Drake Defense Too Much to Handle in Mizzou March Madness Defeat

Drake's defensive game plan worked perfectly and shut down all of Missouri's top scorers, leading to an upset victory.

Mar 20, 2025; Wichita, KS, USA; Drake Bulldogs guard Isaia Howard (23) defends Missouri Tigers guard Mark Mitchell (25) in the second half of a first round men’s NCAA Tournament game at Intrust Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images | Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

Whatever Drake did on defense worked to a tee against the Missouri Tigers.

Its defensive game plan wasn't even all that complicated, especially for a March Madness game with the level of expectations it held. The Bulldogs played to what worked well for them, slowing things down on both sides of the ball. That's Drake's identity and it clearly rattled the Tigers.

“Sometimes our defense slows tempo too,” Drake head coach Ben McCollum. “It's hard to get a good shot against us as well.”

All the talk leading up to the game was about Drake's tempo and it wasn't a surprise when they came out and played slow. Simply put, it worked quite well.

When it comes to Drake's actual defensive philosophy, they love to prevent drives to the paint and push shooters off the three-point line. Again, they did just that and Missouri had no answers on offense.

“We knew coming into the game that they were a heavy, pack line type of defense.,” Missouri guard Tamar Bates said following the defeat.. “We knew we needed to try to distort their shell with some of the things that we do, punching the gaps and getting off of the ball quicker.”

Mar 20, 2025; Wichita, KS, USA; Drake Bulldogs guard Bennett Stirtz (14) dribbles against Missouri Tigers guard T.O. Barrett (5) in the second half of a first round men’s NCAA Tournament game at Intrust Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images | Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

Drake also did a good job of forcing turnovers. This isn't a notorious issue for the Tigers and have done it scarcely throughout the season to the SEC's best defensive teams like Tennessee and Texas A&M, but Drake got the best of them in that department.

Missouri committed 17 turnovers compared to their average of 10.7 per game. They also didn't force enough turnovers, which limited their offense in another way.

“We weren't able to -- well, we had some moments of doing that, but I mean, we had how many turnovers? 17 for the game, which is extremely uncharacteristic of us just simply because we had plays where we weren't just getting off of it quick enough,” Bates said.

The game-planning part on behalf of the Tigers wasn't as good as it could have been. Missouri knew what they could and couldn't do going into the game, but McCollum and the Bulldogs made that list of challenges much longer than it initially was.

“I mean, we knew we would be able to get certain shots and run certain plays that we always have,” Bates said. “We just a lot of the times took one or too many dribbles than we probably should have.”

Mar 20, 2025; Wichita, KS, USA; Missouri Tigers guard Tamar Bates (2) dribbles against Drake Bulldogs guard Tavion Banks (6) in the second half of a first round men’s NCAA Tournament game at Intrust Bank Arena. Mandatory Credit: Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images | Nick Tre. Smith-Imagn Images

It was also clear from tipoff that the Tigers were a step behind. Drake looked energized and quickly jumped at the Tigers on offense and defense, giving Missouri a hole to dig themselves out of. Drake stayed consistent in that defensive pressure and kept them in that hole.

Missouri is an aggressive offensive team and they simply couldn't show that on offense in the round one defeat. Getting into the paint, despite Drake's apparent lack of size, was such a challenge that they were forced to kick the ball out the outside. On the flip side, perimeter shots weren't falling and they were heavily contested.

“I feel like we were one dribble late or one second late on what our plan was to attack them. They took full advantage of it,” Missouri guard Caleb Grill said. “Looking back on it, throughout the season, this reminds us -- reminds me at least of the Texas game. They played a similar style of basketball to them. It frustrated us.”

When both teams' names were called on Selection Sunday, it was immediately clear that this was not a good matchup for the Tigers. They had time to prepare for Drake's pace of play and style of defense, but in the end, it did not matter.

Missouri's season is now over and they will look to the offseason. Whether that's the transfer portal or offseason improvement in the weight room and in workouts, the Tigers will shift their focus to next season.