On the 50th anniversary of the school's last NCAA Tournament victory, the 2021 Drake University men's basketball team continued to etch its name in the history books with a 53-52 win over Wichita State on Thursday night at Mackey Arena.
The No. 11 seed Bulldogs (26-4) advance out of the First Four to meet No. 6 USC on Saturday at 3:30 CST inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Joe Yesufu scored a team-best 21 points to lead Drake to its 26th win of the season, tying for the second-most in a season in school history. The result marks the Bulldogs' 70th victory in the last three campaigns, the most in any three-year period in Drake history.
"I'm really excited for our guys and for our program," said Drake head coach Darian DeVries. "It wasn't the prettiest game in the world, but I thought our guys really had to show some resiliency to hang with it in both halves when we got down double-digits and didn't have anything going offensively. They continued to stay with it and believe in one another and pull out a very hard fought game."
In the Bulldogs' first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2008, DJ Wilkins opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, and Garrett Sturtz converted in the paint moments later to give Drake an early 5-2 lead.
The offense soon screeched to a halt, however, as Drake mustered one point – a free throw by ShanQuan Hemphill – in the next 9:56 of play. Wichita State rattled off 16 points during the stretch as it claimed an 18-6 lead – the Shockers' largest of the contest.
Darnell Brodie stemmed the tide with a basket, and Hemphill – making his first appearance since foot surgery sidelined him on Feb. 11 – righted the ship with a jumper as Drake gained its footing.
Yesufu took over from there, floating home a baseline attempt before slamming a poster dunk moments later. Yesufu put the exclamation point on Drake's 10-0 outburst to close the half with a leaning 3-pointer in the closing seconds.
"Honestly, I didn't know where the ball went," Yesufu said of his highlight-reel jam. "I thought I missed it at first, but everybody started cheering so I figured it went in. That was a very great moment. It pumped us up as a team and energized us."
Despite mustering a season-low 20 first-half points, Drake faced a mere one-point deficit thanks to Yesufu's eruption and the team's stingy defense. The Bulldogs limited the Shockers to 9-of-32 shooting (28.1 percent) from the field and 1-of-9 (11.1 percent) from 3 in the opening 20 minutes.
"In our timeouts, our whole focus was really on our defense," said DeVries. "Just keep guarding to keep us in this, because we'll break free at some point. You've just got to trust it. We got enough stops to not let it get out of reach, and I thought that was maybe the biggest key of the game was just our ability to stay within striking distance."
The second half mirrored the opening frame as Brodie powered up an and-one layup to knot the game at 23, only for the Bulldogs to run scoreless for 6:56 as Wichita State took command with nine-straight points.
Yesufu delivered another floater in the paint, but the Shockers answered with five unanswered points. Drake suddenly found itself back in a 12-point hole 11:24 to play.
It was Tremell Murphy's turn to come up big for Drake, and the senior bookended a 12-5 exchange with a pair of 3-pointers. Murphy then threaded the needle to Issa Samake for a dunk as the Bulldogs pulled to within three.
The teams traded buckets, and Yesufu netted five points to slash the Shockers' lead to 45-44 with 5:11 remaining.
The game-defining sequence occurred soon after as Drake grinded out a defensive possession in which Wichita State missed four point-blank attempts before Brodie secured the rebound. Yesufu pushed in transition and dumped it to Brodie for a go-ahead layup with 4:15 to go.
The Shockers again tested the Bulldogs' mettle as Morris Udeze – who finished with a career-high 22 points – tilted the advantage back in Wichita State's favor with a basket inside.
Drake had one final response as Sturtz found Murphy for a go-ahead 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a lead they wouldn't relinquish.
"It was a collective effort," said Yesufu. "Tremell with his big shot, DJ with his amazing defense on a great player, Brodie crashing the boards. We all played roles."
On the next possession, Sturtz collected an offensive rebound, allowing Drake to reset the offense before Brodie converted a clutch turnaround 15-footer to put Drake ahead 51-47 with 1:02 remaining.
The fireworks weren't over. Following a Wichita State layup and a pair of Yesufu free throws, Wilkins – who held the Shockers' leading scorer, Tyson Etienne, to one point for the game – forced a turnover, but the Shockers quickly regained possession and nailed a 3-pointer to cut the Bulldogs' lead to 53-52 with eight seconds left.
Drake misfired on the front end of a one-and-one, but the Shockers' 3-pointer at the buzzer hit front rim and caromed away, sealing Drake's first NCAA Tournament win in exactly 50 years.
"It's been a long time, and our guys knew that," said DeVries. "Getting the opportunity to be here, it's something these kids dreams about. To get a win for our program that hasn't happened in 50 years, it's really exciting. These guys have fought through so much, and for them to be the ones who were able to get us a win, I think it's really deserving."
Drake, which gained entry into March Madness with the program's first-ever at-large bid, advances to face USC on Saturday. The game is slated for 3:30 CST and will air on TNT.
