The Drake Bulldogs expect to meet an angry Wichita State team when they visit the Shockers, tonight, in Missouri Valley Conference play. After starting the season 9-0 and being ranked as high as eighth nationally in mid-December the Shockers have lost eight of their last 11 games and stand just 3-6 in the Valley.
Drake coach Tom Davis says it’s more about the Valley than it is Wichita State. Davis says playing all the conference games in a short period of time against good competition makes it tough, but he says the Shockers are still as good as they were at the start of the season. The Bulldogs are 2-7 and like the Shockers are trying to get some confidence back. Davis says ballclubs are going to lose their confidence a little bit when you lose some games, but he says they’re trying to regain some confidence to make a run in the conference tournament.
Wichita State coach Mark Turgeon says it has been a frustrating month for his team, the "toughest thing I’ve ever been through as a head coach." Turgeon says they’ve gone from a good team one night to a "god awful team" the next night, and that has been tough.
Turgeon says the Shockers still have time to get things turned around. He says the kids are more resilient than the coaches. He says every year there’s a team that makes a run at the end of the season and hopefully this year it will be his team.
Wichita State is 12-8 overall. Drake is 11-9.