Des Moines, Iowa — The Drake University men’s basketball team broke it open with a big first-half run and began a season of immense promise with an 87-61 victory over Coe at the Knapp Center on Tuesday night.
Favored to win the Missouri Valley Conference championship after a 26-5 season that included their first NCAA tournament victory in 50 years, the Bulldogs won their sixth straight opener and improved to 31-0 when scoring at least 80 points under coach Darian DeVries.
The offensive balance that carried Drake in some many games last season was evident again, with six players scoring from 8 to 14 points. Senior Tremell Murphy and freshman Tucker DeVries, Darian’s son, led with 14 points each.
Murphy’s scoring was part of a strong line that included eight rebounds, three assists and a steal. He knocked down 5-of-7 shots, including 2-of-3 from 3-point range.
DeVries, Iowa’s Mr. Basketball at Waukee High School last season, added six rebounds, two assists and a steal while going 4-for-10 from the field with a pair of 3-pointers. Drake, which has won 33 of its last 36 games at home, went 12-for-23 from 3-point range and shot 52.7 percent overall.
DJ Wilkins and Roman Penn each scored 11 points, with Wilkins handing out five assists, one short of his career high, and Penn contributing four along with three steals. Darnell Brodie added nine points and five rebounds and Omaha transfer Ayo Akinwole scored eight.
Coe, an NCAA Division III school in Cedar Rapids, gave the Bulldogs its best shot, taking a 10-7 lead less than 4 minutes into the game, which started with the unfurling of Drake’s 2021 NCAA tournament banner. The Bulldogs responded with an 18-0 run that included the first collegiate points for DeVries and the first in a Drake uniform for Akinwole.
DeVries ignited the burst by converting a three-point play off a pass from Penn and later sank two free throws. Akinwole hit a 3-pointer to stretch the lead to 20-10 and the margin eventually grew to 25-10 before the Kohawks broke a scoreless drought of 7:16 during which they missed 11 straight shots.
Drake led by as many as 21 before settling into a 47-31 halftime lead, then had to respond again after the Kohawks rallied. They hit 11 of their first 18 shots in the second half to cut the lead down to 68-59 with 8:23 left. They got no closer.
The Bulldogs held Coe scoreless for almost 7 minutes while running off 18 straight points — with seven different players scoring — to put it out of reach at 86-59.
Coe, which counted the game as an exhibition after winning its first two regular-season games, got 15 points from Max Lampe, 13 from Cael Schmitt and 10 from Jarad Kruse.
Drake will return to action against South Dakota at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Knapp Center.
