Game 1 • Drake vs. William Jewell
Nov. 10, 2012 • 11 a.m
Des Moines • Knapp Center
Drake Team WJC
18-16 2011-12 Record 9-17
9-9 MVC Conference Record 5-13/GLVC
NA/NA Ranking NA/NA
Mark Phelps Head Coach Larry Holley
62-69/5th Record at School 806-472/33rd
62-69/5th Career Record 831-353/42nd
67.0 Points/Game 67.6
66.8 Opp. Points/Game 67.8
+0.2 Scoring Margin -0.2
.439 FG% .462
.430 Opp. FG% .469
.362 3FG% .357
.305 Opp. 3FG% .348
.656 FT% .655
32.5 Rebounds/Game 32.0
34.7 Opp. Rebounds/Game 32.3
-2.2 Rebounding Margin -0.3
10.3 Assists/Game 13.4
12.9 Turnovers/Game 13.8
+0.8 Turnover Margin -0.8
6.9 Steals/Game 7.4
3.0 Blocks/Game 2.8
Television None
Play-by-play
Analyst
Radio KRNT 1350-AM
Play-by-play Larry Cotlar
Analyst Dolph Pulliam
• Drake's men's basketball opens the 2012-13 regular season Saturday when it hosts William
Jewell at 11 a.m. in the Knapp Center [pictured].
• Drake enters the
after going 18-16 last season with a third-place finish in the Missouri
Valley. The squad also advanced to postseason play for the second time
under fifth-year coach Mark Phelps with a
CIT berth. The team advanced to the second round of the tournament.
• William Jewell, a Division II program that
competes in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, went 9-17 last season
under veteran head coach Larry Holley.
• Drake enters the season picked sixth in
the Missouri Valley Conference preseason poll while senior Ben Simons was selected to the
preseason all-conference team.
• Drake returns five players who gained starting experience along with eight talented newcomers.
• The Bulldogs will also have the benefit of center Seth VanDeest, who missed the entire 2011-12 season with shoulder injuries.
• Saturday’s contest is the fifth between the two programs with Drake winning the previous four, the last coming in 1985.
• Drake is 67-39 all-time in season openers.
A victorywould ...
• Make Drake 1-0 this season and 1-0 to start a season for the 68th time in program history.
• Be Drake’s second straight season opening victory.
• Make Mark Phelps 3-2 in season openers at Drake.
• Make Drake 5-0 all-time against William Jewell.
• Make Mark Phelps 63-69 at Drake.
• Be the 1,150th victory in program history.
A Loss would ...
• Mark the 40th time Drake has opened a season with a loss.
• Make William Jewell 1-4 against the Bulldogs.
Season Openers
• Drake is 67-39 all-time in season openers and 2-2 in openers during Mark Phelps’ tenure at Drake.
• In its last 10 season openers, Drake is 8-2 and 4-2 when the season opener is in the Knapp Center.
King Shines In Exhibition
• Freshman Joey King stole the spotlight in Drake’s 101-80 exhibition win over Southwest Baptist with 22 points.
• King’s 22 points came on 8-of-10 shooting from the floor and 6-of-8 from behind the arc.
• He also added four rebounds, three off the offensive glass, two assists, a steal and a block.
Team overcomes slow first half to beat SBU
• The Drake University men’s basketball team
had a dominant second-half performance in its first competition of the
season to earn a 101-80 exhibition win over Southwest Baptist at the
Knapp Center last Saturday.
• Aside from King’s performance noted above, Drake had five players in double-figures on the night.
• Senior Ben Simons had 13 points and 11
rebounds. Junior college transfer Gary Ricks Jr. had 12 points, hitting
every shot he took from the field in his debut for the Bulldogs.
• Seth VanDeest showed why he was missed all
of last season with shoulder complications. The redshirt-junior scored
15 points, including six of Drake’s first 11 and reached the free throw
line seven times.
• Drake trailed at the half, 44-42, due to
impressive 47-percent shooting from three-point range for Southwest
Baptist before the Bulldogs took control.
• Drake went on a 16-0 run early in the second half to put the game out of reach.
Bulldogs Picked Sixth in MVC Poll
• Drake was picked to finish sixth in the Missouri Valley Conference’s annual preseason poll.
• The Bulldogs finished with 184 points in
the poll of the league’s coaches, media and communications personnel
after finishing in a tie for third in the league last season.
MVC Men’s Basketball Preseason Poll
No. Team (1st Place Votes) Points
1. Creighton (38) 398
2. Illinois State (2) 327
3. UNI 316
4. Wichita State 298
5. Evansville 240
6. Drake 184
7. Indiana State 165
8. Missouri State 122
9. Bradley 84
10. Southern Illinois 66
Simons Named Preseason All-Valley
• Senior Ben Simons was one of nine players
to earn preseason all-conference honors and just one of five named to
the first team.
• The 6-8 forward from Cadillac, Mich.,
returns as Drake’s top scorer after earning second team all-MVC honors
at the conclusion of his junior year.
• He averaged 16.4 points per game a season ago, the fourth most in the MVC, and led the league in three-pointers with 77.
Preseason All-Conference
Doug McDermott, Creighton (Preseason Player of the Year)
Colt Ryan, Evansville
Jackie Carmichael, Illinois State
Jake Odum, Indiana State
Ben Simons, Drake
Honorable Mention
Gregory Echenique, Creighton
Anthony James, UNI
Carl Hall, Wichita State
Seth Tuttle, UNI
Simons No. 29 Shooter in the Nation
• In addition to his preseason MVC
accolades, CBSSports.com’s Jeff Goodman ranked Ben Simons as the
29th-best shooter in the nation.
• Last season, Simons led the MVC in
three-pointers with 77 and shot 42.5 percent from three-point range and
50.6 percent of his shots from inside the arc.
• He had plenty of company on the list as one of five MVC sharpshooters to be recognized, the most of any conference.
Newcomers highly touted
• The Bulldogs’ 2012 recruiting class was
ranked No. 45 in the nation by HoopScoopOnline, and second among
Missouri Valley Conference schools. The class consists of five freshmen,
two junior college transfers and Chris Hines, a transfer
from Utah who has one year of eligibility remaining and can play
immediately.
Preseason Notes
• Drake will play in the 2012 Anaheim
Classic Nov. 22-25, joining a field that also includes California,
Drexel, Georgia Tech, Pacific, Rice, St. Mary’s and Xavier.
• Drake enters 2012-13 having qualified for a
postseason tournament three times in the last five seasons (2008 NCAA,
2009 and 2012 CIT), and twice in the four-year tenure of head coach Mark
Phelps. Drake’s first-round CIT win over
North Dakota was its first in the postseason since 1975.
• With 62 career wins, Drake head coach Mark
Phelps has more wins than any Drake coach in his first four seasons
(2nd: Maury John, 55, 1958-62). No Drake head coach since Maury John
(.555 from 1958-62) has had a better winning percentage
in his first four seasons than Phelps (.473).
• Drake is coming off a third-place finish
(9-9, tied with four teams) in the Missouri Valley Conference in
2011-12, which was its second-highest in the MVC standings in the last
26 years. The team’s 9-9 MVC record was the best under
head coach Mark Phelps, and is topped in the last 26 years only by the
15-3 mark of ‘07-’08, and matched by the 9-9 finishes of 2001-02,
‘94-’95 and ‘92-’93.
• The 18 wins by last year’s Bulldogs were
the most in Phelps’ four-year tenure as head coach and tied for
ninth-most in school history. Drake posted a winning record for the
second time in Phelps’ four years (17-16, 2008-09), making
him the first Drake head coach in 50 years to post two winning seasons
in his first four (Maury John, 2, 1958-62).
• Five of the top six seasons in school
history for three-point field goals have come in the last five years,
four of them under Mark Phelps (2nd, 3rd, 5th, 6th). Drake finished the
2011-12 season with 213, fifth-most in school history.
Three-Pointers Made
• Last season’s Drake team connected on the
fifth most three-pointers in program history. Below is where the 2011-12
Bulldogs measured up from long distance.
1. 310 2007-08 (840 att.)
2. 284 2009-10 (746 att.)
3. 266 2008-09 (765 att.)
4. 232 2001-02 (595 att.)
5. 212 2011-12 (585 att.)
6. 203 2010-11 (573 att.)
• The 2011-12 Bulldogs ranked No. 1 in the MVC in three-point field-goal pct. defense (.305) and third in steals (6.9).
• Drake is coming off a season in which it
was 16-2 when shooting a higher percentage than its opponent and 9-0
when shooting 50 percent or higher.
• In keeping with Coach Phelps’ emphasis on
strong defense, the Bulldogs did not allow an opponent to shoot higher
than 50 percent from the field for an 18-game stretch in 2011-12 before
Rice shot 53.1% in the season-ending CIT Tournament
loss. Opponents in that stretch shot a combined 41.2 percent (408-991),
including a figure of 39.6 percent over the last nine games
(199-of-503). In addition, those nine opponents combined to shoot
49-of-217 (.226) from three-point range.
PLAYER NOTES
• Drake forward Ben Simons enters 2012-13 as
the Valley third-leading returning scorer after posting a 16.4 average
last year. Simons led the MVC and ranked 54th in the NCAA in three-point
field goals per game (2.6), while ranking
No. 23 among NCAA DI players in three-point field goal percentage
(42.5%).
• Simons finished the season with 77
three-pointers, seventh on the school’s single-season list, and 156 for
his career, sixth-most all-time.
Three-Pointers in a Season
1. 91 Luke McDonald 2001-02
2. 86 Josh Young 2007-08
3. 86 Luke McDonald 2000-01
4. 83 Eric Berger 1988-89
5. 83 Klayton Korver 2007-08
6. 80 B.J. Windhorst 1994-95
7. 77 Ben Simons 2011-12
Three-Pointers in a Career
1. 255 Josh Young 2006-10
2. 241 Luke McDonald 2001-03
241 Klayton Korver 2003-08
4. 178 Armand LeVasseur 1996-2000
5. 169 Matt Woodley 1997-2000
6. 156 Ben Simons 2009-12
• Simons topped the 20-point mark nine times
last season, including a career-high of 29 points vs. Wichita State
(1/28/12), which matched the best output by a Bulldog since Josh Young
scored 34 points vs. Morehead State on Nov. 19,
2008.
• Simons, a co-captain, ranked second in the
MVC in free-throw shooting (.849; 62-73). He made 21 consecutive free
throws and 27-of-28 from the stripe over an 11-game span between Dec. 28
and Feb. 1, before missing his first attempt
vs. Southern Illinois (2/22/12), in his first game back after missing
five games with mononucleosis. Simons ranks No. 1 among active MVC
players in career free-throw percentage (.860).
• Fifth-year senior Jordan Clarke returns as
co-captain for the Bulldogs after ranking seventh in the MVC in
rebounds with a team-leading average of 7.0 and sixth in steals (1.4)
last season. Clarke had 34 rebounds in a three-game
stretch in mid-February (11.3 rpg) and averaged 11.0 rebounds per game
(44) in the four postseason games Drake played in the MVC Tournament and
CIT.
• Clarke ranked second on the team with 49
steals last year, most in a season by a Drake Bulldog playing the center
position. He also posted four double-doubles, the first four of his
career.
• Clarke tied career highs for both steals
(4) and blocked shots (2) vs. North Dakota (3/14/12) in the first round
of the CIT, to go with his 14 rebounds, second-most in his career.
• Jeremy Jeffers finished with the sixth-most points scored by a freshman in school history (243) in 2011-12.
• Jeffers’ 32 three-pointers last season
also were sixth-most in a season by a Drake freshman, and his
three-point shooting percentage of .432 was second-best among the top
six.
[This story was written for Ron Maly by Ty Patton, Drake's assistant athletic director for communiatrions].
