maly, too: Drake's Next Game Is At Nevada

Monday, November 26, 2012

Drake's Next Game Is At Nevada

Drake Men's Basketball Weekly Update – Nov. 25

Upcoming Events This Week

Competition

Friday, Nov. 30 – at Nevada (Mountain West/MVC Challenge) – Reno, Nev. – 9 p.m. CST

Coaches Shows/Luncheons

Monday, Nov. 26 – Drake Basketball Coaches’ Show – Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery (West Des Moines) – 7 p.m. CST

The Drake Basketball Coaches’ show returns to the air on KRNT 1350-AM and originating live from Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery (4508 University Avenue, West Des Moines) at 7 p.m. Women’s head coach Jennie Baranczyk leads off the program. Representatives of the men’s program may attend depending on Monday’s travel back to Des Moines from Anaheim, Calif.

This Week’s Opponents

Nevada – Nov. 30

Drake’s opponent for the annual Mountain West/MVC Challenge is a Nevada team that is 3-2 on the season with three wins at home as part of the World Vision Classic. The Wolf Pack averages 75.2 points per game thanks to Deonte Burton’s 17.6 points per game and Malik Story’s 16.2 per game. Last season the squad finished 28-7 and 13-1 in the Mountain West and went 2-1 in the NIT.

The Series vs. Nevada

The two programs have met three times, but not since 1969. Drake has won all three previous meetings by an average of 22.7 points. In the lone meeting in Reno, Drake won 90-76 on Dec. 21, 1968.

Last Week

Nov. 23 – vs. California, L 73-70

Drake University fell in final minute to California, 73-70, in the opening round of the DIRECTV Classic Thursday evening in Anaheim, Calif. Senior Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) notched his second straight double-double, scoring 11 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.), Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa), Richard Carter (Detroit, Mich.), and Gary Ricks, Jr. (Los Angeles, Calif.) each scored 13 points, but their scoring could not hold off the Golden Bears’ late charge. Justin Cobbs recorded 21 points followed by 15 from Allen Crabbe, almost all of which came down the stretch, to lead Cal past Drake in the closing minutes of the game.

Nov. 24 – vs. Rice, W 77-66

Five Bulldogs scored in double figures for the second consecutive night, as the Drake University men’s basketball team pulled away from Rice, 77-66, in second round of the DIRECTV Classic. Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) stole the show for the Bulldogs with his third double-double in a row for Drake (2-2), notching 15 points and grabbing a career-high 18 rebounds. His 18 rebounds also set a tournament record, previously held by Diamon Simpson of St. Mary’s in 2008, who had 17 against Cal State Fullerton. The senior also had four assists, two steals and two blocks. Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) scored a team-high 18 points to lead the Blue and White past the Owls (1-4). Seth VanDeest (Bettendorf, Iowa) had a strong showing in the post to complement Clarke with 12 points and eight boards of his own. In his encore performance in front of his hometown crowd, Gary Ricks (Los Angeles, Calif.) scored 10 points and had three assists. Chris Hines (Houston, Texas) added 11 points. As a team, Drake shot 46 percent from the field and 44 percent from the three-point arc.

Nov. 25 – vs. Xavier, L 74-70

The Drake University men’s basketball team got a pair of 20-point performances from Ben Simons and Joey King, but it wasn’t enough to overcome a talented Xavier team as the Bulldogs fell, 74-70, in their final game at the DIRECTV Classic. Senior Ben Simons (Cadillac, Mich.) became the 23rd player in Drake basketball history to pass the 1,000-point mark, with 20 points to give him 1,009 career points. Joey King (Eagan, Minn.) was the leading scorer for the Bulldogs (2-3), setting a career high with 21 points, and was largely responsible for keeping Drake on Xavier’s heels when the Bulldogs faced an early deficit. Senior Jordan Clarke (Rockville, Md.) recorded his fourth consecutive double-double, adding 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Blue and White. Clarke became the fifth player in tournament history to have double-doubles in all three games, in addition to setting the tournament’s rebounding record with 39 boards in three games.

Team Notes

- Drake went 1-2 at the DirecTV Classic with the losses to Xavier and Cal coming by a combined seven points. Cal went on to win the tournament title after rallying to defeat Drake in the opener.

- The Bulldogs shot 39.2 percent from three-point range on the week and averaged just 10 turnovers per game.

- In the win over Rice, Drake scored a season-high 1.24 points per possession.

- Jordan Clarke was named to the DirecTV All-Tournament team after recording three straight double-doubles and setting the tournament record for most total rebounds (39) and most rebounds in a game (18).

- Ben Simons became the 23^rd Bulldog to score 1,000 career points. He now has 1,009 points after scoring 20 in the loss to Xavier.

MVC Player of the Week Nominee

Jordan Clarke

F – 6-8 – 256

Sr. – Rockville, Md.

The Rockville, Md., native recorded three double-doubles against California, Rice and Xavier to help the Bulldogs to a 1-2 record … he averaged 12.7 points, 13.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 55 percent from the field … he also set the tournament record for rebounds with 39 in three games and became just the fifth player in the six years of the tournament to record a double-double in every game … he opened the tournament with 11 points and 10 rebounds against Cal and followed that up with 15 points and a tournament single-game record and career-high 18 rebounds against Rice … in the Bulldogs final game in Anaheim, he posted 12 points and 11 rebounds.

MVC Newcomer of the Week Nominee

Joey King

F – 6-9 – 219

Fr. – Eagan, Minn.

Averaged 8.7 points per game at the DirecTV Classic and shot 54.5 percent from the three-point arc (6-of-11) and 56.3 percent from the field (9-of-16) … scored a career-high 21 points in the loss to Xavier with five three-pointers on seven attempts.

Player Notes

0 – Kori Babineux – Scored two points in 10.7 minutes per game at the DirecTV Classic.

1 – Jordan Clarke – Has recorded four straight double-doubles and has had double-digit rebounds in seven of his last eight games … averaged 12.7 and 13.0 rebounds at the DirecTV Classic to earn all-tournament honors and set tournament records for total rebounds (39) and rebounds in a game (8).

2 – Gary Ricks, Jr. – Opened the DirecTV Classic with a 10 and 13-point game … averaged 7.7 points per game and shot 44.4 percent from the three-point arc.

3 – Richard Carter – Averaged 7.7 points per game in Anaheim and 3.7 assists per game.

4 – Chris Hines – Started all three games and averaged 7.3 points per game.

10 – Jeremy Jeffers – Played 10 total minutes and was scoreless on two shots.

11 – Karl Madison - DNP – Injury (Knee)

21 – Robert Puleikis – DNP – Coach’s decision

22 – Micah Mason – Played 10 minutes at point guard in the loss to Xavier … had two assists and no turnovers.

23 – Mitch McLaughlin – DNP – Injury (Hand)

24 – Joey King – Scored a career-high 21 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the three-point arc in the loss to Xavier … averaged 8.7 points per game in Anaheim.

25 – Matt Bowie – DNP – Coach’s decision

34 – Ben Simons – Reach the 1,000 career point plateau with 20 points in the loss to Xavier … averaged a team-high 17 points per game in Anaheim and was 10-of-11 from the free-throw line.

40 - Daddy Ugbede – Played six solid minutes in the loss to California.

45 – Seth VanDeest – Scored 13 and 12 points in the Bulldogs’ first two games … averaged 9.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game … played a season-high 32 minutes against Rice.

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

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.