point field goals made (183) and career 3-point field goal percentage (.443).
Northweather played at Truman State the past two seasons. He appeared in 29 games, including 17 starts, during the 2021-22 campaign averaging 10.1 points and 4.2 rebounds, while shooting 59.7 percent from the field.
 
The Jefferson City, Mo., native prepped at Blair Oaks High School where he averaged 24 points and 12 rebounds as a senior. He was twice named to the all-district team and earned all-state recognition as a senior. Northweather has three years of eligibility remaining.
 
Guards Andrew Alia and Brashon Hall both join Drake men's basketball as walk-ons.
 
Home Success
Drake went 14-3 at home during 2021-22 and has gone 65-11 at home since 2017-18.
 
2020-21: 14-1 2018-19: 13-2 2019-20: 14-2 2017-18: 14-1
 
Scouting IUPUI
IUPUI opened the 2022-23 season with an 88-39 loss at Iowa State on Monday, Nov. 7. Jlynn Counter led the Jaguars with 16 points and four rebounds. He was the only IUPUI player to score in double figures.
 
The Jaguars finished a tumultuous 2021-22 season with a 3-26 overall record. IUPUI notched wins over Spalding, East-West and Robert Morris.

At one point last season, IUPUI only had six active players and were forced to hold open tryouts.

IUPUI enters the 2022-23 season with 20 players on its roster.

Only two student-athletes that logged minutes for IUPUI last season return for the Jaguars (Boston Stanton III) and Jonah Carrasco).

IUPUI enters the season ranked last out of all NCAA Division I teams in the preseason KenPom ratings (No. 263).

The Jaguars defeated Brescia (Ky.), 101-60 on Thursday in their lone exhibition game. D.J. Jackson led all scorers with 16 points while Daylan Hamilton provided 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists off the bench.

Matt Crenshaw, an IUPUI hall-of-famer enters his second season as the head coach of the Jaguars. As a player in 2003, Crenshaw made the game- winning shot to defeat Valparaiso in the Mid-Conti- nent Conference (now Summit League) Champi- onship game. Prior to his return to Indianapolis, Crenshaw spent three seasons as an assistant at Ball State. He was an assistant at his alma mater for 12 seasons before departing to Ball State.
 
Series History vs. IUPUI
This will be the fourth meeting all-time between Drake and IUPUI in men's basketball.

The first matchup occurred on Nov. 14, 2009, when the Jaguars won in Des Moines by a final score of 88-82.
 
Drake went on to win the next two games against IUPUI in 2013 and 2014.
 
Scouting Wofford
The Wofford Terriers finished the 2021-22 campaign with a 19-13 overall record including a 10-8 mark in the SoCon. Wofford compiled a 7-8 road record last season.
 
Big man B.J. Mack averaged 16.5 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game as a junior last season. After suffering a season-ending injury only five games into the season last year, senior forward Messiah Jones is back for Wofford. Both Mack and Jones were selected to the 2022-23 Preseason All-SoCon Team.
 
Jay McAuley enters his fourth season as the head coach of Terriers, he sports a 54-38 record. Wofford reached the SoCon Tournament Championship game in his first season and has turned in two 19-win seasons in his time.
 
The Terriers were selected to finish fifth in both the preseason coaches and media SoConpolls.
 
Series History vs. Wofford
Monday (Nov. 14) will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs.
 
Up Next
After the two home contests, Drake men's basketball will travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands for the Paradise Jam Nov. 18-21.