The Drake Bulldogs and the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks meet in college basketball action from the John Gray Gymnasium on Monday.
Drake Beats Oakland
The Drake Bulldogs will be out to build on their 3-0 start to the year after an 85-77 win over Oakland last time out. Entering Sunday, Tucker DeVries leads Drake across the board with 28.5 PPG, 6.5 RPG and 5 APG while Atin Wright has 20 PPG with 3 APG as well on the year. Kevin Overton has 13 PPG with 4.5 RPG and Darnell Brodie’s contributed 12 PPG with 7 RPG as well on the year. As a team, Drake is averaging 86 PPG on 52.6% shooting from the field, 40% from three and 71.4% from the foul line this season.
Stephen F. Austin Drops LMU
The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks come into this one looking to build on their 86-76 win over Loyola Marymount in their last matchup, improving to 3-1 on the year. Sadaidriene Hall leads the Lumberjacks in scoring and rebounding with 15.7 PPG and 5.3 RPG while Matt Hayman has 11 PPG as the only other Stephen F. Austin double-digit scorer up to this point in the year. Latrell Jossell has 9 PPG and Chrishawn Christmas has 8.7 PPG with 3.7 RPG while AJ Cajuste has a team-high 4.3 APG as well to lead SFA in the assist department this season. As a team, Stephen F. Austin is averaging 84.7 PPG on 54.4% shooting from the field, 38.2% from three and 75.5% from the foul line this season.
Chris’ Pick
I’m giving a lean towards Drake here. This should be a fantastic game, but while both can really shoot, it’s Drake that does a better job taking care of the basketball and making their free throws. Drake’s 2-point defense is concerning considering how well Stephen F. Austin shoots from inside the arc and it’s their bread and butter offensively, but all in all, I think the Bulldogs just shoot their way past Stephen F. Austin here on the way to a win and cover in this game.
