I had the good fortune of sitting court side at the McLeod Center for Saturday's Showdown between #14 Drake and UNI. After watching these teams go at, I have this to offer: Drake is for real. No, the Bulldogs aren't for real simply because they beat UNI for a second time this season; they're for real because they won a tough game on the road against a team that already had a crack at them and came out with a great game plan. And to boot, a sellout crowd was bananas for the Panthers. It seems like game after game when the final 5 minutes come around the Bulldogs trade in their uniforms for Superman capes.
The difference between the Bulldogs and Panthers might have come down to one play on Saturday. You see, the first time these teams met Klayton Korver went bonkers from three point land. He hit seven of them from beyond the arc that night. The Panthers were not going to let that happen again. Not if Coach Jacobson had any say in the matter. But this one play occurred after Adam Koch had to go to the bench late in the second half because of visible blood from a small cut on his forehead. Koch had denied Korver all afternoon long, but as soon as he took a seat to get bandaged Korver drained a 25-footer off of a hand off from Emmenecker. Game, set, match.
Coach Jacobson feels like there is little difference between these two teams.
Even though the win gave Drake the MVC Title, there wasn't so much as a hat, t-shirt or sign to commemorate the moment. Drake head coach Keno Davis was asked after the game if he felt like his team should cut down the nets.
Drake hosts Bradley tomorrow, UNI hits the road for a Wednesday night match up with Southern Illinois. The Salukis are 60-1 in their last 61 home games, including a win over Drake last week so the Panthers could easily be losers in 4 of their last 5 if they don't show up on Wednesday. Ouch.
Photo courtesy of unipanthers.com
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