CHICAGO, Ill. – The Drake men's basketball team concluded their two-game road trip on Saturday afternoon as they took on the surging UIC Flames and lost, 74-67.
 
The Bulldogs took an early blow from the Flames as UIC scored the first five points of the contest to grab the lead. Drake, however, found its footing after consecutive three-pointers from Andrew Alia and Jalen Quinn tied the game at 8-8 when the under-16 timeout hit.
 
Quinn carried the load for the Drake offense scoring the Bulldogs' next seven points, but UIC had built a 22-15 lead with 7:20 remaining in the period connecting on a couple of shots from beyond the arc.
 
Despite Drake holding UIC without a field goal for the final five minutes of the half, the Bulldogs went into halftime trailing, 34-22. The Flames got to the charity stripe converting on five of 10 attempts to help stretch their lead, while Drake went 0-for-2 from the line comparatively.
 
Quinn picked right back up in the second half where he left off and scored eight of Drake's first nine points, but the rest of the Bulldog offense struggled to hit their shots. Meanwhile, UIC hit their ninth three-ball of the game with Ahmad Henderson II draining a shot from the top of the key to make it 45-31 ballgame.
 
As if right on cue, the shots then started to fall for the Bulldogs. A quick 5-0 personal spurt from Alia followed by a 7-0 run, highlighted by an Eli Shetlar triple, saw Drake trim the deficit down to five, 48-43, with just over 10 minutes remaining.
 
A field goal draught of over three minutes struck the Bulldogs and allowed UIC to build its lead back up to nine with more makes at the free throw line. But the draught finally concluded with another three-ball by Shetlar and a turn-around jumper in the paint by Jaehshon Thomas to bring the Bulldogs within three, 56-53.
 
That would be as close as the Bulldogs would get ultimately. Drake's shooting went cold down the stretch not converting a field goal for another three-minute stretch and UIC iced the game away with more free throw attempts.
 
"It's hard to live on the edge for that long," Drake head coach Eric Henderson said. "You can't play desperate when you're down. You've got to play desperate for 40 minutes. At the end of the day, the margins are small in this league. Everybody knows that. A couple of the margins that we need to do a better job of in totality, and it really showed tonight, fouling. If you let the other team get to the foul line 38 times, you're going to have a hard time winning basketball games."
 
Drake returns home for its next game as it welcomes Murray State to the Knapp Center on Wednesday, Jan. 21. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT with the game being broadcast on CBS Sports Network.
 
Team Notes
—Drake's record fell to 9-10 overall including a 3-5 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference.
—The Bulldogs are 3-3 on the road.
—UIC led wire to wire and there was one tie in the game.
—Drake shot 40.7 percent from the floor (24-59), including 50 percent (15-30) in the second half.
—Drake committed a season-high 26 fouls.
—UIC made 24 of 38 free throws, compared to Drake making just 10 of 18 charity attempts.
—Drake fell to 3-9 when trailing at halftime—unable to erase a 34-22 halftime deficit.
—Drake surpassed its entire first half output of 22 points in the opening 10:31 of the second half while outscoring UIC, 45-40, in the second period.
—Drake owned a 24-20 margin in points in the paint.
—Keno Davis, who was named the Associated Press National College Coach of the Year in 2007-08 after guiding Drake to both the MVC regular-season and postseason tournament titles en route to the NCAA Tournament, was the analyst for the ESPN+ telecast of the game.
 
Player Notes
—Senior transfer guard Jalen Quinn enjoyed his eighth 20-plus scoring game of the season, leading Drake with 28 points, including 18 in the second half.
—Eli Shetlar, making just his sixth start of the season, added 13 points while pulling down a game-high seven rebounds.
—Quinn tied a season high with three three-point baskets.
—Shetlar also made three three-point baskets, marking the seventh game this season making three or more treys including the third straight game.
—Shetlar led Drake with a career-high four assists.
—Wilguens Jr. Exacte, who had started in 13 games, missed his fifth consecutive game because of a foot injury.
 
The Series
—Drake suffered its second straight loss to UIC in Chicago, but the Bulldogs still own the lead in the all-time series, 14-4, including a 4-3 mark in games played in the Windy City.