maly, too: Drake Starts Valley Season Saturday At Bradley

Monday, December 24, 2012

Drake Starts Valley Season Saturday At Bradley

Drake Men's Basketball Weekly Update – Dec. 23

Upcoming Events This Week

Competition

Saturday, Dec. 29 – at Bradley – Peoria, Ill. (Carver Arena) – 7 p.m. CST

Television: None

Radio: 1350 AM - KRNT

Teleconferences

None

Coaches Shows/Luncheons

None

This Week’s Opponents

Bradley

Drake opens the Missouri Valley Conference season Saturday at Bradley. The Braves are 8-4 after falling to Portland Sunday as part of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. The Braves are 6-1 on their home court this season with the lone loss coming to a top-10 program in Michigan. Walt Lemon, Jr. and Tyshon Pickett lead the Braves with approximately 12.5 points per game each with Pickett adding 7.2 rebounds per game. The team’s only other losses have come on the road at South Florida and a double-overtime loss to Virginia Tech in Las Vegas Saturday. Bradley has struggled from the three-point arc, converting on just 27.7 percent of its attemps, but the team holds a +5.2 advantage in turnover margin.

The Series vs. Bradley

Drake and Bradley meet for the 133^rd time with Bradley holding a 79-53 advantage in the series and a 24-7 record in Carver Arena. The teams have split the last 10 meetings and Drake head coach Mark Phelps is 5-5 against the Braves and has won three-straight games in the series.

Last Week

Dec. 19 – vs. North Carolina Central – W, 72-69

Seth VanDeest led Drake for the second straight game with 19 points to help the Drake men’s basketball team edge North Carolina Central, 72-69. During the final eight minutes, neither team led by more than four points as the Bulldogs and Eagles went basket-for-basket before Ben Simons hit a three pointer with 2:47 left in the game to put Drake up, 66-65. Simons finished with 16 points and four three-pointers. NCCU answered with a free throw to briefly tie the game before the Bulldogs went to VanDeest for back-to-back layups in the paint to take a four-point, 70-66, lead with 47 seconds left. The junior from Bettendorf, Iowa, was 6-of-9 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free throw line.

Dec. 22 – vs. Eastern Illinois – W, 74-56

Hot shooting and a career-high 19 points by freshman Micah Mason helped the Drake men’s basketball team defeat Eastern Illinois, 74-56. Drake shot 56.1 percent from the field while connecting on 13-of-22 from behind the three-point arc and 15-of-18 from the free throw line. Mason knocked down a career-high five three-pointers to go along with a career-high six assists in his second start. Drake led for the majority of the first half and took a 33-26 lead into halftime courtesy of a 9-0 run to close the half as the Panthers’ methodical offense dictated the tempo of the game. However, the Bulldogs asserted control of that tempo in the second half as Mason made a three-pointer 25 seconds into the half and later added a layup as Drake built its lead to 38-26. The Panthers ended their scoreless streak after Alex Austin made a free throw at the 17:13 mark to account for five scoreless minutes for EIU.

Team Notes

- Drake went 2-0 on the week to finish the bulk of its non-conference season with a 6-5 record thanks to wins over North Carolina Central and Eastern Illinois.

- The Bulldogs outscored its opponents by an average of more than 10 points on the week as the offense averaged 73 points per game on the week and remains one of just four teams in the nation that has scored 70 or more points in every game this season.

- The Bulldogs are the second most accurate three-point shooting team in the nation, converting on 43.5 percent of their three-point attempts with 9.5 three-pointers per game.

- In the win over Eastern Illinois, Drake shot 59.1 percent (13-of-22) from three-point range, its second highest percentage of the season.

- Of the top five three-point shooting performances in the MVC this season, Drake owns two of them with the showing against Eastern Illinois and a 62.5 percent performance in the season opener against William Jewell.

- Drake had approximately 60 possessions in the win over EIU, its slowest pace of the season.

- However, the Bulldogs matched a season high by scoring 1.24 points per possession.

- Drake’s effective field goal percentage of 72 percent (factoring in the added value of the three-point shot) was the 20^th best performance in a game between two Division I opponents this season.

- Defensively, EIU’s 56 points were the fewest by a Drake opponent this season.

- Junior Seth VanDeest’s offensive production has started to pick up as he’s averaged 15.7 points on 18-of-24 (.750) shooting from the field and 91.7 percent shooting for the free-throw line.

- Jordan Clarke missed the EIU game with a knee injury, but still leads the MVC in rebounding at 8.8 rebounds per game.

- Ben Simons scored 30 points on the week and moved into 16^th in career scoring at Drake with 1,089 points.

MVC Player of the Week Nominee

Seth VanDeest

C – 6-11 - 269

Sr. – Bettendorf, Iowa

Scored a season-high 19 points in the win over North Carolina Central included back-to-back baskets in the final two minutes to secure the win. Was 6-of-9 from the field and 7-of-8 from the free-throw line in the win. Added his third straight double-figure game with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting and added two assists, two steals and three blocks against EIU.

MVC Newcomer of the Week Nominee

Micah Mason

G – 6-2 – 173

Fr. – Allegheny, Pa.

Exploded in his second career start for 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the three-point arc and 7-of-8 from the field against Eastern Illinois. Also added a career-high six assists in the win. Scored the first five points of the second half to help Drake build an early second half cushion. Is now second in the MVC in three-point field goal percentage at 52.9 percent..

Player Notes

0 – Kori Babineux – Scored two points on the week in eight minutes.

1 – Jordan Clarke – Played 16 minutes against NCCU with four points and three rebounds before leaving the contest with a knee injury … missed the EIU game while recovering.

2 – Gary Ricks, Jr. – Scored 12 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the three-point arc on the week.

3 – Richard Carter – Came off the bench to score 13 points with five assists in the win over NCCU. Added two points in 11 minutes against EIU.

4 – Chris Hines – Scored 13 points on the week and was 3-of-6 from the three-point line with 11 points coming in 21 minutes against EIU.

10 – Jeremy Jeffers – Scored two points on the week.

11 – Karl Madison - DNP – Injury (Knee)

21 – Robert Puleikis – DNP – Coach’s Decision

22 – Micah Mason – Made his first two career starts during the week and responded with a career-high 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the arc with six assists against EIU.

23 – Mitch McLaughlin – Missed the NCCU game but dressed for the first time since the season opener after suffering a hand injury and played two minutes.

24 – Joey King – Had a career-high 10 rebounds in the win over NCCU with five points and three assists in his first career start. Added two points, three boards and two assists against EIU.

25 – Matt Bowie – Played two minutes at the conclusion of the EIU game.

34 – Ben Simons – Continued his steady play with 16 points against NCCU and 14 points against EIU. Shot 40.9 percent from the field and 46.7 percent from the three-point arc.

40 - Daddy Ugbede – Continued to contribute solid minutes with four points and three rebounds against NCCU and four points and two assists in the EIU contest.

45 – Seth VanDeest – Scored a season-high 19 points including back-to-back baskets in the final 1:30 of the win over NCCU to put Drake ahead for good. Shot 71.4 percent from the field and 90 percent from the free throw line.

[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.