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DES MOINES, Iowa – The Kennesaw State men's basketball team ran into a hot-shooting Drake squad Thursday night as the defending Missouri Valley Conference champions utilized the three-point line to down the Owls 86-55 at the Knapp Center.
 
How it Happened: The Bulldogs (1-0) and Owls (0-2) went back-and-forth in the opening minutes in an evenly matched game. KSU remained within one thanks to a dunk and a block from Antonio Spencer followed by a steal and coast-to-coast layup by C.J. Washington to make it 5-4 in favor of Drake at the 15:34 mark. The two squads continued to trade points until Drake began to heat up from beyond the arc, sinking six straight treys to lead 27-13 with 10:16 to play.
 
Drake extended their lead throughout the final 10 minutes as the Owls could not seem to get their shots to fall with only one bucket in the final 9:30 of the first half, courtesy of Spencer. Tyler Hooker finally snapped KSU's drought with a layup just before the buzzer sounded to send the Owls into the locker room trailing 39-19.
 
The Owls started the second half slowly, playing mostly from the free throw line with six made buckets before Terrell Burden scored KSU's first field goal of the half to make it 59-27 at the 12:37 mark. KSU attempted to chip away at the Bulldogs' lead with back-to-back baskets from Burden and a three-pointer by Hooker, but Drake answered with back-to-back three-pointers to earn its largest lead of the night, 81-43.
 
The Owls did not let up though in the final five minutes, outscoring Drake 12-5 down the stretch thanks to five points from Adili Kuerban and jumpers from Pietro Agostini and walk-on freshman Bobby Miller, his first career basket.
 
Notes: Freshmen Terrell Burden and Armani Harris recorded their first career double-digit games with 10 points each … Tyler Hooker led the team with 12 points, his second straight game in double-figures … Antonio Spencer and Harris each pulled down a team-high seven rebounds … Spencer finished the game with four points while tying his career-high with three blocks … Drake finished 17-of-29 from three-point range … the Owls went 13-of-16 from the free throw line, all in the second half, led by Harris who finished 6-of-8.
 
Quotes: Head Coach Abdur-Rahim
On KSU's tough opening stretch…
"You come on the road and you play a team like Creighton on one night and then you play the defending Missouri Valley champions two nights later, that's a tall task for anybody. I feel good about my kids, I've got to do a better job of putting them in a position where they can be successful and to where they are fresh as well. You know we are playing 10 guys right now and I've got to do a better job of looking at how we keep them fresh for the games, how we allow them to be successful and feel good about what they are doing. There's nothing I'm really disappointed about. Am I satisfied with anything? I'm not satisfied by any means, but there is nothing I'm really disappointed about. When you're trying to build a better program, a program that sustains over the test of time, you're going to go through these type of things. You're going to hit rock bottom and I'm not sure if this is rock bottom, but I do know this, we are finding a level of care and love for each other that we have not had in this program. We are going to take our lumps now, but as we do that we'll continue to bounce back and figure out how to respond."
 
On responding in tough game situations…
"I have to do a better job, that's not on them. I'm stuck in this place right now between trying to let them figure it out because I think in the long run as we go deeper into the season we'll be better for it. But I have to do a better job of using my timeout in the first half. I have to do a better job of getting them to really guard the three-point line, because that's the thing that has really hurt us these past two games. Right now for whatever reason we are playing back on our heels and that's not who we are, that's not what we've practiced. So I have to look at myself first before I say 'oh they have to do this' or 'they have to do that' it's not them, it's me and my staff and we have to figure out how to adjust and help them be successful."
 
Up Next: The Owls continue their season-opening road swing against in-state rival Mercer this Monday (Nov. 11) at 7 p.m.