One MVC game Wednesday, Jan. 27- Drake at Missouri State

[Da Coach]

Drake at Missouri State at 8 pm on ESPN+

https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/scoreboard/_/group/18/date/20210127

[bigjimmy]

I think this is going to be a really tough hard nosed game with maybe some T’s happening.

[bigjimmy]

Drake hasn’t trailed and lead at the half 44-35. It’s been a hard hitting affair as 20 fouls were called and there were a few more that could have been called. MSU made just 6 FG’s in the 2nd half last night and made just 7 out of 26, 4-11 from 3, in tonight’s first half. Gage Prim shot 0-6 from 2 but was 9-10 from the FT line. Isiaih probably had his worst half if the year as he was 1-6, 0-2 from 3 and didn’t shoot a FT while the rest of his team was 17-19. Drake was out rebounded last night by 12 but so far the Bulldogs have 11 more rebounds tonight. They were 19-37, 1-5 from 3 and 9-11 from 1. Shanquan Hemphill who was just 5-13 last night is 7-10 tonight and 18 first half points

[Da Coach]

What a terrific game. Lots of clutch plays by players on both teams.
Final score- Drake 78 Missouri State 73
https://missouristatebears.com/sidea...s/mbball/media
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-ba...meId=401277076

Drake now is 15-0, 6-0 and Missouri State is 9-3, 5-3

I could be wrong, but it will be tough for any other team to top these 2 teams for the 1 and 2 seeds at the end of the season. They appear to be the 2 most complete and consistent teams I've seen in the MVC this season.
For Missouri State- Gaige Prim is a terrific player, he finished with 20 points & 14 rebounds. Isaiah Mosley is also impressive for a sophomore, and is hard to stop 1 on 1. But MSU relies a bit too much on these two and they don't have a pure point guard, and that might have been the difference tonight. They seemed to have to work harder to get their shots, and took more bad shots.
Drake is the real deal- point guard Roman Penn can score in a lot of ways, but also runs their offense and distributes the ball effectively. Shanquan Hemphill, the transfer from UW-Green Bay is having a terrific season. He had 24 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists. Darnell Brodie, the 6'11" center transfer from Seton Hall, plays his role perfectly. He doesn't score a much (4 points), but he had 14 rebounds and clogs up the middle. And D.J. Wilkins, Tremell Murphy, Garrett Sturtz and others always play hard and give Drake a lot of scoring options, and are very good defenders.

[bigjimmy]

For the second straight night things got interesting in the 2nd half. Drake was up 50-37 with 17:49 left when MSU started to pick it up on both ends The Bears were down 58-48 with 11:41 left when they went on a 15-3 in the next 5 minutes to get heir first lead of the game at 63-61 with 6:18 left. The next 2 minutes was some if the best basketball I’ve seen all year as Drake and MSU traded the lead on 4 straight possessions. A D.J. Wilkins 3 put Drake up 69-67 with 5:02 left and though the game remained close the Bulldogs never trailed. Mosley had 21 of his 23 points in the 2nd half and also had 11 rebounds. The Bears were an amazing 28-32 from the FT line while Drake was just 10-13 but they made 12 more FG's and had 9 more rebounds. Drake next plays at home on Sunday and Monday against ISU Red while Missouri State goes from the frying pan to the fryer as they host Loyola also on Sunday and Monday.