February 9, 2012

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Drake falls to Illnois State

February 9, 2012 By

The Drake Bulldogs dropped their third straight game. Illinois State made 28 of 31 free throws and outrebounded the Bulldogs 45-23 in a 64-53 victory.

Drake coach Mark Phelps on his post game show on KRNT in Des Moines says a combination of things on the offensive and deffensive ends led to their loss. It was the second straight game junior forward Ben Simons missed due to mono. He will likely be out on Sunday when the Bulldogs host Evansville.

Phelps says they have three days to prepare and get better to face an Evansville team that just beat Creighton.

Drake is 6-8 in the Valley and 13-12 overall.

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Iowa coach hopes Printy can return next year after surgery

February 8, 2012 By

Iowa womens basketball coach Lisa Bluder is hopeful that Jamie printy will be ready for the start of next season. The junior suffered a season ending knee injury last week in a victory at Wisconsin. Bluder says Printy’s surgery went well and she is on the road to recovery.

The Hawkeyes will be at home for two games this week beginning with Thursday’s matchup against Minnesota. She says the Gopher’s record is deceiving as one of the wins is against Ohio State.

Iowa will also host Michigan State on Sunday and with a 6-5 Big Ten record and 14-10 overall mark this week gives the Hawks a chance to boost their post-season hopes.

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UNI faces conference leader Wichita State

February 8, 2012 By

U.N.I. is coming off of a pair of tight victories that have the Panthers climbing the Missouri Valley Conference standings. Despite losing some close games early in the conference season, the Panthers have the chance to even their league record at 7-7 as they travel to face conference co-leader Wichita State tonight.

U.N.I. coach Ben Jacobson has been impressed by the way his team reacted to those early struggles.

“Our guys have done a terrific job of staying together, a terrific job of preparing themselves in light of losing a couple of close games in league play, and they deserve a lot of credit for that,” Jacobson says. He says it would have been easy to split up and not stay on the same page with those type of loses.

Wichita State is tied with Creighton at the top of the Valley standings. The Shockers boast one of the top post players in the league in seven-footer Garrett Stutz, who Jacobson says is a rare talent in the Valley. Jacobson says Stutz is playing at a very high level right now and they will try a lot of different things to try and slow him down.

Beside Stutz at 7 feet, Jacobson says that Wichita brings a lot of size at all positions. The Shockers won the earlier meeting against the Panthers by a 71-68 tally.

By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls

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Iowa State falls at Oklahoma State

February 8, 2012 By

Iowa State still has not won in Stillwater since 1988, and that continued with a last second 69-67 loss at Oklahoma State. The Cyclones saw their three game winning streak come to an end.

Chris Allen led the Cyclones with 22 points while Royce White finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists. “They just battled all night and they did exactly what you’re supposed to do in this league at home,” White said.

White says the Cowboys made the key shots down the stretch. “The shots they hit down the stretch, some of the guys that hit those shots, we couldn’t have played any better, the people who took shots were exactly the people we scouted who we wanted to take shots and they just hit them,”White said.

The Cyclones fall to 7-4 in the Big 12 and 17-7 overall.

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Drake loses key starter to mono

February 7, 2012 By

Drake will be without second lead scorer Ben Simons on Wednesday night when the Bulldogs visit Illinois State on Wednesday night. The junior forward missed Saturday’s loss to Missouri State after being diagnosed with mononucleosis.

Drake coach Mark Phelps says they are concerned about the size of Simon’s spleen and he is being checked regularly. Phelps says it’s a problem that has different affects on different guys. He expects the Bulldogs to play better without Simons now that they have had a few days to adjust.

He says they did not play well on either end of the court against Missouri State and he says they’ve had some time to adjust to Simons not being there. His absence is a tough blow to the Bulldogs who stand 6-7 in the Valley and 13-11 overall.

“I think people notice mostly his scoring, but he has a really high basketball I-Q, he plays really well with his teammates, he’s an underrated defender,” Phelps says.

Drake beat Illinois State in the first matchup in Des Moines. The Redbirds are 7-6 in the league race.

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UNI freshman gains confidence, makes an impact

February 7, 2012 By

U.N.I. freshman point guard Deon Mitchell has come into his own over the past couple games. Mitchell led the Panthers with a career high 17 points in their win over Southern Illinois, then followed that up with a 12 point, five rebound performance in a U.N.I. win over Creighton on Saturday.

U.N.I. coach Ben Jacobson talks about Mitchell’s ability to spark the Panther offense. “He’s much more confident in what he’s doing, he’s got enough experience now, on his side of it, he’s always known that he can get himself into the paint,” Jacobson says.

Jacobson says that Mitchell and fellow freshman Seth Tuttle have both grown into their roles as the season has moved along. He says from a team standpoint as they learn about each other, they both can add to the offense and they are trying to put them in spots to do it.

The Panthers are currently tied for 5th in the Missouri Valley with a 6-7 league record. They can even that mark on Wednesday when they travel to conference co-leader Wichita State. The Shockers won the first matchup with the Panthers in Cedar Falls.

Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall says he’s sure the Panthers will be looking to “exact revenge” after getting the big win against Creighton.

By Jesse Gavin, KCNZ, Cedar Falls

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Hawkeye Aaron White wins weekly conference honor

February 6, 2012 By

Iowa’s Aaron White has been named the Big Ten’s co-freshman of the week. The six-eight forward averaged 13 points and eight rebounds in victories over Minnesota and Penn State.

Iowa coach Fran McCaffery says White’s line of 17 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists showed the many ways he can impact the game. McCaffery says White is shooting the ball well from the outside and he can also take it in and dunk it, and that is good to have.

White runs the floor well for a big guy and it has led to several easy layups, and McCaffery says that’s because he has developed his stamina to be able to run. He says if you don’t have the stamina to run all the time, you are only going to get a couple of those easy lay ups before the other team gets back and stops you.

Iowa returns to action on Thursday at Northwestern.

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