Sunday, January 10, 2021 5:30 p.m.
Knapp Center, Des Moines, Iowa
There's a whole lot at stake when Loyola faces Drake this weekend in a back-to-back road series in Des Moines. Largely because of the chaos of Covid scheduling, ranking measures have Drake and the Ramblers vying for the top two spots in the MVC with some wild swings (KenPom.com: Loyola 45, Drake 58; BartTorvik: Loyola 45, Drake 51; Sagarin: Drake 67, Loyola 79; .NET: Drake 13, Loyola 57).
Loyola was unable to play Bradley in Peoria last weekend, but hastily added a game against North Texas. The Ramblers are 7-2 overall, 2-0 in the MVC, and 1-2 against Top 100 KenPom teams. Drake-- at 13-0 overall and 4-0 in the MVC-- has yet to play a team ranked better than 148 on KenPom. Loyola has also had the misfortune of having to play back-to-back games on the road at three of their top four KenPom ranked opponents: Drake (58), Bradley (107), and Missouri State (130).
Coach Darian DeVries has worked wonders with Drake in his 2+ seasons, earning a tie (with the Ramblers) for the Regular Season championship in 2018-19, and notching a 20-win season in their injury-plagued 2019-20 season. Each year, DeVries and the Bulldogs have had a new set of challenges-- injuries, transfers, a late start on his first recruiting class, a pandemic-- but each time they've met the test. With their record-setting 13-0 start to 2020-21, DeVries is 57-24 (.708) at Drake.
The Bulldogs start two guards, two forwards, and a center. They typically go nine players deep. Three of their starters are transfers, and their sixth man was a former walk-on. Eight of the players on their roster come from Chicago's South or Southwest suburbs and nearby Northern Indiana-- blue-collar places in the shadow of more glamorous basketball environs-- where a lot of people work hard and are often overlooked. You can see it on the court. They play very hard as a unit, they communicate, and share their minutes well. Some key guys have a gym-rat sensibility and a competitive chip on their shoulders-- really focused leadership and teamwork.
Roman Penn, a 6'0" senior transfer from Sienna, is the league's best point guard. A native of Calumet City, he averages 12.1 points and 5.8 assists per game. Penn was terrific last year and named to all conference 2nd team in the preseason poll, but he has improved his shot selection. Penn shoots 59.2% from the field and 44.4% from distance; as floor general, his playmaking has helped rank Drake sixth in all of college basketball in field goal percentage and fourth in three point field goal percentage.
Six-two junior shooting guard DJ Wilkins has nailed 35 of his 66 three-point attempts on the season, and if you take out his first two games, 34 of last 56 (60.7%). He averages 11.3 points per game, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists. He's hit four or more threes in five of his last 11 games.
In the frontcourt is 6'6" senior forward ShanQuan Hemphill, a product of Michigan City High School and a native of Gary, Indiana. The long and lanky transfer from Green Bay has been one of the most impactful additions to the roster, leading the team with 14.2 points and adding 5.2 rebounds. Joining him at the forward position is 6'6" redshirt senior Tremell Murphy, from Griffith, Ind., who missed all but five games last season. Murphy averages 7.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game, and shoots well from distance (35.5%).
Another big (literally) acquisition is Seton Hall transfer Darnell Brodie. At 6'10" and 275, the big center has capably filled the hole left by 7-footer Liam Robbins, who ditched Drake for Minnesota at the end of last season. Brodie hasn't completely replaced Robbins' average of 14.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.9 blocks per game, but he's shown enough to be one of the top five big men in the league. He averages 6.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, and finishes well near the basket.
The top two players off the bench are dynamic 6'3"guard Garret Sturtz, and 6'0 sophomore guard Joseph Yesufu, who both infuse a ton of energy and scoring when they enter the game. The Bolingbrook, Illinois native Yesufu averages 8.8 points and 2.2 assists per game despite playing less than 17 minutes per game on average. Sturtz, a junior who arrived at Drake as a preferred walk-on, is one of the peskiest players in the league, averaging 8.5 points and an astounding 4.9 rebounds while playing only 21.8 minutes per game. Six-foot-three senior guard Jonah Jackson from Merrillville, Ind. and 6'8" freshman forward Nate Ferguson out of Lemont, Ill. are the other key bench players. The solidly-built Jackson averages 4.5 points per game and ranks 2nd on the team in made threes while shooting 42.9% from distance; all but one of his 43 attempted field goals on the year have come from behind the arc. Ferguson averages 3.3 points and 1.9 boards while playing 13 minutes a game as a breather for Brodie.
Loyola, winners of their last four games overall and 1-1 on the road for the year, put up a hard-fought 57-49 victory over North Texas last time out. Drake will present a totally different style of play for the Ramblers to cope with on Sunday. The Bulldogs are a very offensive-minded team that likes to play a slightly faster tempo than the Ramblers. But Drake's defense is no pushover, either. The Bulldogs are ranked 86th nationally in defensive efficiency by KenPom, and they've limited their conference opponents to 41.5% field goal shooting in their first four games. Few teams share court minutes as well as Drake-- their nine key players each average between 13 and 25 minutes per game, six players have taken between 68 and 103 field goal attempts, and five different players have taken at least 27 shots behind the arc. Six Bulldogs have scored between 101 and 184 points-- they spread the scoring.
There's a big buzz developing around this fun-to-watch Drake team. They beat a P5 team to start off the year (Kansas State), all but one of their wins have come by double digits, they're one of only six teams who've played three games or more to remain undefeated, and they're getting votes in the AP Top 25 Poll.
Drake was picked to finish seventh in the 2020-21 MVC Preseason poll. When Drake started off 9-0 in non-con play against a mostly weak schedule, it was still possible to doubt if the Bulldogs were for real. Their four convincing conference wins (by an average of 18 points per game) eliminated most of that doubt. The Ramblers are a genuine test, even if Drake is playing them at home, back-to-back, with a small crowd allowed in attendance. Conversely, Loyola also has a lot to prove after losing both of their two high profile non-con matchups against Wisconsin and Richmond. Partly because of the back-to-back, uneven home-road schedule, neither team will get a bigger challenge to show their tournament worth.
Loyola game notes: https://loyolaramblers.com/documents/20 ... 10_21_.pdfDrake game notes: https://godrakebulldogs.com/documents/2 ... Loyola.pdfTV/Streaming video: ESPN2
https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=94 ... 517e49b0feInternet audio feed: https://loyolaramblers.com/watch/?Live=47&type=LiveLive stats: https://godrakebulldogs.com/sidearmstats/mbball/summaryVegas odds: Pending