Game Notes: Men's Basketball at Drake

DES MOINES, Iowa - The SIU men's basketball team hits the road for back-to-back games at undefeated Drake on Sunday and Monday. Sunday's game will tip at 5 p.m. and will air on ESPNU. Monday's game will tip at 6 p.m. and will air on CBS Sports Network.

SIU (7-1, 1-1 MVC) at Drake (11-0, 2-0 MVC)

Game 1 Date & Time » 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 3 // Des Moines, Iowa (Knapp Center)
Game 2 Date & Time » 6 p.m. on Monday, January 4 // Des Moines, Iowa (Knapp Center)
Game 1 TV » ESPNU with Mike Monaco and Kevin Lehman
Game 2 TV » CBS Sports Network with Alex Del Barrio and Tim Doyle
Listen » Saluki Sports Network with Mike Reis and Rodney Watson
Live Stats » Provided by Drake
Social Media » @SIU_Basketball
Game Notes » SIU (PDF) | Drake (PDF)

OPENING TIP

SIU faces Drake on back-to-back days on January 3-4 at Knapp Center in Des Moines, Iowa. The MVC's new scheduling format in 2020-21 features teams playing back-to-back games at a single site.
After the Bradley-Loyola series was postponed, the SIU-Drake series was picked up for national TV spots. Sunday's game (originally scheduled for 2 p.m.) has been moved to a 5 p.m. tipoff and will air on ESPNU. Monday's game at 6 p.m. will air on CBS Sports Network.
An experience battle: Drake's top-five leading scorers are juniors or seniors. SIU's top-five leading scorers are all freshmen or sophomores.
Drake's 11 wins are the most in the nation. No other team has more than nine wins. The Bulldogs are one of only 13 teams in the nation that remain undefeated (min. 1-0).
Eighty-nine percent of SIU's scoring this season is coming from freshmen and sophomores. Anthony D'Avanzo (63 points) and Jakolby Long (4 points) are SIU's only two available upperclassmen on the roster. (J.D. Muila and Will Keller will miss the season with injuries.)
SIU started the season 7-0, the program's best start to a season since 1947-48.
SIU is ranked No. 10 in the most recent mid-major top-25 poll of mid-major head coaches.
SIU is shooting 41.9% from the 3-point line this season, which ranks 11th in the nation (through Dec. 29 games).
Trent Brown is shooting 55.9% from the 3-point line, which leads the MVC and ranks ninth nationally.
Lance Jones leads the MVC in steals per game (2.0/g). The last SIU player to lead the MVC in steals per game was now-head coach Bryan Mullins in 2008.
The SIU-Drake series has been tight: 2-2 over the last two years, 4-4 in the last four years, and 9-9 in the last nine years.
Trent Brown (9th, 74.3%) and Dalton Banks (14th, 73.4%) rank in the top-15 nationally in effective FG% (KenPom). Banks ranks third nationally among freshmen.
Jaylen DeVries is a freshman quarterback on the Saluki Football team. He is the nephew of Drake head coach Darian DeVries.
In College Insider's Mid-Major Top-25 poll of mid-major head coaches, this is a top-10 matchup: #4 Drake vs. #10 SIU.

SERIES CHECK

SIU leads the all-time series, 60-35.
Series trends: SIU is...
- 2-2 in its last 4 games vs. Drake
- 4-4 in its last 5 games vs. Drake
- 9-9 in its last 18 games vs. Drake
- 5-3 in its last 8 road games at Drake.
SIU swept two games from Drake last season. The Bulldogs swept two from SIU the season before.
Last year at Drake, SIU won 79-72 to snap Drake's 15-game home court winning streak, which was one of the nation's 10 longest active home court winning streaks. Marcus Domask scored a career-high 28 points in the game.
Since the start of the 2017-18 season, SIU is 2-1 at Knapp Center and everyone else is 5-43.
SIU and Loyola are the only teams to win at Drake twice in the last three+ years.
Jaylen DeVries is a freshman quarterback on the Saluki Football team. He is the nephew of Drake head coach Darian DeVries.

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Dalton Banks

Trent Brown

Anthony D'Avanzo

Marcus Domask

Lance Jones

Will Keller

Jakolby Long

JD Muila

Scoreboard

Upcoming Events