Atin Wright, Tucker DeVries carry Drake basketball to victory over Illinois State

Atin Wright set the tone and Tucker DeVries made sure Drake continued its dominance.

By the time they were done Tuesday night, the Bulldogs owned a comfortable 88-71 men's basketball victory over Illinois State at the Knapp Center.

“Coming back off of break, this is definitely a great win,” Wright said, “especially for the long run.”

DeVries led with 22 points after scoring just six before halftime. Wright contributed 21 points – all coming in the first half.

“I really like that about our team,” Drake coach Darian DeVries said. “Everybody knows about Tucker’s scoring ability, I guess. Both those guys played extremely well, within themselves. Let it come to them.”

Drake earned its 13th consecutive home win and improved to 12-2 overall, reaching 3-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference for the second time in DeVries’ six seasons as coach.

Illinois State dropped to 8-6 and 2-1 in the Valley.

Drake used multiple double-digit scoring runs to subdue the Redbirds, including a 12-0 run in the second half to build a 59-31 advantage.

Tucker DeVries finished 8-of-14 shooting, 3-of-5 from behind the arc. Wright hit 7-of-12 and 4-of-7.

“It’s really nice to have that luxury as a coach, to have nights where you’re not always depending on one guy to provide that scoring punch for you,” Darian DeVries said.

Wright has reached the 20-point mark in each of his last two games. On Tuesday, he did it in less than 20 minutes.

The 6-foot-1 junior hit three early shots from behind the 3-point arc as Drake raced to a 16-8 lead. The Bulldogs kept the quick start going, eventually putting together a 17-0 run and a 27-8 lead.

“I saw the first one go in and my teammates found me when I was open,” Wright said.

Illinois State countered with an 11-0 burst that trimmed the margin to 27-19.

Wright was undaunted.

His steal and layup put the Bulldogs up 42-45. He followed with his fourth 3-pointer, giving Wright 21 points in the opening 19 minutes and pushing Drake’s margin to 45-25.

The Redbirds shot just 38.5 percent before halftime. They arrived in Des Moines averaging 68.6 points per game, ranking them 307th in scoring out of 362 NCAA Division I programs.

Drake shot 60.7 percent before the break, hitting 8-of-14 from 3-point range (57.1 percent).

Wright’s emergence gives the Bulldogs a nice balance to go with Tucker DeVries, a 6-7 junior and the reigning Valley player of the year.

DeVries leads the Bulldogs on the season with 19 points a game, and he kept Drake in command with a series of nifty moves to open the second half.

“Sometimes they go in. Sometimes they don’t,” the younger DeVries said. “Once you see a couple go down, you definitely feel more confident in the next one.”

It was DeVries who provided an explanation point against the Redbirds, lofting a lob pass to Nate Ferguson, who dunked the ball for a 74-42 lead with 10½ minutes to play.

“I had the easy job,” DeVries said. “I’m glad I’m not the one who had to jump up there and grab it.

“When you have a bunch of guys on the floor who can really shoot it, there’s nobody there to (guard) Nate and he’s a great athlete.”

Illinois State rebounded as the Bulldogs subbed out their starters, hitting 10-of-12 shots and putting together a 9-0 run.

Up next: Drake travels to Belmont for a Sunday game.

“We’ve just got to keep stacking the wins,” Wright said. “And keep being aggressive on defense. I think that’s going to get us through a lot of these games.”

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Drake men's basketball crushes Illinois State at Knapp Center