The Basics
The Drake (14-5, 5-3) men's basketball team will put its 12-game home winning streak back on the line in a mid-week test against Missouri State at the Knapp Center on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 7 p.m. before traveling to Evansville for a 3 p.m. tipoff on Saturday, Jan. 21.
 
Broadcast Information
Wednesday's game against Missouri State will be televised live on the MVC Sports Network consisting of Bally Sports Midwest and NBC Sports Chicago. The states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska will be blacked out on ESPN+ on Wednesday, but the game will stream on the Bally Sports app and BallySports.com in the Bally Sports Midwest, Indiana, Kansas City and South footprints.
 
Saturday's game at Evansville will be streamed live on ESPN+ with no restrictions.

102.1/1350 ESPN Des Moines is the radio home of Drake men's basketball with Michael Admire back to describe the play-by-play with Paul Doerrfeld providing analysis.

Scouting Missouri State
The Bears (9-9, 5-3) rebounded from an overtime loss at Illinois State last Wednesday (Jan. 11) to edge MVC frontrunner Indiana State, 64-62 at home on Sunday (Jan. 15).
 
Donovan Clay (21) and Bryan Trimble Jr. (20) combined for 41 of Missouri State's points on Sunday. Sophomore guard Chance Moore is still the leading scorer for the Bears averaging 12.5 points. Clay has been well-rounded with 10.0 points per game, 5.8 rebounds per game and 3.4 assists a contest this season.
 
Missouri State is 6-2 at home and 2-5 on the road.

The Bears were picked to finish fourth in the 2022-23 MVC Preseason Poll.
Former Illinois State assistant coach and Tennessee State head coach Dana Ford is in fifth season in charge of Missouri State with an 81-60 record.

Series vs. Missouri State
Missouri State leads the all-time series, 47-22. •Missouri State won the last meeting between the two teams on New Year's Day, 52-49 at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Mo.
 
The Bulldogs have won six of the last 10 matchups versus the Bears.


Darian DeVries is 7-4 as a head coach against the Bears including an OT victory in the MVC Tournament semi-final on March 5 of last year.
 
Scouting Evansville
Entering Tuesday, the Purple Aces are 0-8 in MVC play with a 4-15 overall record. Redshirt senior guard Kenny Strawbridge paces Evansville averaging 15.8 points this season to pair with a total of 21 steals on the defensive end. Junior forward Yacine Toumi leads the Aces with 5.8 rebounds per game while scoring 10.2 points per game.
 
Evansville was predicted to finish last in the 2022-23 MVC Preseason Poll.
 
David Ragland is in his first season as head coach of the Purple Aces. Ragland has been an assistant coach for nearly two decades with stops at Butler, Utah State, Valparaiso and Indiana State to just name a few.

Series vs. Evansville
Drake leads the all-time series, 30-28.

Drake has won seven consecutive games against Evansville. Darian DeVries holds a 7-1 head-to-head record against the Purple Aces.
 
The Bulldogs are 9-17 versus the Aces in games played in Evansville.

Home Cooking
Drake is undefeated at home this season, but 1-5 in true road games. Below are noticeable differences in Drake's stats compared to home and away games. 
 
Category               Home Avg./Pct.                 Away Avg./Pct.
Points                        83.4                                       62.3 
Points Allowed          61.0                                        69.3
Assists                     15.2                                         11.7
FG Pct.                    .506                                         .398
3 Pt FG Pct.             .376                                        .304
FT Pct.                     .804                                        .660
 
Tucker DeVries is averaging 19.2 points while shooting at a .472 clip from the field during home games compared 14.2 points per game and a .364 field goal shooting pct. in road games this season. 
 
Sardaar Calhoun averages 10.4 points at home compared 5.7 points on the road. 
 
Roman Penn has excelled in road games this season with these away averages: 12.2 PPG, 4.5 RPG and 5.8 APG.

Big Brodie
Senior big man Darnell Brodie has picked the right time to play the best basketball of his collegiate career. Brodie is averaging 11.8 points and 8.5 rebounds over the last six games, while shooting a sizzling 60.8 percent from the floor.
 
Taking it a step further, over the last three Drake home games, Brodie is averaging 15.0 points and 7.7 rebounds, while shooting a whopping 76 percent from the floor (19-25).
 
Brodie made all four shots against Bradley en route to a 10-point, seven-rebound effort to help key an 86-61 home win Saturday. A week earlier he collected 16 points and seven rebounds against Murray State in the Knapp Center. Brodie had 19 points (8-10 shooting) and nine rebounds helping Drake rally to a home win against Valpo on Dec. 29.
 
Brodie grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds in the last meeting at Missouri State Jan. 1.
 
Did you know Brodie enjoyed four straight double-figure rebounding games against Missouri State in games played in Springfield, Mo.? He collected a career-high 15 followed by 14 rebounds in back-to-back games Jan. 26-27, 2021, grabbed 10 rebounds Jan. 2, 2023 before his 13-rebound outburst at Springfield Jan. 1.

Up Next
Drake will host Relays Night and a Whiteout presented by Drake West Village for the Tuesday (Jan. 24) home game against Indiana State at 8 p.m.