ST. LOUIS, Mo. (March 5) – Coming into the postseason off three straight losses, one had to wonder if maybe Drake was running on fumes heading into its 2020 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament opener Thursday night against Illinois State.
The Bulldogs had just lost to the Redbirds less than two weeks earlier, and had to be still smarting after a blowout loss to Valley champion Northern Iowa their last time out. Eighth-seeded Drake showed some resiliency, though, in defeating No. 9 Illinois State 75-65 at Enterprise Center in the opening game of the 30th anniversary of Arch Madness in St. Louis.
“I thought it was a great effort by our guys tonight,” said second year Drake head coach Darian DeVries. “It was great to see them playing a little loose and free.
“We got some threes to go down, we’ve been struggling the last few games with that. I thought defensively, the second half our guys played a tremendous half and really took some of the things that they like to do away.”
It was a steady but strong effort for the Bulldogs Thursday night in their MVC tourney opener as they picked up their 19th win of the season. Drake (19-13) shook off a quick start by the Redbirds to slowly take control in the first half. The Bulldogs bounced back again after ISU closed within two points by halftime, dominating the first 10 minutes of the second half to go ahead by as much as 17. And Drake was cool and collected late when Illinois State rallied again, going on a 14-2 run to get within four points with plenty of time remaining.
Drake had lost to ISU 57-53 less than two weeks earlier, as the Redbirds used a zone defense that the Bulldogs struggled with. This time, Drake looked much more comfortable when Illinois State mixed up defenses. The Bulldogs moved the ball on the perimeter and found the middle too, and in an overall efficient performance shot 52.1% (25 of 48).
“Yeah, it helped that we had three days before the tournament here to really get prepped for it,” DeVries said. “I thought our guys did just a better job of being aggressive against the zone and attacked it on the interior a little bit better than we did the first time around.”
Illinois State (10-21) took an early 12-5 lead hitting three three-pointers in the first 3 1/2 minutes, but Drake responded with a 14-2 run. The Redbirds rallied back to briefly lead at 22-21, but Anthony Murphy drove for a layup the next time down and the Bulldogs would never trail again.
Drake seven-footer Liam Robbins-one of the breakout players in the conference this year-was quietly efficient, scoring 18 points while making 7 of 10 shots. He also blocked three shots, and his presence was responsible on both ends for a 32-12 advantage in paint points for the Bulldogs.
Robbins led a balanced attack that included four double-figure scorers, three performing well over their season average. Only Robbins and point guard Roman Penn averaged more than 9.1 points during the season, and Penn scored just two points while battling foul trouble especially in the second half.
Stepping up was Jonah Jackson, who scored a season-high 15 points on five three-pointers. To mention the latter fact is almost needless, for Jackson is one of the most predictable players in the country: if he scores, it’s almost without fail a three-pointer.
He is the second player in NCAA Division I since 1992-93 to make more than 60 three-pointers in a season without a single two-point basket. Jackson is 65-for-165 from behind the arc this year, 0-for-4 on two-point attempts, and a whole 7 of 8 from the foul line.
“I’ve got really good teammates who look for me at all times,” said Jackson after the game of how he has thrived so much in a very distinct role. “They kind of hunt for me, you know, coming off screens and just being a team player.”
Senior Anthony Murphy was outstanding this time of year in St. Louis last year, and he impacted this game too with 17 points plus four steals. And Garrett Sturtz may have been the most valuable Bulldog of them all Thursday, scoring 17 points off the bench, including a huge three-point play after ISU had closed within four with just under 7 minutes left.
Illinois State had one last gasp after that when Ricky Torres hit a baseline jumper to make it 59-54, but Drake scored the next nine points. A 12-2 run in all was capped by Jackson’s fifth three-pointer for a 68-54 lead with 3:33 to play and effectively putting the game out of reach.
“Coach said they’re going to hit us with a run and don’t panic and stay composed,” said Murphy. “That’s what we did. Jonah hit some big shots and Liam made some free throws, Garrett and myself, also. We just didn’t panic, and we just did it.”
Now, the Bulldogs will attempt to perform a feat never accomplished in 43 years of the MVC Tournament. Drake will try to become the first team to defeat the tourney’s top seed in the quarterfinals. In fact, opening night winners at Arch Madness have about as good of a success rate in the quarters as 16 seeds do against 1s in the NCAA Tournament: one win in 46 previous tries.
Top seed Northern Iowa is formidable, as Drake saw in a 27-point loss to the Panthers at home six days earlier. (“You assume I watched that film. I burned that thing,” DeVries said with a chuckle to a question about what he learned from the tape of that last matchup.) The first matchup was much, much closer though. In fact, the Bulldogs held a 5-point lead at UNI with just over five minutes left before the Panthers finished the game on a 20-5 run.
“They’re a good team. They present a lot of problems for you,” said DeVries. “You know, they’re well coached, got good players…there’s some areas we need to clean up, that we need to do a lot better job of that I didn’t think we were sharp at this last time around. On a quick turnaround, you can’t do a ton. It really comes down to just relying on what your principles are at both ends of the floor and knowing what you’re looking for, and then just be confident in what you’re doing.”
