Undefeated Drake travels to Kansas City to face K-State

Field Level Media|published: Mon 16th December, 21:22 2024

Drake's Bennett Stirtz (14) drives past his defender on Monday, Nov. 4, 2024, at the Knapp Center.

Kansas State welcomes a once-familiar nonconference foe to Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday night it faces Drake in the Wildcat Classic at T-Mobile Center.

The Wildcats and Bulldogs have squared off 27 times previously, with 16 of those meetings coming early in the 20th century when both schools were members of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Wildcats hold a 20-7 record.

The two teams stopped playing each other in the mid-1950s before resuming the rivalry four seasons ago. Drake won 80-70 in 2020 in Manhattan, Kan.

Both teams have new coaches since the last meeting. K-State head coach Jerome Tang is in his third season, while Drake's Ben McCollum is undefeated (9-0) in his first season.

McCollum spent the last 15 seasons as the head coach at Division II Northwest Missouri State, where he won four national championships (2017, '19, '21, '22). He's hit the ground running in Des Moines, Iowa.

In their most recent game, the Bulldogs trounced NAIA opponent St. Ambrose, 90-35. McCollum said the tune-up was necessary to prepare for K-State.

"You've got K-State coming up," he said following the victory over the Fighting Bees. "I think if you come out of finals and just jump right into K-State, you don't have that good rhythm. I thought this was the perfect game for that."

The Bulldogs are led by a trio of double-digit scorers, led by Bennett Stirtz at 17.8 points per game. Joining Stirtz are Daniel Abreu at 13.9 ppg and Mitch Mascari at 12.2.

The Wildcats are scuffling at 6-3, coming off an 88-71 loss at St. John's on Dec. 7. The Wildcats led 39-35 at halftime before being outscored by 21 points in the second half.

Tang is confident the time off will have his team ready for Drake.

"I really feel like the guys have bought in to what we want to do moving forward," he said Monday.

The Wildcats also have three players averaging double figures, led by Brendan Hausen at 15.2 points per game and David N'Guessan at 14.2. Hausen has done most of his damage from long range, as he has 3.67 3-point makes per game, ninth best in Division I.

--Field Level Media