RON MALY HAS BEEN WATCHING THE PARADE GO BY FOR A LONG TIME. THIS IS ONE OF HIS WEBSITES.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Bulldogs Play Unbeaten California At Anaheim

Game 3 • vs. California • #Drake vs/ CALIFORNIA
Nov. 22, 2012 •  10:30 p.m. CST
Anaheim Convention Center • Anaheim, Calif.

           Drake                     Team                  California
Des Moines        Location           Berkeley, Calif.
        Bulldogs               Nickname           Golden Bears
             1-1               2012-13 Record               3-0
         0-0 MVC       Conference Record     0-0 Pac-12
           NA/NA                  Ranking                   NA/NA
     Mark Phelps          Head Coach     Mike Montgomery
        63-70/5th        Record at School         91-47/5th
        63-70/5th           Career Record        637-291/31st
             87.5                Points/Game                 76.3
             75.5            Opp. Points/Game            62.7
            +12.0             Scoring Margin              +13.7
             .526                       FG%                        .491
             .405                  Opp. FG%                   .379
             .524                      3FG%                       .429
             .229                 Opp. 3FG%                  .358
             .611                       FT%                        .730
             34.0             Rebounds/Game              41.7
             36.5        Opp. Rebounds/Game         34.0
             -2.5           Rebounding Margin           +7.7
             14.5                Assists/Game                13.7
             17.5             Turnovers/Game              13.7
             -3.0             Turnover Margin              -1.0
              6.0                  Steals/Game                  3.3
                2.5           Blocks/Game         3.7

Television                                                    ESPN2/ESPN3
Play-by-play                                              Dave Flemming
Analyst                                                         Sean Farnham
 
Radio                                                          KRNT 1350-AM
Play-by-play                                                     Larry Cotlar
Analyst                                                          Dolph Pulliam
 
Streaming Video                                   www.ESPN3.com
 
• The Drake basketball squad travels to Southern California for the first of three games in four days at the DIRECTV Classic in Anaheim, Calif.
• Drake opens play in the eight-team tournament on Thursday night against California. The squad will then face either Georgia Tech or Rice on Friday and a team to be determined on Sunday.
• The Bulldogs open the tournament with a 1-1 record on the young season thanks to a season opening win over Division II William Jewell and a hard-fought 85-79 loss at projected Horizon League contender Detroit last Saturday.
• California is 3-0 on the season with wins over CSU-Bakersfield, Pepperdine and at Denver.
• The Golden Bears were tabbed to finish third in the Pac-12 preseason poll behind Arizona and UCLA.
• Thursday’s game has the potential to feature two high-scoring offenses as Drake has averaged 87.5 points per game this season while the Bears check in at 76.3 points per game and are shooting 49.1 percent compared with the Bulldogs’ 52.6 percent clip from the field.
• Drake returns five players who gained starting experience last season along with eight talented newcomers.
• Drake and Cal have met four times, most recently in 1985. Cal leads the all-time series by a 3-1 margin.
• Drake is in the DIRECTV Classic for the first time in program history. Last season, the Bulldogs competed in the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands as their regular-season tournament.
• Drake has one player on its roster with area ties in Gary Ricks, Jr., who is originally from Los Angeles.

A VICTORY would ...
• Make Drake 2-1 this season for its second straight 2-1 start.
• Be Drake’s second victory over Cal and make the Bulldogs 2-3 against the Bears.
• Make Drake 11-13 against current members of the Pac-12.
• Make Mark Phelps 64-70 at Drake.
• Be the 1,151th victory in program history.
 
A Loss would ...
• Drop Drake to 1-2 on the season and 0-2 away from the Knapp Center.
• Make Cal 4-1 against the Bulldogs.
• Make Drake 10-14 all-time against current members of the Pac-12.
 
Vs. the PAC-12
• Drake is 10-13 all-time against current members of the Pac-12.
• Colorado, Cal and Utah are the most common opponents with Drake facing the trio four times each.
• Drake has a .500 or better record against five of the 10 Pac-12 teams it has faced.
 
SoCal Connections
• Drake’s visit to sunny Southern California will be a homecoming for certain members of the Bulldogs’ roster.
• Junior Gary Ricks, Jr. is originally from Los Angeles and played at Sylmar High School before attending Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa.
• Freshman Daddy Ugbede, a native of Nigeria, played his senior season of high school at Junipero Serra High School and lived in Gardena, Calif. At Junipero Serra, he averaged 15.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game to help the team to a 31-3 record and a 4AA title.
• Assistant coach Chris Brazelton grew up in Highland, Calif., where he graduated from Redlands East Valley High School. He began his college career at UC Santa Cruz before transferring to Fresno State. Prior to joining the Drake staff, he spent five seasons on staff at UC Riverside.
 
Cal/Drake Connection
• Cal redshirt sophomore Ricky Kreklow’s father, Wayne Kreklow, was a Drake standout from 1975-79 and earned all-conference honors for the Bulldogs.
• He scored the fourth-most points in a single game in Drake history with 43 against Memphis on Dec. 16, 1978 and led the team in scoring in 1978 and 1979.
• He is seventh all-time in scoring at Drake with 1,471 career points.
• His uncle, Mike Kreklow, also suited up for the Bulldogs and was the most accurate free-throw shooter in the history of the program.
 
Picking up the pace
• Drake’s offense has had 80 or more possessions in its first two games of the season and is averaging 83 possessions per game.
• That pace is the third fastest pace in the nation and the fastest in the Missouri Valley Conference.
• Last season the Bulldogs only played at an 80-possession or greater pace once.
• In the opener against William Jewell, the Bulldogs scored 1.19 points per possession and scored on approximately 52 percent of their offensive possessions.
• Against Detroit, Drake scored 0.95 points per possession and scored on 42.5 percent of its possessions. 

[This story was written for Ron Maly by Ty Patton, Drake's assistant athletic director for communications].