Saturday, January 5, 2019, 2:00 p.m.
Knapp Arena, Des Moines, Iowa

One of the best stories in the MVC non-con season was Drake’s solid showing under first year head coach Darian DeVries. Patching together a slap-dash roster from remnants of Nico Medved’s one year in Des Moines with jucos, graduate transfers, and promising freshmen, the upstart Bulldogs pulled off wins over Boise State, New Mexico State and San Diego. Eleven wins (nine against D1), with the only losses coming at the hands of Colorado and Iowa State.

But on Wednesday night, opening the conference season in Evansville, the Bulldogs’ graduate transfer spark plug Nick Norton went down with a season-ending knee injury just before halftime. The UAB transfer was leading the team in minutes, assists, steals, made threes, and free throw percentage. Together with 6’8” senior forward Nick McGlynn, they were one of the most intriguing inside-outside combos in the league. After Norton went down, Drake fell in double overtime, 82-77.

Norton played with Loyola walk on guard Jake Baughman at Central Catholic High School in Bloomington, where they won a 2A state title in 2014. Norton also had a season-ending knee injury two years ago while at UAB.

Besides the impressive play by Norton, Drake has had an infusion of positive energy and athletic talent under DeVries. Newcomers D.J. Wilkins (6’2” redshirt freshman guard), Tremell Murphy (6’6” junior juco forward), and Brady Ellingson (6’4” grad transfer from Iowa) join Norton and McGlynn in the starting lineup. With Norton unable to play against Loyola, either 6’3” freshman Garrett Sturtz or 6’2” sophomore guard Noah Thomas are likely to start.

The five members of the Drake starting lineup this season have averaged between 15.9 points (McGlynn) and 9.4 points (Tremell Murphy). Four players off the bench (Sturtz, Thomas, Treell Murphy’s twin brother Anthony, and 7-footer Liam Roberts) have averaged double digit minutes and between 7.6 and 4.2 points. That’s a lot of ball-sharing, versatility, athleticism, and skill.


Loyola is coming off its best conference opener in decades, a 35-point drubbing of Indiana State. Loyola guard-forward Aher Uguak led the way with a 19-point performance on 8-for-8 shooting from the field. Uguak’s great individual performance and Loyola’s smothering team defense (allowing only 12 points in the first half) brought cheers from a nice midweek winter break crowd at Gentile Arena.

You can throw out the records when Loyola plays at Drake; every game seems to be a dogfight, no matter how good or bad each team might be that season. The Ramblers are 2-3 in games at the Knapp Center since joining the MVC. The Ramblers will need to maintain their focus and energy they showed against Indiana State on Wednesday, as the Bulldogs have often used adversity as a motivator over the past several years.

Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... df?id=8270

Drake game notes: https://godrakebulldogs.com/documents/2 ... Loyola.pdf

TV/Streaming video: ESPN + http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/62bcc1a0 ... o-vs-drake

Live stats: https://godrakebulldogs.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summary

Vegas odds: Loyola by 3

Feel bad for Norton and the Drake fans. I'm a little surprised we're only a 3 point favorite with him out. From what I've read from the Drake fans he was a huge part of the team's success this year.

I'm making the trip up to Des Moines! Excited to make it to my first game of the season!

The odds opened at 3, but it's up to 5.5 in a lot of places now.

Looking to see the Ramblers play well in this one. I hope our experiences of last season will reduce the road game pressures we have had at Drake in previous seasons.
Depth of our bigs should take a toll on McGlynn, and hopefully we can exploit the unfortunate loss of Norton, who was a true catalyst for the Bulldogs.
Yet, it is college basketball and every game has its unique way of playing out.
As I write, Valpo is demolishing Missouri State at the half. Bradley and IN St. about even at the half. Let's get this one today! GO RAMBLERS....

This Drake offense is really good. Kaifes has gotten lost a couple times on defense

Wtf...

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It's going to be a long day if Drake never misses...

Can we just fast forward to the part where Drake misses a shot?

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Well that was a wild ride.

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Great composure to come back like that. A lot of teams would’ve been buried for good after those first 7 or 8 minutes.