Des Moines' Hometown Team Weekend
Drake returns home from a road swing to play host to Murray State as part of Des Moines' Hometown Team Weekend on Saturday, Jan. 7.
Drake will wear its Des Moines "City-Themed" uniforms on Saturday designed by Bozz Prints. Drake Athletics has teamed up with 80/35 Music Festival for a live and local postgame concert on Saturday (Annie Kemble).
The first 1,000 fans at Saturday's game will receive a Des Moines flag rally towel.
Food Drive Powered by Iowa Pork
Iowa Pork is donating pork products and challenging Drake Fans to bring non-perishable food items to the Knapp Center during Des Moines' Hometown Team Weekend Jan. 6-8.
Broadcast Information
Saturday's game will be televised live on ESPNU with Clay Matvick as the play-by-play broadcaster and Kevin Lehman as the analyst.
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 Murray State
The Racers have won back-to-back games and are off to a 4-1 start in their first season of Missouri Valley Conference play after defeating Bradley, 67-58, on Wednesday.
Even with junior forward Jamari Smith out due to illness, a balanced attack led by junior forward DJ Burns' double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds boosted Murray State to a home victory over the Braves.
Stetson transfer Rob Perry is the leading scorer so far for Murray State averaging 15.5 points per game while shooting at a 38.6 percent clip from long range. Sophomore JaCobi Wood runs the point with a team-best 71 assists (4.7 per game). Sophomore forward Kenny White Jr. has swatted away a team-best 16 shots this season.
Murray State joined the MVC after having previously competed in the Ohio Valley Conference. The Racers were picked to finish eighth in the 2022-23 MVC Preseason Poll.
Former Iowa State head coach Steve Prohm just began his second stint at the helm in Murray, Ky. Prohm led the Cyclones from 2015-21 after his first stint at Murray State from 2011-2015. Prohm has a combined record of 113-35 in five seasons in charge of the Racers.
Series vs. Murray State
Murray State leads the all-time series, 2-1. Drake won the last meeting between the two teams, 63-53 on Nov. 27, 2019 at the Gulf Coast Showcase in Estero, Fla.
D.J. Wilkins led all scorers in that contest with 18 points while
Roman Penn grabbed six rebounds and dished out six assists that night.
Saturday will mark the first time that the two pro- grams have played in Des Moines.
Sturtz at Work
Garrett Sturtz is just the third player in Drake history to have collected more than 1,200 points and 800 rebounds in his career. He joins Melvin Mathis (1651 pts., 854 rebs., 1982-86) and Jonathan Cox (1205 pts., 818 rebs., 2006-09).
Home Success
Drake is riding a 10-game home court winning streak at the Knapp Center dating back to last year. The Bulldogs are 7-0 at home this season and have gone 76-9 at home since the 2017-18 season.
2021-22: 14-3
2020-21: 14-1
2019-20: 14-2
2018-19: 13-2
2017-18: 14-1
Up Next
The Bulldogs hit the road again for a Tuesday night MVC contest at UIC on Jan. 10 at 7 p.m.
