THE BASICS
Drake men's basketball returns home to play host to Grambling State on Thursday night inside the Knapp Center at 7 p.m. in its second matchup against a SWAC team this season.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Thursday's game will air locally on Mediacom MC22 and stream nationwide on ESPN+ with Larry Morgan and Adam Emmenecker. As always, fans can listen to Michael Admire and Paul Doerrfeld on either 1350/102.1 ESPN Des Moines or on the Varsity Network App.
LAST WEEK
The Bulldogs held Nevada to its lowest point total of the season as the Drake offense clicked in the second half for a 72-53 win at the Jack Jones Classic hosted in the Dollar Loan Center last Saturday night.
Tucker DeVries led all scorers with 25 points while
Atin Wright scored 12 points and swiped a season-high four steals.
Drake overcame a 19-point second half deficit to defeat Saint Louis, 75-69 at the Knapp Center on Dec. 6 for the largest comeback victory of the Darian DeVries coaching era. The Bulldogs committed only one turnover in the second half.
Atin Wright (22 points) and
Kevin Overton (21 points) both surpassed the 20-point plateau while
Tucker DeVries earned his second career double-double.
Darnell Brodie remained consistent with 12 points and six rebounds.
SCOUTING GRAMBLING STATE
The Grambling State Tigers are 2-7 this season and are in the midst of a six-game losing streak. Grambling's two wins came against non-Division I institutions UNT-Dallas and Champion Christian College. Besides those two games, the Tigers have played a tricky non-conference schedule including Colorado, Iowa State, Dayton and Washington State.
Junior guard and current SWAC Player of the Week Kintavious Dozier is the leading scorer for the Tigers, averaging 14.3 points per game. Graduate student Tra'Michael Moton leads the Tigers in the assist category, dishing out an average of 3.1 assists. Senior forward Jonathan Aku paces Grambling State in rebounds hauling in 6.4 rebounds per contest.
Donte' Jackson is entering his seventh year as head coach of the Tigers, fresh off an impressive 2022-23 season the SWAC campaign with a 15-3 mark for a 24-9 overall record. As GSU's head coach, Jackson has been honored as SWAC Coach of the Year, NABC District 23 Coach of the Year and Ben Jobe National Coach of the Year. Before arriving in Grambling, Jackson coached at Stillman College in Alabama and Central State University in Ohio.
Grambling State was picked to finish second in the 2023-24 Southwestern Athletic Conference preseason poll.
SERIES HISTORY VS. GRAMBLING STATE
Thursday will be the first-ever meeting between the two programs on the basketball court.
NINE DEEP
The Bulldogs have nine players averaging double-digit minutes in the first nine games of the season
IT'S THE NEWCOMERS
Drake's newcomers have accounted for 372 points — 47.4 percent of the team's scoring— in the first 10 games.
Freshman guard Kevin Overton has enjoyed seven double-figure scoring games and is averaging 13.9 points and 3.9 rebounds, while shooting 47.6 percent from the floor. This past Monday, Overton was named MVC Freshman of the Week for the second time already this season.
Transfer guard Atin Wright has reached double figures in six games and he is averaging 13.8 points on 42.6 percent shooting so far this season.
SHARE & TAKE CARE
Drake leads the MVC and ranks 15th nationally in assists/turnover ratio at 1.71, averaging 16.2 assists to an MVC-low 9.5 turnovers per game.
Drake also leads the MVC and ranks 16th nationally in turnover margin at 4.8.
The Bulldogs have committed 10 or fewer turnovers in six games (6-0 record) and have committed fewer turnovers than their opponents in all 10 games so far.
UP NEXT
Drake men's basketball will welcome Alcorn State in its last non-conference home game of the season on Tuesday, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.
