The Eastern Michigan University men’s basketball team will continue its road trip as the Eagles take on the Drake Bulldogs at 8:05 p.m. today in Des Moines, Iowa.
The Eagles are 4-4 and 1-3 on the road.
EMU is coming off of a 74-70 loss to Colgate, where its second-half comeback wasn’t enough in the end. Darrell Lampley had a career-high 37 points, but the Eagles went on to lose their third straight.
The Bulldogs are 5-3 and are coming off a 62-60 win against Air Force. The Bulldogs held off a late rally from
the Falcons. Ben Simons led the Bulldogs with 16 points and was 4-for-6 from the three-point line. Rayvonte Rice added 15 points, and the Bulldogs pulled out a squeaker at home.
Against Colgate the Eagles shot 38 percent from the field and were 4-for-24 from beyond the arc. They are averaging 58.1 points while allowing 63.9.
Lampley is averaging 16.8 points this season but some of his teammates are going to have to help him. Look for J.R. Sims to help take the load off of Lampley. He is averaging 8.8 points.
Another thing the Eagles need to fix is the turnovers. They are averaging 14.4 turnovers and only averaging 9.6 assists. Eastern cannot allow empty possessions when it has the ball and guard play is going to be a key.
For Drake, it has two players averaging in double figures. Rice is averaging 17.3 points and Simons is averaging 16.9. If they can play at a high level, the Eagles will have their work cut out for them.
The Bulldogs also are bad with turnovers, averaging 16 turnovers while only averaging 9.9 assists.
The Bulldogs have a good guard in Rice. They are shooting 45.5 percent from the field.
