Des Moines, Iowa- The UMD men's basketball team was defeated by Division I's Drake 100-77 in the Bulldogs' last exhibition contest before the start of regular-season play.
It was all Bulldogs out of the gate when UMD jumped to a 6-0 advantage over the first four minutes of the first half. Riding off of this early lead, the Bulldogs wouldn't trail until a score of 14-13 with 11:38 to go in the first frame. Drake would go on a run to make their lead 10 at 23-13 at the midway point of the half, but UMD would keep clawing around down the stretch. A three-point play by
Charlie Katona would trim the Drake lead down to nine at 38-29 with just 3:17 left in the first, but Drake's sustained scoring took them into the break up 52-37.
At the half, Both
Joshua Brown and Katona had 11 points to lead the team.
Austin Andrews had a team-high five rebounds. As a group, the Bulldogs already had four steals.
Drake held its lead throughout the second half, but the Bulldogs never stopped battling. An and-one play by
Austin Andrews brought the Bulldogs back to within 10 with 13:59 left to go. Shortly after that, another bucket capped off with a visit to the charity stripe for Katona had UMD down just seven at a score of 64-57 with 13:26 on the clock. A counter-surge by Drake would bring their lead back to double-digits and keep it that way for the remaining 11:53 of the game.
Despite the result, there was much in the Bulldogs' performance on Thursday for UMD head coach
Justin Wieck to be happy about. Take his team's early-game run, for example. Wieck felt as if this was a representation of a drive within the team that was sustained throughout the contest.
"A great quick start for us...was fun to see our guys compete on that level," Wieck said. "Drake is a super talented team, but I was happy with our competitiveness level from start to finish."
A pivotal part of the Bulldogs' performance, both in their hot start and throughout the night, was their ability to grab offensive boards and generate steals. Within the first three minutes of the game alone, UMD already had five offensive rebounds to pair with two takeaways. By the end of the night, the Bulldogs had won the offensive glass battle 19-18 and snagged six steals to Drake's three. These stats are just a microcosm of the effort Wieck saw from his team all over the court on Thursday.
"Our effort level was super high on both ends," Wieck said. "That's probably what I'm most proud of tonight. That showed in a lot of ways, but especially on the (offensive) glass."
At the top of the stats sheet for the Bulldogs was
Charlie Katona. The junior forward had 24 points on the night while going 10-12 from the floor, good for a field-goal percentage of 83.3%. Katona recorded double-digit points in each half. He also tallied eight rebounds.
Wieck was impressed by the effort he saw from Katona, describing it as a testament to some of the forward's strengths.
"(Charlie) was fantastic tonight on both ends," Wieck said. "His competitive nature and athleticism really allowed him to thrive."
After seeing the team compete with such a high-level opponent all night Thursday, it's hard not to be optimistic about where the Bulldogs stand heading into the season. Wieck is no exception.
"I leave this game feeling like our team is ready to roll," Wieck said. "Watching them compete on this stage against that competition was exactly what we needed. We can't wait to get started next Friday."
The Bulldogs will welcome Southern Arkansas to Romano in that regular-season opener on Friday, November 11 with a tip-off time of 6:00 p.m. This comes as part of the American Family Insurance Classic, a tournament UMD is hosting this year. The Bulldogs will close out their slate of the tournament with a game against Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday, November 12 at 3:00 p.m.
