THE BASICS
Drake men's basketball welcomes Saint Louis to Des Moines for the first time since 1985 for a mid-week non-conference test on Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. before venturing to the Dollar Loan Center in Henderson, Nevada for a matchup against Nevada (6:30 CT tip-off) at the Jack Jones Classic on Saturday, Dec. 9.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
Wednesday's game against Saint Louis will air locally in Iowa on Mediacom MC22 and can be streamed everywhere on ESPN+ with Larry Morgan (play-by-play) and Adam Emmenecker (analyst).
Saturday's game versus Nevada in the Jack Jones Classic will be streamed on BallerTV.com (paid subscription required) with Alex Margulies (play-by-play), Dave Joerger (analyst) and Shannon Kelly (sideline reporter).
Every Drake men's basketball game this season will air live on 102.1/1350 ESPN Des Moines and stream on the Varsity Network app with Michael Admire (play-by-play) and Paul Doerrfeld (analyst).
SCOUTING SAINT LOUIS
The Billikens enter with a record of 5-4, after starting the season 4-0, but having dropped four of their last five.
Redshirt junior guard Gibson Jimerson has been the main scoring threat for Saint Louis (15.0 points per game). Senior forward Terrence Hargrove Jr. leads the team averaging 6.1 rebounds. Michael Meadows Jr. distributes the ball for SLU with 28 total assists to his credit so far.
The Billiken roster features eight newcomers (five freshmen and three transfers).
Travis Ford is in his eighth season as the head coach of the Saint Louis men's basketball program. Ford has been a head coach for 27 seasons with prior stops at Oklahoma State, Massachusetts, Eastern Kentucky and Campbellsville. He has been to seven NCAA tournaments and has coached six players who went on to play in the NBA.
The Billikens were predicted to finish sixth in the 2023-24 Atlantic 10 Preseason Poll.
SERIES HISTORY VS. SAINT LOUIS
Saint Louis leads the all-time series, 54-30 after an 83-75 win over Drake at Chaifetz Arena last season on Dec. 17, 2022. Tucker DeVries led the Bulldogs in scoring with 15 points while Darnell Brodie paced the Bulldogs on the glass with eight rebounds and two blocks. Nate Ferguson added six points in nine minutes off the bench in the loss.
The Billkens have won the last two matchups. Last year's contest was the first meeting between the two programs since Nov. 29, 1986. Saint Louis was a member of the Missouri Valley Conference from 1937-1974. Drake is 17-22 in games against Saint Louis played in Des Moines. Drake's last win in the series occurred on Dec. 9, 1985 in Des Moines (54-44).
SCOUTING NEVADA
The Wolf Pack carry a perfect 6-0 record into Wednesday night (Dec. 6) against UC Davis. Nevada is looking to build off a 22-11 campaign in 2022-23, which ended in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament.
Graduate guard Jarod Lucas is the team leader in scoring with 18.2 points per game entering the week. Kenan Blackshear has lent a hand averaging a team-best 5.2 assists.
Steve Alford enters year five with Nevada, which is his 33rd season as a head coach. He holds a career mark of 663-349 including stops at Manchester, Missouri State, Iowa, New Mexico and UCLA.
Nevada was projected to finish fourth in the Mountain West Conference preseason poll.
SERIES HISTORY VS. NEVADA
Drake leads the all-time series, 4-1, with the two teams meeting last on Dec. 12, 2015, as the Wolf Pack prevailed 79-71 in Reno.
JACK JONES CLASSIC SCHEDULE
Saturday, Dec. 9
New Mexico vs. Santa Clara - 4 p.m CT
Drake vs. Nevada - 6:30 p.m. CT
UNLV vs. Loyola Marymount - 9 p.m. CT
LAST TIME OUT
The Bulldogs improved to 2-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference with a 74-57 victory over Missouri State in the Knapp Center on Saturday afternoon.
Drake beat Missouri State at home for the first time since a 71-69 victory on Jan. 26, 2020. It was the Bulldogs' third-largest victory margin in the 71-game series against the Bears and the largest margin of victory against Missouri State since claiming a 78-43 win in the Knapp Center, Feb. 22, 2015.
The Bulldogs swiped a season-high nine steals in Saturday's victory over Missouri State with seven different players earning a steal. Drake has not committed more turnovers than its opponent through the first eight games this season.
BENCH BOOST
The Drake men's basketball team has received sizeable contributions from its bench in the last two games. Drake's bench poured in a season-high 23 points in the 77-71 win against Texas Southern on Nov. 25 before piling on 21 points in the 83-65 win at Valpo on Nov. 29 and 13 more in the 74-57 win over Missouri State on Saturday.
The Bulldog bench has added a combined 30 rebounds and 18 assists over the past three games.
BIG BRODIE
Darnell Brodie was named MVC Player of the Week on Dec. 4 after averaging 16.5 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 2.0 blocks over two MVC wins last week. He has grabbed at least six rebounds in each of the seven games he has played this season.
Entering Dec. 5, Brodie ranks sixth in the nation in field goal percentage (70.2%, 40-57). He has been efficient at the free throw line this season, only missing three foul shot attempts so far (17-for-20).
With two more blocked shots last Saturday, Brodie moved into ninth place on Drake's program career blocks chart and is only four away from tying Brent Heemskert for eighth all-time.
NOTHIN' BUT NET
Drake owns the third-highest NET ranking (56) in the MVC as of Dec. 5 behind Indiana State (22) and UIC (52). The MVC ranks No. 9 as a league in the first installment of the NET rankings.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs will return home on Thursday, Dec. 14 against Grambling State at 7 p.m.
