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

Thursday, December 20, 2012

Another Spoonhour Coaches At the Knapp Center


Drake Men’s Basketball vs. Eastern Illinois Game Notes
 Game 11 • vs. Eastern Illinois • #DUvsEIU
Dec. 22, 2012 •  2:05 p.m.
Des Moines, Iowa • Knapp Center

           Drake                     Team             Eastern Illinois
Des Moines        Location           Charleston, Ill.
        Bulldogs               Nickname               Panthers
             5-5               2012-13 Record               3-9
             0-0            Conference Record            0-0
           NA/NA                  Ranking                   NA/NA
     Mark Phelps          Head Coach       Jay Spoonhour
        67-74/5th        Record at School           3-9/1st
        67-74/5th           Career Record          109-42/5th
             76.4                Points/Game                 56.1
             73.7            Opp. Points/Game            62.3
             +2.7              Scoring Margin               -6.2
             .458                       FG%                        .411
             .438                  Opp. FG%                   .465
             .419                      3FG%                       .342
             .308                 Opp. 3FG%                  .346
             .681                       FT%                        .592
             31.1             Rebounds/Game              28.5
             36.5        Opp. Rebounds/Game         31.9
             -5.4           Rebounding Margin           -3.4
             15.1                Assists/Game                12.8
             13.3             Turnovers/Game              13.8
             +1.6             Turnover Margin              +0.7
              6.2                  Steals/Game                  7.4
                1.9           Blocks/Game         1.6

Television                                                                   None                                                                              

Radio                                                          KRNT 1350-AM
Play-by-play                                                     Larry Cotlar
Analyst                                                          Dolph Pulliam

Streaming Video               www.GoDrakeBulldogs.com

• The Drake University men’s basketball team plays its final home game of 2012 today when it hosts Eastern Illinois in the first meeting between the two programs.
• Drake wraps up its homestand after defeating North Carolina Central on Wednesday evening, 72-69.
• Seth VanDeest led the Bulldogs in the win with a season-high 19 points and a back-to-back baskets in the final minute to preserve the win. VanDeest is averaging 18.5 points on 14-of-19 shooting in the last two games.
• Eastern Illinois, a member of the Ohio Valley Conference, is 3-9 after falling to St. Louis on Wednesday evening. The Panthers are in their first season under coach Jay Spoonhour. He is the son of the late Charlie Spoonhour, a legendary coach whose stops included Southeastern Community College in Burlington, Missouri State of the Missouri Valley Conference and St. Louis. After his retirement as a coach, Charlie Spoonhour was an analyst for Missouri Valley Conference telecasts, and among the stops he made in that job was the Knapp Center. 
• The Panthers average 56.1 points per game and are led by Josh Piper’s 11.5 points per game.
• Drake is averaging 76.4 points per game to rank in the top 50 nationally in scoring.
• Ben Simons leads Drake with 15.3 points per game after hitting four three-pointers in Wednesday’s win. The senior continues to move up the Drake career scoring ranks with 1,075 points to rank 19th.
• As a team, the Bulldogs average 9.1 three-pointers per game, the fifth most in the nation and are converting on 41.9 percent of its three-point attempts, the third highest rate in the nation.
• In head coach Mark Phelps’ five seasons on the Drake bench, the Bulldogs have shot a combined 37 percent from the three-point arc with an average of 7.5 three-pointers per game. All four of Phelps’ seasons rank in the top six for most three-pointers in a season at Drake.
A victory would ...
• Make Drake 6-5 on the season and 6-5 through the bulk of the non-conference season.
• Make the Bulldogs 4-1 in the Knapp Center this season.
• Be the team’s second straight win.
• Make Mark Phelps 68-74 at Drake.
• Be the 1,155th in program history.
• Make Drake 1-0 against the Panthers.
 A Loss would ...
• Drop Drake to 5-6 on the season and 3-2 at the Knapp Center
• Give Drake two losses in its last four home games.
• Make the Panthers 1-0 against Drake.

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