Drake takes late season momentum into Friday’s start of the NCAA Tournament in Albany, New York. Winners of 13 of their last 14 the Bulldogs play 16th ranked Miami Friday evening.

That’s Drake coach Darian DeVries. The Bulldogs have an experienced team that won an NCAA Tournament game two years ago.

The 12th seeded Bulldogs are the underdog but DeVries is confident the Bulldogs will make a good showing.

Drake senior point guard Roman Penn says the Hurricanes will provide a tough challenge.

For Penn it is a return to the city where his college career started. He played his freshman season at Siena College.

The Bulldogs turned it on the second half of the season. Named the preseason Missouri Valley favorites the Bulldogs stumbled out of the game to a 2-3 start to conference play.