Drake battles Creighton in MVC Tournament

Mar 2, 2012 - 3:58 PM St. Louis, MO (Sports Network) - After winning its first round matchup on Thursday night, the seventh-seeded Drake Bulldogs will now take on the second- seeded Creighton Bluejays in the quarterfinal round of the 2012 Missouri Valley Conference Tournament tonight.

Drake made easy work of the 10th-seeded Bradley Braves in the first round, winning 65-49, to push its overall record to 17-14. Drake entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed despite finishing in a tie for third place in the MVC with a 9-9 record, its second-best regular-season finish in its 26 years in the conference. The Bulldogs have won four of their last six games.

Creighton has bounced back from a three-game losing streak early last month to post four straight victories to close out the regular season, and it jumped back into the national spotlight with the No. 25 ranking in this week's AP poll. The Bluejays finished two games behind Wichita State for the MVC's regular-season title, but they still had an outstanding season at 25-5 overall and 14-4 in conference. Creighton has the most MVC Tournament titles of any team with 10, but with the last coming in 2007, no one on the current roster has experienced the euphoria of hoisting the championship trophy.

Creighton has a 91-58 advantage in the all-time series with Drake, which includes wins in 17 of the last 25 encounters and a series sweep this season.

Drake took care of business in the first round against Bradley yesterday thanks mostly to its defense, which allowed the Braves to shoot just 34 percent from the field, which included an even worse 4-of-20 (.200) effort from beyond the three-point line. The defensive effort was no fluke for the Bulldogs, as they ranked fourth in the MVC in field goal percentage defense during the regular season (.428). Rayvonte Rice tallied 18 points to pace the squad in the victory, while Ben Simons added 16 points. The two continued their scoring onslaught this year, as Rice (16.6 ppg) and Simons (16.2 ppg) rank third and fourth in the conference in scoring, respectively, and both were honored by being named to the All-MVC Second Team. As a team however, Drake has a rather average offense, averaging 67.2 ppg.

Creighton has one of the most potent offenses in the nation, lighting up the scoreboard to the tune of 79.7 ppg and its field goal percentage of .508 is tops in all of Division I. The Bluejay attack is led by Doug McDermott, who became the first sophomore in league history to be named the MVC Player of the Year. McDermott leads the league and is ranked third nationally in scoring at 23.1 ppg, doing so at a 60.7 percent shooting clip, and he also rips down the second-most rebounds in the MVC (8.1 rpg). McDermott was named to the All-MVC First Team for the second year in a row and he is also among the 30 finalists for the Naismith Player of the Year. Antoine Young has been a solid compliment for McDermott, joining the All-MVC Second Team by posting 12.3 ppg and 4.5 apg. Gregory Echenique (9.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.6 bpg) contributes more than his numbers indicate as he became Creighton's first ever MVC Defensive Player of the Year.