ST. LOUIS (May 6) – On the final day of the Missouri Valley Conference regular season, Northern Iowa wrapped up the outright conference title by defeating Drake by 27 points. On the road.
The win clinched a sweep of the teams’ season series and locked up the Panthers as the No. 1 seed in the MVC Tournament. It also settled the Bulldogs as the eighth seed at Arch Madness, and was the third straight loss for Drake to close out the regular season.
The possibility existed that the teams could meet a third time in the MVC quarterfinals, and sure, it’s hard to beat a team three times in the same season, they say. But if it has been hard for 16 seeds to defeat 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament over 35 years, it hasn’t been much easier for 8 or 9 seeds to topple No. 1 in the MVC’s postseason, either.
First round winners came into this year 1-43 in the quarterfinals, 0-40 over the previous 20 years, and 1 seeds themselves were undefeated in quarterfinals over the tourney’s 43-year history. Teams seeded eighth or ninth were 0-for-23 years in the quarters since the tourney expanded to 10 teams in 1997.
Drake defeated Illinois State 75-65 in the MVC first round Thursday night, but between their trajectories and tournament history, there was little indication that Drake just six days after a 27-point loss to Northern Iowa could accomplish one of the most momentous feats in the conference’s 43-year basketball tournament history against the same team.
The Bulldogs shredded 23 years of history, though, with a shocking 77-56 win over the Panthers in the MVC quarterfinals. Drake became the first 8 seed to ever advance to the tourney’s semifinals and just the second opening round winner to win a quarterfinal since the tourney expanded to 10 teams in 1997, and first since No. 7 Bradley in 1998.
The win was the 20th this year for the Bulldogs (20-13), an indication of how capable they truly are. This was an upset far more in historical terms than on the court. Heck, Drake led UNI deep in the second half of their first meeting this year before the Panthers finished the game on a 20-5 run for an 83-73 win.
“I’ve told the team all year, we didn’t finish where we wanted to, but we’ve been really close in a lot of games,” said Drake head coach Darian DeVries. “We continue to believe in each other, and we went into this tournament saying every game is just a new 40-minute game, and we really approached that today.”
Drake darted out to a 17-point first half lead, but that in itself wasn’t entirely surprising. Others have been close to knocking off No. 1 in the past. Typically, though, most Quarterfinal No. 1 games followed a similar script, as the team that just played Friday night would run out of steam by the latter stages of the second half.
Two year ago, Northern Iowa gave Loyola Chicago all it could handle, nearly derailing the Ramblers’ Final Four run that year before it ever started. Loyola itself as an 8 seed also nearly knocked off No. 1 Wichita State in 2016, leading until less than two minutes were left in the game. And there are countless instances of games being close at halftime and into the second half before the heavyweights pulled away late.
Instead, that was where Drake became stronger on Friday. After Northern Iowa roared back to get within two points on three occasions early in the second half, the last time at 50-48 with 12:36 left in the game, the Bulldogs suddenly started playing like the No. 1 seed.
Drake finished the game on a 27-8 run, while UNI finished the game stone cold. The Panthers went scoreless for a stretch of more than 10 minutes, missing 12 straight shots.
While Northern Iowa sputtered, Roman Penn starred for Drake. The sophomore guard scored 19 points in the second half and finished with a career-high 26 for the game, plus eight rebounds and eight assists.
After the Panthers made it a two-point game, Penn scored 12 straight points. The final ones were for all intents and purposes the dagger, a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock for a 62-48 lead with 5:14 left.
Along with Penn’s heroics, Drake received a big game from Anthony Murphy, who in his two years with the Bulldogs has become their Mr. March. Murphy scored 12 points and added seven boards, two steals and two blocks. Eleven of his points came in the first half, when Drake shot 58.6% (17 of 29) and put Northern Iowa in retreat mode quickly.
Even more valuable, though, was Murphy’s defense on UNI star AJ Green. With the Drake senior picking him up at halfcourt and chasing him everywhere, Green finished with 19 points but had to work exceedingly hard for them. The sophomore made 8 of 25 shots, including 3 of 10 from three-point range, and was just 4-for-15 in the second half.
Seven-footer Liam Robbins also scored 17 and added nine rebounds and four blocks for Drake, which shot 50% (27 of 54) and also outrebounded UNI 42-38. The latter is notable for the Panthers came in leading the Valley in rebound margin at +7.4 per game.
Drake avenged a semifinal loss to a lower-seeded Northern Iowa team at Arch Madness last year, and found out later that it will get a crack at defending tourney champion and No. 4 seed Bradley. The teams split their regular season meetings, so there’s no reason to think this run can’t keep going.
Friday’s result also ensured that the MVC regular season champion Panthers will go into the at-large pool for NCAA Tournament consideration. With a 25-6 record, UNI certainly has a chance (DeVries said “they’re certainly an NCAA Tournament team and deserve to be in the tournament) but this was hardly the final impression it would’ve wanted to give the selection committee.
“Northern Iowa has had a tremendous year,” said DeVries. “We didn’t have quite the year we wanted to, but today was just one 40-minute game, and whoever’s better after these 40 minutes gets to play on. That was our challenge to them is just be the best us we can be today, and we’ll take the results.
“I thought these guys really kept believing. It started yesterday and then today again. Just played with tremendous kind of effort. And they had fun. They were having fun out there. It’s awesome as a coach to see them enjoying playing the game.”
Twitter: @HoopvilleAdam
