Two MVC games Tuesday, Dec. 17

[houstonbrave]

I love our guys but I am not sure we are the favorite to win the Valley right now. Drake is a problem-we’ve got to find a way to turn up our defense and rebounding.

[bigjimmy]

Bennett Stirtz hit a 3 with 4 seconds to go in overtime and survived a potential tieing 3 at the buzzer to win 73-70 to go to 10-0. This was a 1 possession game for the last 11 1/2 minutes of the 2nd half as neither team could get any kind of run going.K State had a chance to win it in regulation but took too long to get the play going and could only put up a contested 3 which they air balled. In OT Drake got the lead to 70-64 with 2:00 to go but K State scored 6 straight, with former Illini Coleman Hawkins making a 3 with :13 left to tie it at 70. Drake didn't take a timeout and Stirtz brought the ball up the court and made his only 3 of the night to win it. Hawkins led K State with 16 points, had 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals but was just 3-8 from the FT line. Not quite sure how Drake is doing it as they don't go more than 6-7 deep. In fact Stirts has played every minute in 8 of their 10 games. He had 22 points on 8-13 shooting. Mitch Mascari, who has played every minute in 6 of their 10 games, was an unreal 8-10 from 3 and Isiah Jackson, while 0-6 from 3, had 8 rebounds and 8 assists. They are constant motion on offense and play real physical which we have had issues with in our 2 losses this season so we better be ready to bring it.

[Da Coach]

... Drake didn't take a timeout and Stirtz brought the ball up the court and made his only 3 of the night to win it....

Drake was out of timeouts at that point, but it worked out ok for them.

[Afreck2430]

There may be a little bit of bias in this but the teams Drake has beat especially the power conference teams have not been impressed with them when I've watched (especially Miami and was not impressed with K state, have watched them play other games) can't speak much to Vandy. I think they have played a somewhat easy schedule although I'm very impressed with stirtz he is a damn good player

[LongTimeFan]

Will Stirtz be a one-and-done in MVC. There is a lot of money in college basketball.

[Da Coach]

Will Stirtz be a one-and-done in MVC. There is a lot of money in college basketball.

He is a junior at Drake, having spent 2 seasons at Northwest Missouri State. So he'll have only 1 season of eligibility remaining after this year. He's a nice player, but I don't see him getting drafted or playing at a high pro level anywhere. So you are right that he would be better off staying at Drake for his final year.

[yoda]

I don't think he means pro ball - but he'll get offers and go Hi-Major for NIL money. Look what such a move did
for Dalton Knecht. Graduated high school 2019 with hardly any college interest. Went to junior college for 2 years
and was really good but STILL didn't get much DI interest! He settled on Northern Colorado and averaged 9 ppg.
But then his senior year averaged 20 ppg, and got the chance to transfer to Tennessee & get big NIL $$.
Then in his 5th year, started to get attention for National Player of the Year. Drafted and now stars for the Lakers.

I doubt he'd have even gotten a mention for the NBA had he stayed at Northern Colorado. Most mid-major stars are gonna
follow the money.
BTW- their other big guard, Mitch Mascari, is averaging 13.5 ppg and hitting 52.2% on 3-pointers. He had 25 pts against Kansas State,
on 8-10 from 3-pt range. His lawyer is probably working on joining a lawsuit to make non-DI years not count against DI eligibility.