GAME NOTES: Off to their best 12-game start in school history, the Drake Bulldogs try to keep the good times rolling this afternoon as they challenge the Evansville Purple Aces in Missouri Valley Conference action at Roberts Stadium. On Wednesday night, Drake defeated Southern Illinois to break a lengthy 17-game slide against the Salukis, 61-51, to move to 2-0 in conference play and log its 10th straight win overall since falling to Saint Mary's by six points in the second game of the season. The current win streak for the Bulldogs is their longest since the 1969-70 campaign. As for the Purple Aces, they've dropped their last two outings, both of which were MVC affairs. On Wednesday night, the team was bounced by Northern Iowa at the McLeod Center, 64-51. With a record of just 5-7, Evansville is last in the MVC standings entering the weekend, while Drake sits alone at the top at 11-1. With respect to the all-time series between these two schools on the hardwood, the Purple Aces are ahead by a count of 15-12, but the Bulldogs have won 11 of the last 15 meetings.

Josh Young matched his season high with 24 points as he led the Bulldogs to their 10-point win over SIU earlier this week. Young made 7-of-10 shots from the field and 8-of-10 at the free-throw line for the Bulldogs as they outscored the Salukis 20-6 at the charity stripe overall. Klayton Korver contributed 13 points, despite making just 4-of-12 shots from the floor, while Leonard Houston chipped in 12 points and grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Young, the leading scorer in each of the last three games and five of the last six overall, is tops on the season chart with his 17.9 ppg on a 46.5 percent effort behind the three-point line. All three of the top scorers for Drake (Houston and Jonathan Cox) are shooting at least 46 percent from behind the three-point line, and yet the team as a whole is making just 37.8 percent at the moment. Defensively, the program is limiting opponents to a meager 56.5 ppg and has forced an average of more than 20 turnovers per contest.

Victor Gomez stepped into the starting lineup and registered a double-double for the Purple Aces as he tallied 12 points and cleared a team-best 11 rebounds in the loss to the Panthers earlier in the week. Before fouling out, Pieter van Tongeren contributed 13 points and seven boards for a team that shot just 29.1 percent from the field and a mere 3-of-12 beyond the arc. Although he failed to score in double figures versus Northern Iowa, Jason Holsinger remains the top scorer overall for the program with his 13.2 ppg, on the strength of 46.8 percent shooting from three-point range. The sharpshooter is also the top passer for the group with 56 assists, giving him more than twice as many as any one of his teammates. Trying to get the job done in the middle is van Tongeren who has a team-best 6.3 rpg and is contributing 8.3 ppg.

In a game that features the best and the worst that the Missouri Valley Conference has to offer, it would be easy to say that Evansville might have a chance because it has nothing to lose. However, the difference between the two programs is so great that it would take a miracle for the Purple Aces to overcome the Bulldogs today.