Drake makes program history in stunning March Madness upset vs Missouri
Today at 01:02 AM
New Indiana head coach Darian DeVries turned Drake into a powerhouse, leading the team to a 150-55 record from 2018-24 and three NCAA Tournament appearances. Ben McCollum arrived following a sensational 15-year run with Division II’s Northwest Missouri State and picked up where DeVries left off, guiding the Bulldogs to a program-record 30 wins this season. And on Thursday, he and the school finally secured a major March Madness milestone.
No. 11 seed Drake stunned No. 6 Missouri in an NCAA Tournament Round of 64 game, winning 67-57 in Wichita, Kansas’ INTRUST Bank Arena. Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year Bennett Stirtz, who followed McCollum from Northwest Missouri State, scored 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting. Tavion Banks was one rebound away from recording a double-double off the bench and the team as a whole shot 54.3 percent from the field.
Defensively, the Bulldogs held the Tigers to 33.3 percent shooting, as they controlled the action for almost the entire game. This was not just any upset, however. It is their first win in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament since the field expanded to 64 teams 40 years ago, via ClutchPoints. Prior to this impressive showing, Drake basketball had reached the Final Four once and Elite Eight twice across a three-year stretch from 1969-71. They also won a thrilling First Four matchup (play-in) over Wichita State in 2021.
McCollum accomplishes what not even DeVries could, gifting the school a long-waited breakthrough. Des Moines, Iowa is celebrating tonight and will probably continue to do so until the Bulldogs next take the court on Saturday. They will face the winner of Texas Tech-UNC Wilmington in the Round of 32.
The scary thing is that this group left plenty of points on the board, shooting just 12-of-24 from the free throw line and committing 15 turnovers. Naturally, the competition is fiercer than what Drake has seen in conference play, but if Ben McCollum can get his guys to tighten up, fans could soon witness the next March Madness darling.
The post Drake makes program history in stunning March Madness upset vs Missouri appeared first on ClutchPoints.
