2011–12 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team
| 2011–12 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball | |
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CIT, Second Round
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| Conference | Missouri Valley Conference |
| 2011–12 record | 18–16 (9–9 MVC) |
| Head coach | Mark Phelps |
| Assistant coach | Mike Gibson |
| Assistant coach | Stan Johnson |
| Assistant coach | Brett Nelson |
| Home arena | Knapp Center |
| 2011–12 Missouri Valley Conference men's basketball standings | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Conf | Overall | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | W | L | PCT | W | L | PCT | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #16 Wichita State | 16 | – | 2 | .889 | 27 | – | 5 | .844 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #19 Creighton† | 14 | – | 4 | .778 | 28 | – | 5 | .848 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Evansville | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 16 | – | 16 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Illinois State | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 21 | – | 14 | .600 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Northern Iowa | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 20 | – | 14 | .588 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Missouri State | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 16 | – | 16 | .500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Drake | 9 | – | 9 | .500 | 18 | – | 16 | .529 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Indiana State | 8 | – | 10 | .444 | 18 | – | 15 | .545 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Southern Illinois | 5 | – | 13 | .278 | 8 | – | 23 | .258 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Bradley | 2 | – | 16 | .111 | 7 | – | 25 | .219 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| † 2012 MVC Tournament winner As of March 19, 2012; Rankings from AP Poll |
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The 2011–12 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Drake University during the 2011–12 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The team, which plays in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), was led by fourth-year head coach Mark Phelps and played their home games at the Knapp Center.
Ryan Wedel graduated, but returned as graduate assistant. The Bulldogs replaced two-thirds of their coaching staff. Frank Weisler left the team after suffering a career-ending pre-season injury. Brennen Newton is no longer with the team.
The Bulldogs were picked to finish 7th in the pre-season MVC poll.
Several players suffered pre-season injuries. Seth VanDeest will redshirt the season along with Reece Uhlenhopp who only played one minute against Indiana State. In addition, Rice & Alexander were suspended for the Bulldog's exhibition and first regular season games due to an off-the-court shoplifting incident. As a result of injuries and suspensions, the Bulldogs played their exhibition game versus Quincy with just five scholarship players.
After easily defeating Upper Iowa, Drake’s first real test resulted in an impressive win against in-state rival Iowa State. The win significantly raised expectations for the Paradise Jam where the Bulldogs would play Ole Miss, Winthrop, & Virginia. The Bulldogs would lose 2 out those 3 games to finish 6th.
Upon returning to the Knapp Center over Thanksgiving Weekend, the Bulldogs resumed a streak that began at the end of 2010–11: Win at home, lose on the road. The Bulldogs 12-game home winning streak would be snapped on Jan. 7 against in-state rival Northern Iowa. Following the loss, the Bulldogs went on a 4-game winning streak, the longest in 3 seasons which included two road wins.
The week of Jan. 22-Jan. 28 featured what many called the most challenging week of the season. After getting destroyed at Northern Iowa, Drake would put up a nice effort against #15 Creighton but would ultimately fall. The biggest win of the season to date would come Jan. 28 where the Bulldogs won a triple-overtime thriller against Wichita State in a game that lasted over 3 hours. Drake would drop their next contest at Indiana State as a result of poor shooting.
On Feb. 2, team Captain Ben Simons was diagnosed with mononucleosis. With Simons out indefinitely, the Bulldogs would score the lowest points in a home game since 1949 in a 57–39 loss against Missouri State on Feb. 4. A loss at Illinois State would be the third consecutive loss for the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs would capture their largest win since Phelps took over as head coach (2008–09 season) at home against Evansville.
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