City of Basketball Love

Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Though the healthy portion of Drexel’s roster has been putting up a solid effort on the court over the last month, there’s no denying that the Dragons’ ceiling is still somewhat limited until the three student-athletes who have been sitting in warmups at the end of the bench for the last month get back into the mix.

Miles Overton, a grad student and projected starter on the wing, has played in only one game this season as he deals with a calf strain. Redshirt junior guard Troy Harper has missed the last six with an injured shoulder. Sophomore wing Sam Green went down against NJIT late last month with a knee injury, and hasn’t played in the five games since.

Their absences have left Drexel coach Zach Spiker with a makeshift rotation in a tough spot, as he attempts to continue to build up a Dragons program that has sat in the bottom of the Colonial Athletic Association the last two seasons.

Despite all that, Drexel has persevered. A 72-71 win over Quinnipiac on Monday night, the team’s fourth in its last six games, evened the Dragons’ record through its first dozen games. Though it’s the same 6-6 start that Drexel had last year, when it finished 9-23 overall and 3-15 in CAA play, this year’s opening six weeks to the season have had a different feel.

Unlike last year, when none of the six teams the Dragons beat in the non-con were ranked above No. 270 in the KenPom rankings -- four were No. 320 or lower -- this year’s group has already scored some impressive takedowns. Drexel already has scored wins over three teams in the top 200 in KenPom, including Houston (No. 44), La Salle (127) and Rider (183).

“We have some great wins under our belt and more confidence as a team, just going into games we know that we can compete with anybody in the country, as long as we play together and that’s basically our mindset,” sophomore guard and second-year starter Kurk Lee Jr. said.

Persevere was exactly what Drexel did to earn the win on Monday night.

After leading most of the second half but unable shake their opponent, the Dragons allowed the Bobcats to take a one-point lead with 26 seconds to play on a steal-and-score by Quinnipiac’s Isaiah Washington. After an empty possession and singular QU free throw, Lee hit the game-winning 3-pointer from the left wing with 2.4 seconds remaining, off a terrific no-look feed from sophomore big man Alihan Demir.

Late-game heroics aside, Drexel won on the strength of a 46-28 advantage on the glass while holding Quinnipiac to 7-of-25 (28 percent) from 3-point range, preventing former Villanova assistant and first-year Bobcats head coach Baker Dunleavy from picking up his first win in this city as a head coach.

Coming off two consecutive losses -- including a three-point defeat at the hands of Temple on Dec. 16 that was the closest Spiker would allow himself to get to a moral victory -- it was a much-needed positive result for a club that’s just one more non-conference game away from the beginning of league play.

“We talked about taking a step after the Temple game, I think we took a step,” Spiker said. “I’ll let you guys decide the length of the stride or whatever it may be, how big a step, but we’re fortunate to have the win.”

The Dragons have a three-day turnaround until their next game, a trip to Loyola (Md.) to face a Greyhounds squad that’s just 1-8 on the season. Spiker said he’s not expecting any of his three injured players to be back by then. After that, however, is a nine-day layoff

“Yes, I’m hopeful,” he said. But as to whether or not any of the three is closer than the others to returning: “I don’t think so.”

Harper was actually in uniform on Monday night, but he was never in consideration to actually see minutes.

“If something crazy happened and we needed a guy to make a foul shot, he’s a 92 percent foul shooter on the season,” Spiker said. “Just stick him in a uniform and sit there, in case anything happens, knock on wood. It didn’t.”

The only three available Drexel guards have all been playing well while their teammates work their way back.

Lee, who had struggled with his 3-point shooting over the team’s first eight games (10-45, 22.2 percent), is 10-for-18 in the last four games, including a 4-of-7 outing from deep to pace him to 14 points in the win over Quinnipiac. Senior guard Sammy Mojica, who’s played more minutes than anybody else on this current Drexel roster by a long shot, has scored in double figures in six straight after putting up 13 against Quinnipiac.

But it’s been the play of redshirt junior Tramaine Isabell that has really stood out in the early going. The Missouri transfer averaged 6.2 points in 16.3 minutes as a sophomore two years ago, and he’s taking full advantage of getting to play much more in his new digs.

Isabell didn’t sit in the win over Quinnipiac, scoring 23 points on 7-12 shooting, including 8-10 from the foul line; he also had seven rebounds, four assists and Drexel’s only three steals, though he did turn it over six times. It’s the fifth time he’s gone for more than 20 this season, including three efforts of 30 or more; Monday night’s effort brought him up to a team-high 19.5 ppg

“I think I’m definitely playing with a chip on my shoulder,” he said. “I feel like I have a lot to improve in, feel like I can take it up a couple notches for sure. I can help defensively a lot more, [I had] six turnovers today, there’s a lot of things that I can do and can show whoever’s watching that I think I’m a complete player -- and I don’t think I’ve done that to the fullest capability yet.”