# 2020–21 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team

The 2020–21 Drake Bulldogs men's basketball team represented Drake University during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Bulldogs are led by third-year head coach Darian DeVries. They played their home games at Knapp Center on campus in Des Moines, Iowa, as members of the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC). In a season limited due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Bulldogs finished the season 26–5, 15–3 in MVC play to finish in second place. In the quarterfinals of the MVC tournament, they advanced to the semifinals after Northern Iowa was forced to forfeit due to COVID-19 issues. They defeated Missouri State in the semifinals before losing to Loyola in the championship game. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 11 seed in the First Four. They defeated Wichita State to advance to the First Round where they were eliminated by USC.

## Previous season

The Bulldogs finished the season 20–14, 8–10 in MVC play to finish in eighth place. They defeated Illinois State and Northern Iowa to advance to the semifinals of the MVC tournament where they lost to Bradley. All postseason tournaments were thereafter canceled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

## Offseason
### Departures

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Reason for departure |
| Brady Ernst | 31 | F | 6'10" | 230 | RS Senior | Clinton, IA | Graduated. |
| Samm Jones | 1 | G | 5'11" | 196 | Junior | Minneapolis, MN | Transferred to Davenport University. |
| Liam Robbins | 21 | C | 7'0" | 235 | Sophomore | Davenport, IA | Transferred to Minnesota. |

### Incoming transfers

| Name | Number | Pos. | Height | Weight | Year | Hometown | Previous School |
| ShanQuan Hemphill | 4 | F | 6'6" | 195 | Senior | Gary, IN | Transferred from Green Bay. Missed almost all of 2019–20 season with lower body injury; petitioned for and was granted a medical waiver that gave him a sixth season of eligibility. |
| Darnell Brodie | 51 | F | 6'10" | 275 | Junior | Newark, NJ | Transferred from Seton Hall. Played just 3 games during 2019–20 season due to injuries and illnesses. Granted hardship waiver that gave him immediate eligibility for 2020–21 season. |

### 2020 recruiting class

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes :
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date |
| Bryceson Burns #11 G/F | Houston, TX | Westfield High School | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Apr 8, 2020 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Jordan Kwiecinski #21 PF | Chicago, IL | Loyola Academy | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | 195 lb (88 kg) | Jul 27, 2019 |
| Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals: N/A 247Sports: N/A ESPN grade: NR ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: ||||||
| Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2020 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved December 20, 2020. ||||||

## Schedule and results

| Date time, TV | Rank$^#$ | Opponent$^#$ | Result | Record | Site (attendance) city, state |
| Non-conference regular season ||||||
| Nov 25, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPNU | | at Kansas State Little Apple Classic | W 80–70 | 1–0 | Bramlage Coliseum Manhattan, KS |
| Nov 27, 2020* 1:00 pm | | vs. South Dakota Little Apple Classic | W 69–53 | 2–0 | Bramlage Coliseum Manhattan, KS |
| Dec 3, 2020* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Omaha | W 87–66 | 3–0 | Knapp Center (89) Des Moines, IA |
| Dec 6, 2020* 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | St. Ambrose | W 97–53 | 4–0 | Knapp Center Des Moines, IA |
| Dec 9, 2020* 7:00 pm, ESPN3 | | McKendree | W 90–66 | 5–0 | Knapp Center (83) Des Moines, IA |
| Dec 13, 2020* 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Air Force | W 81–53 | 6–0 | Knapp Center (141) Des Moines, IA |
| Dec 18, 2020* 5:00 pm | | at South Dakota | W 75–57 | 7–0 | Sanford Coyote Sports Center (382) Vermillion, SD |
| Dec 20, 2020* 2:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Chicago State | W 111–67 | 8–0 | Knapp Center (331) Des Moines, IA |
| Dec 22, 2020* 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | North Dakota | W 88–55 | 9–0 | Knapp Center (325) Des Moines, IA |
| MVC regular season ||||||
| Dec 27, 2020 12:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Indiana State | W 81–63 | 10–0 (1–0) | Hulman Center (200) Terre Haute, IN |
| Dec 28, 2020 4:00 pm, ESPN3 | | at Indiana State | W 73–66 | 11–0 (2–0) | Hulman Center Terre Haute, IN |
| Jan 3, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPNU | | Southern Illinois | W 73–55 | 12–0 (3–0) | Knapp Center Des Moines, IA |
| Jan 4, 2021 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | Southern Illinois | W 86–55 | 13–0 (4–0) | Knapp Center Des Moines, IA |
| Jan 26, 2021 7:00 pm, MVC TV | | at Missouri State | W 68–61 | 14–0 (5–0) | JQH Arena (1,989) Springfield, MO |
| Jan 27, 2021 8:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Missouri State | W 78–73 | 15–0 (6–0) | JQH Arena (1,744) Springfield, MO |
| Jan 31, 2021 2:00 pm, ESPN3 | | Illinois State | W 78–76 $^{OT}$ | 16–0 (7–0) | Knapp Center (947) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 1, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN3 | No. 25 | Illinois State | W 95–60 | 17–0 (8–0) | Knapp Center (737) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 6, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN3 | No. 25 | at Valparaiso | W 80–77 | 18–0 (9–0) | Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN |
| Feb 7, 2021 1:00 pm, ESPN+ | No. 25 | at Valparaiso | L 57–74 | 18–1 (9–1) | Athletics–Recreation Center Valparaiso, IN |
| Feb 10, 2021 6:00 pm, CBSSN | | Northern Iowa | W 80–59 | 19–1 (10–1) | Knapp Center (971) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 13, 2021 11:00 am, ESPN2 | | No. 22 Loyola–Chicago | L 54–81 | 19–2 (10–2) | Knapp Center (864) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 14, 2021 2:00 pm, ESPN2 | | No. 22 Loyola–Chicago | W 51–50 $^{OT}$ | 20–2 (11–2) | Knapp Center (921) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 17, 2021 7:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Northern Iowa | W 77–69 | 21–2 (12–2) | McLeod Center (914) Cedar Falls, IA |
| Feb 21, 2021 3:00 pm, MVC TV | | Evansville | W 85–71 | 22–2 (13–2) | Knapp Center (753) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 22, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | Evansville | W 74–63 | 23–2 (14–2) | Knapp Center (675) Des Moines, IA |
| Feb 26, 2021 6:00 pm, MVC TV | | at Bradley | W 80–71 | 24–2 (15–2) | Carver Arena Peoria, IL |
| Feb 27, 2021 6:00 pm, ESPN+ | | at Bradley | L 61–67 | 24–3 (15–3) | Carver Arena Peoria, IL |
| MVC tournament ||||||
| March 5, 2021 5:00 pm, ESPN+ | (2) | vs. (7) Northern Iowa Quarterfinals | Won by forfeit due to COVID-19 issues at UNI | Won by forfeit due to COVID-19 issues at UNI | Enterprise Center St. Louis, MO |
| March 6, 2021 3:00 pm, CBSSN | (2) | vs. (3) Missouri State Semifinals | W 71–69 | 25–3 | Enterprise Center (1,178) St. Louis, MO |
| March 7, 2021 1:00 pm, CBS | (2) | vs. (1) No. 20 Loyola–Chicago Championship | L 65–75 | 25–4 | Enterprise Center (1,265) St. Louis, MO |
| NCAA tournament ||||||
| March 18, 2021 5:27 pm, TBS | (11 W) | vs. (11 W) Wichita State First Four | W 53–52 | 26–4 | Mackey Arena (2,825) West Lafayette, IN |
| March 20, 2021 3:30 pm, TNT | (11 W) | vs. (6 W) No. 23 USC First Round | L 56–72 | 26–5 | Bankers Life Fieldhouse Indianapolis, IN |
| *Non-conference game. $^#$Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. All times are in Central Time. ||||||
Source
* ↑ Prior to the game, the MVC announced that due to a positive COVID-19 test within the Northern Iowa program and subsequent contact tracing, the Panthers would not have enough available players to compete. Therefore, in accordance with policies that had been in place all season, the contest was canceled and the MVC ruled that Drake would advance to the semifinals.

## Rankings

Ranking movements Legend: ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking — = Not ranked RV = Received votes :
| | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week | Week |
| Poll | Pre | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | Final |
| AP | — | — | — | — | — | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | — | Not released |
| Coaches | — | —^ | — | RV | — | — | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | 25 | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV | RV |
*AP does not release post-NCAA Tournament rankings ^Coaches did not release a Week 1 poll.