Drake Avenges Loss to Belmont for 20th Consecutive Home Win - Drake University Athletics (2024)

Dylan Heuer

• Box Score

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | 2/21/2024 11:05:00 PM | Drake Athletic Communications

The Bulldogs continue to excel at the Knapp Center as the final stretch of the regular season looms.

DES MOINES, Iowa – The Drake men's basketball team got production throughout the starting lineup and turned the tables on Belmont, beating the Bruins 84-69 at the Knapp Center on Wednesday night.

Four starters scored in double figures, led by Tucker DeVries with 21, and the fifth just missed -- Conor Enright finishing with nine points and seven assists, one short of his career high, as the Bulldogs avenged an 87-65 loss at Belmont on Jan. 7.

"It just meant a lot," Enright said. "We didn't think we were at our best down there in Nashville. This definitely was a game that we knew we were going to have a lot of energy for to circle back to try and get a revenge win. At this point in the season, we're just taking it one game at a time."

Atin Wright added 18 points, Kevin Overton scored 16 and Darnell Brodie 14 to go with five rebounds, an assist and a steal. Those three combined to shoot 19-of-28 from the field – Brodie going 7-for-10, Wright 7-for-11 with two 3-pointers and Overton 5-for-7, including 4-for-6 from deep.

"I thought we did some good stuff tonight," head coach Darian DeVries said. "We got all three phases going a little bit and got some interior post-ups with Brodie. Some good dribble penetration got some inside out threes that I thought were really good."

Coming off a 23-point performance against Murray State, Overton is averaging 18 points and shooting 69 percent over the last three games.

"Kevin (Overton) is playing extremely well and taking advantage of his opportunities," Darian DeVries said.

DeVries got off to a fast start with nine points in the game's first 5 minutes and made his presence felt in other areas, too, finishing with six rebounds, four assists and a steal. He also knocked down three 3-pointers and made all eight of his free throws.

Drake (23-5, 14-3 Missouri Valley Conference) won for the fifth straight time and extended its home winning streak to 20, matching Houston for the longest in major college basketball. The Bulldogs remain tied with Indiana State for first place in the league with three games to play and are assured of a first-round bye in the MVC tournament.

"I love the way the guys are playing," Darian DeVries said. "I loved our crowd again tonight. Terrific energy in the building. It continues to be a just an awesome home court advantage for us. I certainly appreciate everybody that continues to come out and give us such great support."

The Bulldogs held Belmont to 41.3 percent shooting after the Bruins fired away at a 57 percent clip in the earlier game. Belmont went 12-for-22 from 3-point range in that one. The Bruins, who had won four straight, were 7-for-29 on Wednesday.

A key for Drake was keeping 6-foot-9 Malik Dia under control, holding him to 12 points on 3-for-10 shooting. He scored a career-high 32 against the Bulldogs in Nashville.

"We certainly did a better job on him (Malik Dia) this time around," Darian DeVries said. "I thought Dia got off to a little bit of a quick start, so we went with Nate to reset there a little bit. From there, I thought we did a really good job the rest of the half."

Ja'Kobi Gillespie led the Bruins (16-12, 9-8) with 23 points.

Drake shot 51.7 percent and committed just seven turnovers. The Bulldogs didn't turn it over for the first time until the 3:53 mark in the first half.

Drake trailed only once, at 2-0. Brodie fed DeVries cutting to the basket for a layup to tie it 10 seconds later and the Bulldogs went ahead to stay when Enright fired a pass to Overton in the left corner and the freshman buried a 3 for an 11-8 lead.

Nate Ferguson's dunk on a feed from Colby Garland and a DeVries 3 after he freed himself with a pump fake produced a 23-16 lead with 11:44 left in the opening half.

Belmont made enough shots to keep hanging around and trailed 34-32 with just under 2 minutes left in the half. But the Bulldogs finished the half with a flourish, outscoring the Bruins 12-4 to take a 46-36 lead into the break when Wright took a pass from DeVries and nailed a corner 3 with 5 seconds left.

Belmont crept to within five points three times in the second half before Drake took complete control. Overton's trey and Wright's layup after a Kyron Gibson steal made it 61-49. Another DeVries 3 and Enright's layup after he recovered a loose ball stretched the lead to 72-56. The Bulldogs enjoyed their biggest lead at 80-60 when Enright canned a 3 from the left wing and sank two free throws on the Bulldogs' next possession.

Drake hits the road for its next two games, at UNI in a 5 p.m. start on Saturday and at UIC on Wednesday, Feb. 28. The Bulldogs finish the season at home against Bradley on March 3.

Team Notes

• Drake, earning its fifth straight victory, improved its overall record to 23-5, while maintaining a share of first place in the Missouri Valley Conference standings with a 14-3 mark.
• Drake also is assured of a first-round bye in the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament for the fourth straight year and sixth time in the last seven seasons dating back to 2018 by finishing in the top four.
• The Bulldogs extended their home winning streak to 20 games —tiedfor longest active home winning streak in NCAA Division I men's basketball.
• Ten of Drake's 14 MVC wins have been by double figures.
• Drake made 10 3-point baskets, improving to 12-0 this season when making 10-plus 3-point baskets in a game
• Drake shot 51.7 percent from the floor (30-58) pushing its record to 13-1 when shooting 50 percent or better from the floor this season.
• After committing 15 turnovers in theJan. 7 game at Belmont, Drake had just seven turnovers tonight.
• Drake, which enjoyed a 46-36 halftime lead, improved to 18-1 when leading at half.
• That marked Drake's 12th double-digit halftime lead of the season.
• It also marked the 12th time this season the Bulldogs have scored 40 or more points in the first half.
• The Bulldogs are 66-2 (66-0 in games decided in regulation) during the Darian DeVries era when scoring 80 points or more in a game, including 12-1 this season.

Individual Notes

• Tucker DeVriescollected a team-high 21 points (15^th20-plus scoring output this season and 36^thof his career), a team-high six rebounds and four assists.
• DeVries scored nine points in the opening five minutes of thegame
• DeVries amassed 1,694 points ranking No 3 on the school career scoring list.
• DeVries made all eight free throw attempts, extending his streak of consecutive made free throws to 19 in a row.
• DeVries, who was just 1-of-7 beyond the arc at Belmont on Jan. 7, made three 3-point baskets marking the 14th time this season with three or more treys and 40th time in his career.
• GuardAtin Wright, who has scored in double figures in six of the last seven games, added 18 points, including 12 in the first half.
• Freshman forwardKevin Overtoncollected 16 points, including 10 in the first half.
• Overton made four (six attempts) three-point baskets, marking the ninth time this season with three or more treys.
• Overton is now shooting 65 percent (13-20) from beyond the three-point arc in his last three games: 4-6at Evansville; 5-8 vs. Murray State; 4-6 vs. Belmont.
• CenterDarnell Brodietallied 14 points including eight in the second half.
• GuardConor Enrightdistributed a game-high seven assists for his sixth career five-plus assist game of the season and seventh of his career.

The Series

• Drake, avenging an 87-65 loss at Belmont on Jan. 7, leads the series, 3-2 including a 2-0 mark in DesMoines.
• Darian DeVries improved his career coaching record to 3-2 against Belmont.
• The Bulldogs are 2-0 all-time against Belmont in Des Moines.