SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Drury men's basketball will look to extend its O'Reilly Family Event Center hot streak Thursday (Feb. 26) when it hosts Missouri-St. Louis for its final home contest of the 2025-26 season.
Drury will honor graduating (redshirt) junior Luke Stubbs as part of Senior Night festivities prior to the start of the game. A Liberty, Mo., product, Stubbs will complete his undergraduate degree in exercise physiology from Drury in May.
Drury (13-13, 8-10 GLVC) enters the contest riding a four-game home-court win streak, including an 80-56 rout of Southwest Baptist in its most recent outing on Feb. 19. Like Drury, UMSL (16-12, 10-9 GLVC) will be shooting to solidify its position in the GLVC Tournament Thursday. The Tritons have won four of their last six games, including a 74-55 win over one of the conference's hottest teams, William Jewell, this past weekend (Feb. 21).
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.
SERIES HISTORY
- Drury brings a 27-14 all-time series advantage over the Tritons into Thursday's contest, including a 25-11 mark at the D-II level.
- The Tritons claimed the last meeting of the two programs with their 66-60 victory on Feb. 27, 2025 in St. Louis.
- DU has won three straight contests against UMSL at home, including an 81-76 overtime victory in their last matchup at The O' on Feb. 15, 2024.
- The Panthers are 2-4 against UMSL under head coach Chris Foster, who is 7-10 overall against the Tritons during his 12 years as a collegiate head coach.
ABOUT UMSL
- The Tritons enter the final week of the regular season as one of the top shooting squads in the GLVC with their .473 team field goal percentage, which ranks third overall in the league.
- Redshirt freshman Taye Moore leads UMSL with his 14.6 ppg. average, while junior guard Jake Hamilton is averaging 11.1 points per outing.
- Additionally, Demetris Phillips (10.2 ppg.) and Vincent Davis III (10.1 ppg.) are both averaging in double digits; freshman Miles Boland (4.6 apg.) also ranks among the GLVC's leaders in assists.
- UMSL also brings one of the league's top defenses into Thursday's game, ranking second in the conference and 25th nationally in scoring defense (66.9 ppg.) and fourth in the GLVC in both steals (8.3) and turnovers forced (13.5) per game.
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.
- As a team, the Panthers are scoring at an 81.6 ppg clip, while allowing an average of 78.0 points per outing.
- Drury is paced by an offense that features three double-figure scorers, led by junior guard Zach Howell (17.6 ppg) and sophomore guard Colin Hardrick (15.4).
- 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 23 starts and averaging 9.0 points per outing to date.
- Several talented newcomers have contributed significantly in their first 14 weeks as Panthers: freshman KeShaun Thomas (15.1 ppg) has been a dominant force in the paint, scoring in double-figures in 22 of the Panthers' 26 games, including six double-doubles; fellow rookie Keion Epps is averaging 5.7 points, in addition to his 4.6 assist-per-game average, which ranks third in the GLVC; redshirt freshman Isaiah Otyaluk has provided a lift in his first season at Drury as well, including four 20-point performances.
LAST TIME OUT
- Keyed by a critical 26-8 first-half scoring run, Drury used dominant performances on both ends of the court to run away with an 80-56 victory over Southwest Baptist on Feb. 19 in Springfield.
- DU received contributions from up and down its roster with nine different players scoring, as the Panthers led for more than 36 minutes and hiked their advantage to as many as 31 points down the stretch.
- The Panther defense recorded a big night as well, holding the Bearcats to .373 (22-of-59) shooting, including a collective 2-of-25 (.080) effort from beyond the arc, marking the lowest three-point field-goal percentage for a Drury opponent this season.
- Additionally, DU turned the Bearcats' 15 turnovers into a 26-7 advantage in points off turnovers for the game.
- KeShaun Thomas led the Panthers with 17 points on just eight field-goal attempts, while adding eight rebounds and a game-high four assists.
KESHAUN CLIMBING
- Freshman KeShaun Thomas is putting together one of the top all-around rookie seasons in Drury history, with seven 20+ point performances and six double-doubles to his credit through 26 games.
- Thomas currently ranks sixth on Drury's all-time freshman scoring list with 393 points for the season, just 13 points behind Eddie Thomas in the No. 5 position on the chart; Thomas's point total represents the best by a DU freshman since Alex Hall put up 482 points in 2009-10.
- The Quincy, Ill., product also rates seventh on DU's rookie rebounding chart with 181 -- just two behind Shaun Bass in the No. 6 spot and eight shy of Roland Shultz's 189 in the fifth position.
- Additionally, Thomas has proven to be one of the top freshmen in the GLVC all season, with his 15.1 ppg. average leading all league freshmen, and his .496 field-goal percentage ranking second among all GLVC rookies.
NO PLACE LIKE HO'ME
- Drury is once again enjoying the advantage of playing its home games in front of one of the most loyal fan bases in the country, as the Panthers currently lead the GLVC in both total (14,531) and average (969 per game) home attendance in 2025-26.
- The Panthers have led the GLVC in total attendance every year since 2021-22, ranking as high as 11th nationally in total attendance (2021-22); this year, they rank 17th among all Division II men's program's in total attendance.
- Last year, DU welcomed 16,017 fans through the doors of O'Reilly, which was the 13th-best season total among all Division II men's programs.
A FINE HOW-ELL DO YOU DO
- Junior guard Zach Howell is closing in on several milestones in what has been a career year for the Springfield product.
- Howell enters the final week of the regular season just 42 points away from a 500-point season, which would be the 38th in program history and the first by a Panther since 2019-20 when Conley Garrison totaled 528 points.
- Howell also needs just 66 points to reach the 1,000-point plateau for his collegiate career.
- Howell's three 30+ point efforts this season are the most by a Panther in a single season since Alex Hall's eight in 2012-13.
BLOCK PARTY
- Drury freshman Kevin Sargeant has turned in a strong body of work since making his first collegiate start on Feb. 7 against Truman State.
- In the Panthers last five games, Sargeant has averaged 7.2 points and 5.4 rebounds while shooting .609 (14-for-23) from the floor.
- He has also been a force on the defensive end of the floor, recording 11 blocked shots and 10 steals in those five games.
- In DU's Feb. 5 win over Quincy, he swatted a Panther season-high five shots against the Hawks.
- Sargeant's five blocked shots not only marked a 2025-26 season best by a Panther, but also the most by a DU player since Victor Nwagbarachoa rejected six shots on Jan. 29, 2022.
- Sargeant also recorded a pair of blocks in the Panthers' victory over Truman.
- Sargeant's 1.2 blocks per game rank third among all GLVC players.
- As a team, the Panthers have recorded 92 blocks on the season for an average of 3.5 per game, which ranks second in the GLVC and represents an increase of 1.1 per game from last year's average.
PANTHERS IN THE RANKINGS
- The Panthers rank among the GLVC's top clubs in a number of categories entering Thursday's game, including the No. 2 blocked shot (3.5), steal (8.7), assist (15.1) and turnovers forced (13.9) per game per game averages in the conference.
- Drury also rates among the conference's best teams in scoring (81.6) ranking third in that category.
- Individually, Keion Epps' 4.6 assists per game ranks third in the GLVC and 60th nationally, while his 1.4 steals per game ranks 14th in the league.
- Zach Howell leads the GLVC and fourth nationally in three-point field goal percentage (.455); he also ranks ninth nationally in three-point field goals made (85), while his free-throw percentage (.859) ranks sixth in the GLVC and his 1.5 steals per contest rank 11th in the conference.
- KeShaun Thomas is fourth in the GLVC in free throws made (123), ninth in total rebounding (181) and 11th in total scoring (393).
- Colin Hardrick ranks sixth in the GLVC in total steals (43) and 11th in total rebounds (170).
LOOKING AHEAD
The Panthers will conclude the regular season Saturday (Feb. 28) with a 3 p.m., GLVC road matchup against Missouri S&T at Gibson Arena in Rolla.
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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