#8 Drake 75, #9 Illinois State 65
Drake win— Drake, which snapped a three-game losing streak, moved to 19-13 (seventh most single-season wins in school history), while advancing to quarterfinal round game against top-seeded UNI….The Bulldogs improve their MVC Tournament record to 19-40, including a 2-6 record as the No. 8 seed. Drake won its third straight MVC Tournament game against Illinois State (2008, 2019) while improving its tourney record against the Redbirds to 4-8. This marked Drake’s second straight double-digit victory over Illinois State in MVC Tournament after beating Redbirds 78-62 in quarterfinal round last year
Senior forward Anthony Murphy, coming off a season-low two points against UNI Saturday, added 17 points, including nine in the second half, surpassing his combined previous two-game scoring output of seven points. (5-2). Junior Jonah Jackson finished with 15 points, including a career-tying five treys. It marked the 12thgame he has made three or more treys this season. Jackson became just the second Division I player in the nation since 1992-93 to make 60 or more three-pointers in a season without making a two-point shot. Sophomore Roman Penn collected six assists for third straight game against Illinois State, to move up to No. 2 on Drake’s single-season assists list with 178, surpassing Al Stewart (2006-07, 174) . Drake has 116 blocks this season are the second-most in school history, trailing school record of 130 set last year.. Last season’s 130 are the record.
Illinois State Loss: The Redbirds finished 10-21 for the year and lost two of three to Drake this season. Coach Dan Muller finishes his eighth ISU season with a 149-117 mark and is 8-8 in the MVC tournament record. It was Muller’s second straight tourney loss to Drake after the Bulldogs beat the Redbirds in the 2019 quarterfinals. ISU is 45-35 all-time in this tourney. This is the third meeting in a row vs. Drake in which Illinois State has made 10 or more treys. Zack Copeland has moved into a tie for 8th of ISU single season three-point field goal list with 81. DJ Horne has moved to 6th on ISU list of three-pointers by a freshman with 47. This was the 14th game this season Illinois State has made 10 or more threes. ISU stayed close with its three-point shooting and 11 of 12 free throws while Drake, controlled the rebounding 33-25.
First Half: Jaycee Hillsman, scoreless in the last meeting vs. Drake, hit two treys in the early going as ISU ran out to an 12-5 lead. Drake pulled even at 14-14 on a 6-0 run and extended that run to 11-0 to make it 19-14. The teams swapped the lead three times before Drake moved in front 23-22 and the Bulldogs stayed in front the rest of the half. Illinois State hit six of its first 13 three-point attempts over the first 14 minutes of the half. Robbins hit four of his first five shots for Drake and Copeland connected on four of his first five for ISU. A 6-0 Drake run in just over a minutes pushed the Bulldogs in front 34-25 with 3:25 to play in the half. ISU closed within six and Antonio Reeves buried a trey just ahead of the halftime buzzer to cap a 6-0 run and pull the Redbirds within 38-36 at halftime. Drake had enjoyed nine-point leads twice in the first half and ISU’s biggest lead was seven points early in the game. ISU was 8/17 from three in the first half while Drake hit 60 percent overall (15/25). Copeland led all scorers with 11 points in the first half and ISU had a 13-12 rebound edge. Drake made five of its last six shots to end the half.
Second Half: Drake popped in its first two shots of the half to push its lead back to eight at 44-36. DU got its first 10-point lead at 46-36 with 17:20 to play and then moved ahead 48-36 with 15:45 left on two baskets by Robbins. ISU missed its first four shots and went 5:15 minutes scoreless to start the half, its second scoreless run of more than five minutes in the game. The DU run moved to 13-0 before ISU scored to close to within 51-38, ending a 5:48-minute point drought. In the first seven minutes of the half, ISU had as many turnovers (6) as shots taken from the floor. Drake has a 17-2 run the first 8:30 minutes of the second half to go on top 55-38 at the 11:30 mark. ISU ran off eight points in a row to pull within 55-46 at the 8:55 time break. At that point, Drake had gone scoreless for almost six minutes, missing five shots in a row. Drake hit a free throw but ISU closed to 56-49. Ricky Torres of ISU hit three free throws at 6:45 to make it 56-52. Garrett Sturtz had a three-point play to end Drake’s field goal drought at 7:15 minutes and the Bulldogs pushed its lead to a game-best 14 points and 3:20 to play at 68-54. ISU closed to 70-62 with 1:15 to play Drake salted away the final 10-point win at the foul line, 75-65.
