Drake and UNI return to Missouri Valley Conference action at home on Saturday. The Bulldogs look to stay unbeaten in the Valley when they host Missouri State. a victory would be a school record 13th for the Bulldogs who are starting to draw large crowds at the Knapp Center.
Bulldog coach Keno Davis says the people around Des Moines have really come out to support them and there’s a lot of excitement that people have seen this coming and now they’re coming out to support the team.
A pair of former walk-ons are playing big roles for Drake: senior guard Adam Emmenecker and junior forward Jonathan Cox. Davis says it’s amazing that neither player had any division one offers, but they didn’t let that hold them back.
UNI is at home to take on Bradley. The Panthers are 2-2 and coach Ben Jacobsen says with some surprising teams at the top it makes for an exciting league race. Jacobsen says Drake, Illinois State and Indiana State have some guys who have significant experience and are getting some good coaching. Jacobsen says they have good teams throughout the league and right now some of them that haven’t gotten as much notice in the past are at the top.
Jacobsen says the jumbled race is good for the league. He says themore teams in the league that are capable of winning is good. He says it might not be quite as sharp in the non-conference season as last year, but it is still looking good and there are a lot of teams in the league that "can really play."
The Panthers are 10-5 overall.