SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury men's basketball looks to bounce back from its second consecutive loss Friday (Jan. 23), when the Panthers take on Indianapolis in a 7:45 p.m., Great Lakes Valley Conference matchup at O'Reilly Family Event Center.
Drury (8-10, 3-7 GLVC) dropped an 87-72 GLVC contest to Illinois Springfield Thursday evening at O'Reilly, despite building an early double-digit lead. DU also fell at McKendree last Saturday. The Panthers enter the game 5-6 at home this season.
UIndy (9-9, 7-3 GLVC) rallied for a win in its Thursday night matchup with Southwest Baptist in Bolivar, as the Greyhounds overcame a 12-point deficit by holding the Bearcats to 30-percent shooting in the second half.
Fans may follow the action through the GLVC Sports Network (subscription required), where games will be streamed live throughout the regular season. New for the 2025-26 academic year, viewing access to live broadcasts from GLVC regular season and postseason contests will be available via monthly subscription ($30) or annual subscription ($140). Single-event access can also be purchased for $15.
Audio broadcasts for all Drury men's basketball games in 2025-26 will be streamed online through the DU All-Access button via DruryPanthers.com. Fans may access the audio streams by visiting the 2025-26 schedule page for the Panthers and selecting the "Listen" link, or via the DU All Access button located on the home page.
PROMOTION AT THE O'
SERIES HISTORY
- UIndy brings a slim 11-10 series advantage over the Panthers into Friday's game.
- Drury stopped a five-game skid in the series last January with its 80-77 road victory over the Greyhounds.
- The Greyhounds have won eight of the last 10 meetings in the series dating back to 2017.
- The Panthers are 1-4 vs. the Greyhounds under Chris Foster, who has gone 4-10 overall against the Prairie Stars over his 12-year career.
ABOUT UINDY
- The Greyhounds enter play Friday 9-9 overall and 7-3 in GLVC play following their road victory over SBU on Thursday.
- UIndy is averaging 76.2 points per outing, while surrendering an average of 74.8 points this season.
- Leading scorer Carmelo Harris brings and average of 16.9 points into the weekend, a figure that ranks eighth in the GLVC; he also averages 2.9 assists while logging the third-highest free-throw percentage (.895) in the league to date.
- Harris posted his fourth straight 20+ point performance in Thursday's win, finishign with 21 points.
- Tyler Parrish (11.4) is the only other Greyhound averaging in double figures, but Shaun Arnold is chipping in with 9.9 points and team bests of 7.7 boards, 2.9 assists and 2.6 steals per contest.
ABOUT DRURY
- Under fifth-year head coach Chris Foster, Drury is coming off back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2019-21 after going 14-13 a year ago and 15-13 in 2023-24.
- DU posted its first 4-0 start in six years, with wins over Ohio Dominican, Thomas More, Ecclesia and Ozark Christian.
- As a team, the Panthers are scoring at an 81.8 ppg clip, while allowing an average of 77.9 points per outing.
- Drury is paced by an offense that features three double-figure scorers, led by junior guard Zach Howell (16.3 ppg) and sophomore guard Colin Hardrick (15.0).
- Howell is DU's leading returning scorer, while Hardrick earned GLVC All-Freshman and All-Defensive team honors last winter after averaging 10.2 points, 6.7 boards and 2.0 steals per outing.
- Junior guard Luke Stubbs has returned from an injury that sidelined him for the majority of the 2024-25 season, making 15 starts and averaging 8.1 points per outing to date.
- Several talented newcomers have contributed significantly in their first eight weeks as Panthers: freshman KeShaun Thomas (15.8 ppg) has been a dominant force in the paint, scoring in double-figures in 15 of the Panthers' 18 games, including four double-doubles; fellow rookie Keion Epps is averaging 6.9 points, in addition to his GLVC-best 5.7 assist-per-game average; redshirt freshman Isaiah Otyaluk has provided a lift in his first season at Drury as well, including four 20-point performances.
LAST TIME OUT
- After Drury built a 19-point first-half lead, Illinois Springfield heated up to shoot 69-percent from the floor in the second half and come all the way back for an 87-72 victory over the Panthers Thursday evening.
- UIS's Alex Stell went 8-of-9 from the floor as part of the freshman's 18-point, 14-rebound double-double that led a contingent of five Prairie Starts finishing in double figures.
- UIS overcame an early 26-7 deficit, engineering a 34-point swing by converting 32 of its final 48 field-goal tries in the 15-point road victory.
- Zach Howell paced Drury's offense with 18 points, while Colin Hardrick finished with 16 to go along with team-leading totals of nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks for the Panthers.
- Luke Stubbs added 13 points on 5-of-12 shooting, while KeShaun Thomas tallied 12 points for the game.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers return to the road next weekend, beginning with a 7:30 p.m., GLVC contest Thursday (Jan. 29) against Lewis in Romeoville, Ill. Drury will then travel to Upper Iowa for a Saturday (Jan. 31) afternoon game with the Peacocks.
For all the latest information on Drury men's basketball, visit DruryPanthers.com. For up-to-the-minute updates, follow the Panthers on X and Instagram.
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