Bennett Stirtz scored 21 points and dished six assists as Drake defeated Miami 80-69 on Thursday afternoon in the opening round of the Charleston Classic in Charleston, S.C.
It’s the first time since a win over Wake Forest in 2017 that Drake has beaten an Atlantic Coast Conference team.
The Bulldogs advance to a Friday quarterfinal matchup against Florida Atlantic, which beat Oklahoma State 86-78 on Thursday. The Hurricanes will square off with the Cowboys in the consolation bracket.
Drake (4-0) got a double-double — 18 points and 10 rebounds — from Daniel Abreu. Mitch Mascari added 15 points.
Nijel Pack led Miami (3-1) with 17 points and five assists. Matthew Cleveland and Jalen Blackmon added 12 points each.
Drake led wire to wire, putting on a clinic with screens, pump fakes, hustle, offensive rebounds (14-5 advantage) and charges drawn.
The Bulldogs also had a 36-18 advantage in paint points, and they held Miami to 40.9 percent shooting from the floor. Miami also shot 8-for-21 on 3-pointers (38.1 percent).
Drake’s new coach Ben McCollum, who won four national titles at NCAA Division II power at Northwest Missouri State between 2017 and 2022, engineered Thursday’s upset.
He did it with four starters he brought over from his former program — Stirtz, Abreu, Mascari and Isaiah Jackson. The fifth starter is Wyoming transfer Cam Manyawu.
Drake get off to a 7-0 start against the Hurricanes, and the Bulldogs kept rolling for a 36-27 advantage at the break.
The Bulldogs dominated in several areas in the first half, including paint points (22-4); shooting percentage (48.4 percent to 30 percent); and offensive rebounds (7-1).
Stirtz led Drake in the first half with 10 points and four assists. Three of those assists came on alley-oop passes that led to two Nate Ferguson dunks and a layup.
Miami starters Lynn Kidd and Brandon Johnson did not score in the first half as Drake took the Hurricanes out of their normal offense. Miami played 10 players early, looking for answers.
At the start of the second half, Miami put together a 9-2 run, cutting its deficit to 44-40 with 12:52 left. But that was as close as Miami got the rest of the way.
–Field Level Media
