The Basics
The Drake men's basketball team plays its final road game, traveling to Evansville on Wednesday, Feb. 26, needing one victory in its remaining two regular season games to win its fifth outright Missouri Valley Conference title. The Bulldogs will then close out the regular season with a home contest against Missouri State on Sunday, March 2. The game on Sunday against the Bears will also commemorate this year's seniors with Senior Day.
Bulldogs by the Numbers
Drake's 25-3 record is tied for best mark in school history after 28 games with the 2020-21 team which also started off with a 25-3 record. This is the fifth straight year the Bulldogs have won 25 or more games in a season and the seventh time in school history. Drake has clinched at least a share of the MVC regular season title, marking the ninth time in program history the Bulldogs have either won or tied for the MVC regular season championship, including four outright titles.
Earning a share of the Missouri Valley Conference title isn't really a surprise for first-year Drake coach
Ben McCollum. He guided Northwest Missouri State to either a share or outright title in the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletic Association for 11 straight years from 2014-24. The last time a McCollum-coached team did not win a share of a regular season conference title was the 2012-13 campaign. McCollum has been named to the Werner Ladder Naismith Men's College Coach of the Year Watch List presented by AXIA Time. He is one of 15 head coaches from eight different leagues included on the list. Over the last 10 seasons, McCollum has gone 76-6 in the month of February, including a 5-1 mark at Drake.
Drake leads the Missouri Valley Conference in rebounding margin at 6.3, while ranking No. 24 in the NCAA. The Bulldogs outrebounded UNI, 46-29, Sunday improving to 21-1 when outrebounding opponents. Three Drake players combined to outrebound the entire UNI team, 30-29. Sophomore
Cam Manyawu grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds—his ninth double-figure rebounding game of the season. Guard
Bennett Stirtz collected a career-high 10 rebounds, while
Tavion Banks came off the bench to add nine rebounds. Drake grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, marking the 17th game the Bulldogs had collected 10-plus offensive rebounds in a game.
Drake Leaders
Bennett Stirtz l 19.0 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 6.0 apg
Daniel Abreu l 10.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg, .453 FG%
Mitch Mascari l 10.9 ppg, 2.1 rpg, .441 3pt%
Scouting Evansville
The Purple Aces currently sit in a tie for seventh in the MVC standings with a league mark of 8-10. Overall, Evansville has a record of 11-18 on the season. The Purple Aces have gone an even 5-5 over their last 10 games picking up important road wins against Belmont (Feb. 2) and Indiana State (Feb.19).
The head coach of Evansville is David Ragland, who is in his third season leading the program. During his tenure, Ragland has gone 33-63. The eight conference wins achieved by Evansville this season are the most since the 2015-16 season when it went 12-6 in league play.
Wednesday will be the 64th all-time meeting between Drake and Evansville with the Bulldogs leading the series, 35-28. Drake has won 12 consecutive games over Evansville with its last loss against the Purple Aces coming in 2019. The Bulldogs post a record of 11-17 in games that have been played from Evansville. Earlier this season, Drake defeated Evansville in Des Moines, 63-40.
Evansville Leaders
Tayshawn Comer l 15.9 ppg, 4.1 apg, 3.7 rpg
Gabriel Pozzato l 15.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, .459 FG%
Cameron Haffner l 12.7 ppg, 3.6 rpg, .459 FG%
Scouting Missouri State
Missouri State posts an overall record of 9-20 in its 2024-25 campaign. In league play, the Bears have gone 2-16. Missouri State has struggled in games away from Springfield going 1-11 in road games this season and are 0-9 in road conference games. The Bears will host Belmont on Wednesday before their trip to Des Moines.
Head coach Cuonzo Martin is 70-61 in his fourth season, and second stint, at Missouri State. Martin has a 273-218 career record in 15 seasons as a Division I head coach with experience at MSU, Tennessee, California and Missouri.
The regular season finale between the Bulldogs and the Bears will be the 74th all-time meeting of the two programs. Missouri State leads the all-time series, 49-24. In their last 10 matchups, Drake and Missouri State have split 5-5 with three of the last four contests going to overtime. The Bulldogs needed overtime to claim a win over the Bears, 69-62, in their matchup earlier this season on Jan. 25. In games played from Des Moines, the Bulldogs have a record of 14-19 against the Bears.
Missouri State Leaders
Dez White l 14.0 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 2.7 apg
Vincent Brady II l 13.4 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 2.6 apg
Michael Osei-Bonsu l 11.2 ppg, 7.5 rpg, .552 FG%
Up Next
The Bulldogs will await their next opponent in the State Farm MVC Tournament. Drake will play its first game of Arch Madness in the quarterfinal round from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis on Friday, March 7.
