CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The Drake men's basketball team went on the road for the first round of the in-state rivalry with the UNI Panthers on Sunday afternoon and suffered a loss, 86-62, inside the McLeod Center.
 
The scoreboard wasn't being lit up very often to start the in-state rivalry between the Bulldogs and Panthers as the score was just 10-9 in favor of the Bulldogs after eight minutes of play. Drake was shooting relatively well from the floor at 50-percent in the early goings, while UNI worked through a sluggish 25-percent shooting output to start.
 
UNI eventually shook off its cold start and started to do damage from beyond the arc, however. Following a string of four three-pointers on five made shots by the Panthers, they vaulted ahead by eight, 30-22, with just over four minutes to go in the half.
 
A Jalen Quinn three-ball with 42 seconds left kept the Drake deficit to under double digits, 38-29, when the two teams went into the locker room for halftime. Quinn's basket was the only field goal for the Bulldogs over the final three minutes of the period, and he led all scorers at the break with 11 points.
 
The deficit for Drake stretched to 17, 56-39, when UNI sunk its ninth long ball of the game at the 13:28 mark of the second half. Despite the Bulldogs hitting on 53-percent of their shots in the period, they were having no luck from beyond the arc going 0-for-6 to begin the half allowing the gap to widen.
 
UNI's defense, which leads the nation in scoring at 61 points per game, frustrated the Bulldogs as the game wound down while the Panther offense shot a staggering 62-percent in the second half to pull away.
 
"I was proud of how we got off to a good start," Drake head coach Eric Henderson said. "Physically we were able to match them to start the game, but eventually that got the best of us. The biggest thing that I take away from today is just our physicality. At the end of the day, it just wore us down and you saw early in the second half, UNI just tried to throw it in and establish the paint. We started to help out a little bit defensively there and then the flood gates opened. We started to foul a little bit more, but it all starts with the physicality."
 
Drake is back in the Knapp Center for its next game on Wednesday, Feb. 18 as it hosts Southern Illinois with tip-off slated for 6:30 p.m. CT.
 
Team Notes
—Drake, suffering its sixth straight loss, slipped to 12-16 overall including a 6-11 mark in the Missouri Valley Conference.
—The Bulldogs' road record fell to 4-6, including a 3-6 mark in MVC games.
—Drake used an 8-0 run to a 5-2 deficit into a 10-5 advantage for its largest lead of the game.
—Coach Eric Henderson utilized his fourth different starting lineup of the season inserting Jaehshon Thomas and Isaiah Carr into the starting five replacing Owen Larson and Jalen Quinn.
 
Player Notes
—Senior transfer guard Jalen Quinn, enjoying his 15th 20-plus scoring game, led the Bulldogs with 20 points including 11 in the first half.
—Quinn, the leading scorer in the MVC, has scored 20 or more points in nine of his last 11 games.
—Quinn moved into No. 13 on the Drake single-season scoring list with 554 points, passing Melvin Mathis (1983-84, 536).
—Quinn shared team high rebound honors with senior transfer Isaiah Carr.
 —Redshirt sophomore Eli Shetlar added 10 points, making two three-point baskets.
—Freshman Griffen Goodbary came off the bench scoring eight points for the second straight contest.
—Isaiah Carr, making just his second start of the season, collected two points, a team-high five rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot.
—Senior Jaehshon Thomas, making his 12th start (first in last 14 games) had two points and three rebounds.
—Wilguens Jr. Exacte, who had started in 13 games, missed his 14th consecutive game because of a foot injury.
 
The Series
—Drake had a two-game winning streak against UNI snapped and trails in the all-time series, 53-36, including a 10-31 mark in games played in Cedar Falls.