One on One with Ben McCollum
(St. Louis, MO) – Drake continues to impress and amaze the college basketball world, but coach Ben McCollum isn’t that impressed. He’s focused on the journey and his team continuing to improve. The Bulldogs (22-2, 12-2) have a two-game lead in the Missouri Valley Conference race and Wednesday travel to Illinois State.
While McCollum is focused on continuing to improve, his team now has a NET of 57, they’re now receiving votes in the national polls and are 38th in the old RPI metric. Illinois State (15-10, 7-7) is 10-3 at home and lost to Drake by four earlier in the season.
This game is the second game of the MVC Game of the Week on local Gray Media television stations and Matrix Midwest in St. Louis. Tip time is set for 8 pm (Central).
During conference action these are the Valley’s second and third best three-point shooting teams. Illinois State sophomores Johnny Kinziger and Chase Walker have become the faces of the Redbird team. Drake’s attack is led by ‘Player of the Year’ favorite Bennett Stirtz. He leads the MVC in scoring, assists and steals, but it is Drake’s defense and sound fundamentals that push them forward.
The Bulldogs lead the league in scoring defense and rebound margin.
We spoke with coach McCollum about how his team is continuing to improve.
Drake won the team’s first meeting 66-62 in Des Moines. Walker scored twenty points for the Redbirds and Daniel Abreu tallied 23 for Drake. While the Bulldogs lead the league in defense, they play at the slowest pace of any team in college basketball. The Redbirds employ a slower pace too.
Illinois State won 15 games all last season. Apparently, the Redbirds are also continuing to improve.
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Editor: Cover photo of Daniel Abreu by Dylan Heuer, courtesy of godrakebulldogs.com.
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Flooding, lightning strikes, etc. have cost @RacersHoops two home games. Had to play 'neutral site' tonight instead of at home and Wednesday's goes from home to away. Tough break for the Racers, and the whole area has been hit with difficulties. #FatherHarry
Murray State's scheduled home game Wednesday vs. Southern Illinois being moved to Banterra Center in Carbondale. #ValleyHoops
Gigantic game for @BradleyUMBB today in Des Moines. If they have a chance to catch @DrakeBulldogsMB, they have to win today. The Bulldogs can basically win the title today. @BustingBrackets breaks it all down. #FatherHarry https://bit.ly/3EGiVgi
Not rooting for any particular @ValleyHoops, but chaos is always fun. If things break certain ways, after today there could be a six-way tie for fifth place.
Fun to listen to @MLBLarry on the @SIU_Basketball/@BelmontMBB game tonight. Good job brother. #FatherHarry
