maly, too: If Things Weren't Bad Enough Already for Drake's Reeling Basketball Team [No Victories In the First 3 Valley Games], Now Come Road Games This Week At Creighton and Illinois State

Sunday, January 6, 2013

If Things Weren't Bad Enough Already for Drake's Reeling Basketball Team [No Victories In the First 3 Valley Games], Now Come Road Games This Week At Creighton and Illinois State

Drake Men's Basketball Weekly Update – Jan. 6

Upcoming Events This Week

Competition

Tuesday, January 8 – at Creighton (Omaha, Neb./CenturyLink Center) – 7:05 p.m.

Television: KMTV (Omaha)/ESPN3

Radio: 1350 AM – KRNT

Saturday, January 12 – at Illinois State (Normal, Ill./Redbird Arena) – 7:05 p.m.

Television: None

Radio: 1350 AM – KRNT

Coaches Shows/Luncheons

Monday, January 7 – 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. Men’s head coach Mark Phelps joins the discussion at approximately 7:30 p.m. Phelps’ segment of the show will be taped prior to the show and aired due to the men’s team being in transit to Omaha at the time of the show.

This Week’s Opponents

Creighton

Drake travels to preseason MVC favorite Creighton for a Tuesday night game. The Bluejays are ranked 16^th with a 14-1 record and eight straight wins after defeating Indiana State, 79-66, on Saturday. The Bluejays are one of the top offensive and defensive teams in the nation as they score at a 1.17 points per possession rate, the fifth best in the nation, while surrendering just 0.90 points per possession on defense. In addition to their 79.5 points per game, the Bluejays convert on 51.2 percent of their shots from the field and a stellar 43.7 percent from the three-point arc to rank second in nation in three-point accuracy. Preseason all-American Doug McDermott leads the squad with 23.1 points per game on 54.3 percent shooting from the field and 48.5 percent from three-point range to go along with his 7.3 rebounds per game.

The Series vs. Creighton

Tuesday’s game is the 151^st between the longtime rivals with Creighton leading the all-time series by a 92-58 margin and 6-4 in the last 10 meetings. The Bulldogs have won twice in CenturyLink Arena, the last time coming on Jan. 24, 2009 with a 74-62 win. The high scoring series has seen the winner score 70 or more points in nine of the last 11 games.

Illinois State

Projected to finish second in the MVC preseason poll, the Redbirds have gotten off to a slower than expected start at 0-3 in the league and 9-6 overall after falling to UNI, 70-60, on Saturday. The Redbirds play at Missouri State on Tuesday evening prior to hosting the Bulldogs. Another high-scoring squad, the Redbirds average 78.6 points per game on 48.9 percent shooting from the field. Preseason all-MVC selection Jackie Carmichael leads the team with 17.4 points per game and 8.5 rebounds per game. Tyler Brown trails closely with 8.5 rebounds per game.

The Series vs. Illinois State

Drake has won six of the last 10 meetings against the Redbirds, but ISU leads the overall series by a 48-28 margin. Drake is 7-29 on the road in the series with six of those wins coming in Redbird Arena. The Bulldogs last won in Normal on Feb. 5, 2008 with a 73-70 win.

Last Week

Jan. 2 – vs. Wichita State – L, 75-63

Freshmen Micah Mason and Joey King combined to score 29 points, but the Drake men’s basketball team couldn't overcome a hot-shooting Wichita State squad as the Shockers downed the Bulldogs, 75-63, Wednesday evening at the Knapp Center. Mason was 4-of-7 from the three-point arc for 14 points, 11 of them coming in the second half. King scored a late flurry of points on a 7-of-10 performance from the floor for 15 points, his most since scoring 21 against Xavier at the DirecTV Classic. Wichita State was 12-of-25 from the three-point arc and scored 29 points off Drake's 19 turnovers. The Shockers were paced by Nick Wiggins’ 18 points and four three-pointers.

Jan. 5 – vs. Missouri State – L, 77-65

Freshman Joey King matched a career high with 21 points, but it wasn't enough for the Drake University men's basketball team to push past Missouri State as the Bears held on for a 77-65 win Saturday night at the Knapp Center. King matched his career-best set earlier this season against Xavier in the Direct TV Classic. He also led the team in rebounds with seven. Senior Ben Simons poured in 17 points, 14 in the second half. The Bears shot 44 percent from three point range on the night, hitting eight of their 18 attempts. They began the game making five of their first nine from distance. The Bulldogs struggled from deep, shooting only 28 percent on 6-of-21 shooting and only making one in the second half. They shot 41 percent from the field on the night compared to the Bears’ 51 percent.

Team Notes

- Drake’s rebounding has made a dramatic eight-rebound a game swing in conference play through three games. The Bulldogs were outrebounded by their non-conference foes by an average of 5.5 per game but have managed to outrebound their MVC foes by 2.3 rebounds per game. In the last three games, there have only been three total occurrences of Bulldog stepping foot on the court and not recording at least one rebound.

- The Bulldogs’ free-throw shooting has also seen marked improvement in conference play at 74.5 percent to rank third in MVC games.

- Freshman Joey King has led the Bulldogs in MVC play with 13.3 points per game and 5.7 rebounds while shooting 54.8 percent. Of his 17 rebounds in the last three games, seven have come on offense. All of this has come on 22 minutes per game.

- After committing 37 turnovers in its first two MVC games, the Bulldogs took care of the ball against Missouri State with 10 turnovers, its second fewest of the season.

- Ben Simons scored 17 points in the loss to Missouri State to give him 1,127 career points and move him into 15^th all-time at Drake. He needs just 18 more points to move into sole possession of 14^th past Klayton Korver.

MVC Player of the Week Nominee

Joey King

F – 6-9 – 219

Fr. – Eagan, Minn.

Averaged a team-best 18 points per game in just 52 total minutes of action with a team-high 6.5 rebounds per game. Scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting against Wichita State and then matched a career high with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting against Missouri State. Of his 13 rebounds on the week, six were on offense to lead to six additional Drake points. Between the closing minutes of the WSU game and opening minutes of the MSU game, he scored 14 points in a combined eight minutes on the floor. Also added three assists and a pair of blocks on the week.

MVC Newcomer of the Week Nominee

Joey King

F – 6-9 – 219

Fr. – Eagan, Minn.

Player Notes

0 – Kori Babineux – Did not play against Wichita State, but saw 16 minutes of action against Missouri State.

1 – Jordan Clarke – Scored a bucket with five rebounds on the week.

2 – Gary Ricks, Jr. – Was scoreless with one rebound on the week.

3 – Richard Carter – Returned to the starting five against Missouri State and finished with three assists in 24 minutes due to foul trouble.

4 – Chris Hines – Scored 10 points in 35 minutes against Missouri State and had nine points in the loss to Wichita State.

10 – Jeremy Jeffers – Played six minutes against Missouri State.

11 – Karl Madison - DNP – Injury (Knee)

21 – Robert Puleikis – DNP – Coach’s Decision

22 – Micah Mason – Did not play due to illness against Missouri State. Scored 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the arc against Wichita State.

23 – Mitch McLaughlin – DNP – Coach’s Decision

24 – Joey King – Averaged 18 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.5 assists on the week. Shot 60 percent from the field. Matched a career high with 21 points against Missouri State

25 – Matt Bowie – DNP – Coach’s Decision

34 – Ben Simons – Scored 17 points against Missouri State to move into 15^th in career scoring at Drake. Averaged 12.5 points on 50 percent shooting on the week.

40 - Daddy Ugbede – Continued to contribute solid minutes with six points and five boards on the week.

45 – Seth VanDeest – Played 20 minutes per game with 8.0 points and 3.0 rebounds on the week.

[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.