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

Friday, December 14, 2012

Drake Plays Cyclones At Wells Fargo Arena

Game 9 • Drake vs Iowa State
Dec. 15, 2012 • 4 p.m.
Des Moines  • Wells Fargo Arena

           Drake                     Team                 Iowa State
Des Moines       Location              Ames
        Bulldogs               Nickname               Cyclones
             4-4               2012-13 Record               7-3
             0-0            Conference Record            0-0
           NA/NA                  Ranking                   NA/NA
     Mark Phelps          Head Coach         Fred Hoiberg
        66-73/5th        Record at School         46-30/4th
        66-73/5th           Career Record           46-30/4th
             76.9                Points/Game                 82.4
             72.8            Opp. Points/Game            66.3
             +4.1              Scoring Margin              +16.1
             .457                       FG%                        .457
             .432                  Opp. FG%                   .389
             .426                      3FG%                       .360
             .318                 Opp. 3FG%                  .275
             .660                       FT%                        .678
             31.8             Rebounds/Game              44.5
             36.1        Opp. Rebounds/Game         33.3
             -4.4           Rebounding Margin          +11.2
             14.9                Assists/Game                16.7
             13.4             Turnovers/Game              15.5
             +1.6             Turnover Margin              +0.4
              6.1                  Steals/Game                  8.0
                2.4           Blocks/Game         4.4

Television                                                Mediacom MC22
Play-by-play                                                   B.J. Schaben
Analyst                                                         Kevin Lehman

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

Streaming Video                                                        None

 • The Drake University men’s basketball team returns to action after a week off for finals in the inaugural Big Four Classic against Iowa State.

• The game is the third of five straight in Des Moines for the Bulldogs, who spent nearly all of November on the road.
• The Bulldogs were 1-1 in the first two games of the homestand with a 74-64 win over IPFW last Saturday and an 88-73 loss to Saint Mary’s prior to that to even its record at 4-4 this season.
• Saturday’s contest is the 172nd in a series that is in its second century of competition. Iowa State leads the series by a 106-65 margin, but Drake has won four of the last six meetings. Last season, the Bulldogs downed the Cyclones, 74-65, in the Knapp Center.
• This year’s neutral-site game features two of the highest scoring offenses in the nation as Drake and ISU average nearly 160 combined points per game. ISU is 11th nationally in scoring at 82.4 points per game while Drake is 47th at 76.9.
• Iowa State is 7-3 on the season with all three losses coming away from Hilton Coliseum. The Cyclones are led by Will Clyburn’s 14.0 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Clyburn transferred from Utah where he was a teammate and roommate of Drake senior Chris Hines.
• Ben Simons leads Drake with 15.5 points per game and has converted on 40.4 percent of his team-high 57 three-point attempts. The senior recently surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career and currently has 1,046 career points.
• As a team, the Bulldogs are sixth nationally in both three-pointers per game and three-point percentage.

A victory would ...
• Make Drake 5-4 on the season.
• Make the Bulldogs 2-2 in neutral site games.
• Give the Bulldogs back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
• Be the team’s second straight over Iowa State and make Mark Phelps 3-2 against the Cyclones.
• Make the all-time series mark 106-66 in favor of ISU.
• Even the series at 5-5 in the last 10 meetings.
• Make Mark Phelps 67-73 at Drake.
• Be the 1,154th in program history.

A Loss would ...
• Drop Drake to 4-5 on the season and 1-3 on neutral courts.
• Make Iowa State 107-65 all-time against the Bulldogs.

From the Arc ...
• Drake shot below 40 percent from the three-point arc for just the second time this season with a 39.1 percent effort against IPFW.
• Despite the ‘off’ night, the Bulldogs remain one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation, ranking sixth in three-pointers per game (9.4) and three-point percentage (.426).
• Drake also leads the MVC in both categories.
• Individually, Ben Simons leads the team with 2.88 three-pointers per game, the 19th most in the nation.
• Three-point shooting has been a hallmark of Drake teams under  coach Mark Phelps with the Bulldogs averaging 7.5 three-pointers per game on 37.2 percent shooting during Phelps’ seasons at the helm of the squad.
• Of the top six seasons for three-pointers made, four have come during Phelps’ tenure.
• Below is a summary of each team’s three-point shooting over the past five seasons.

Season          3pt./G                3pt. pct.
2012-13            9.4              .426 (75-126)
2011-12            6.2             .362 (212-585)
2010-11            6.5             .354 (203-573)
2009-10            8.6             .381 (284-746)
2008-09            8.1             .348 (266-765)

Scoring up
• Drake’s offense is averaging 76.9 points per game, the 47th highest average in the nation and  9.1 points per game higher than the Bulldogs’ average last season.