Iowa coach Fran McCaffery says the Hawkeyes need to bounce back in a hurry when they host Maryland Wednesday night. The Hawkeyes had their three-game winning streak snapped over the weekend with a loss at home to second ranked Purdue. The Terrapins are 3-5 in the Big 10.

That’s Iowa coach Fran McCaffery who says Maryland guard Jahmir will be difficult to defend. He ranks second in conference play by averaging just over 23 and-a-half points per game.

McCaffery says the Hawkeyes will be without freshman forward Ladji Dembele Wednesday night. He has been injured in the game against Purdue and has given the Hawkeyes a boost on defense and the glass.

With Dembele out center Even Brauns could see his most significant action this season. The transfer from Belmont has appeared in 13 games and scored six points this season. He says the coaches have prepared him for this opportunity.

Brauns says his main focus will helping out with rebounding.

The Hawkeyes are 3-4 in the Big Ten.

The Drake men take a share of the Missouri Valley Conference lead on the road Wednesday night to Missouri State. The Bulldogs have won 10 of the last 15 games in the series and topped the Bears 74-57 in Des Moines back in early December.

That’s Drake coach Darian DeVries. The Bulldogs have dropped their last two games in Springfield.

Drake is riding a four-game win streak and is 6-1 in the Valley and 16-3 overall.

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State freshman Noelle Adams has been named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week, the league announced Tuesday.

Adams, a Mesa, Ariz., native, recorded a pair of 9.9 scores on both vault and floor, as well as a 9.875 on beam to help lead Iowa State over BYU in its first win of the Ashley Miles Greig Era as well as first Big 12 win of the year.

She becomes the first Iowa State gymnast since Addy De Jesus (3/17/21) to earn Newcomer of the Week honors. Overall, she’s the eighth Cyclone gymnast to receive the award, joining Michelle Shealy (2011), Camille Santerre-Gervais (2011), Haylee Young (2015), Makayla Maxwell (2020), Andrea Maldonado (2020), Jade Vella-Wright (2020) and De Jesus.

On the season, Adams has a team-high of four 9.9 scores. She’d notched a 9.9 in the season-opener against Nebraska on floor and another 9.9 at Penn State on the vault before earning her pair of 9.9 marks against BYU.

Noelle has claimed five event titles this season, including two this past week. She took both the beam and floor crown against Nebraska, the vault title at PSU and both vault and floor high-marks against BYU.

Iowa State will be back in action this Friday, Jan. 26, in its penultimate home meet as it welcomes Illinois State to town. Friday’s action is set to begin at 6:30 and will be streamed on ESPN+.

Big 12 Weekly Award Winners (1/23) 

Gymnast: Jordan Bowers (OU)

Event Specialist: Hannah Scheible (OU)

Newcomer: Noelle Adams

DES MOINES, Iowa – Graduate forward Grace Berg collected her second MVC Player of the Week award after posting a career weekend for the Bulldogs, the league announced this morning. Berg led the way as Drake defended its home arena and swept a pair of games over Des Moines’ Hometown Team Weekend.

Berg averaged 23.0 points on shooting rates of 50.0 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three-point range, and 80.0 percent from the free throw line. The forward also added four rebounds and 1.5 assists per contest.

Berg began the weekend with a solid 16 points and three rebounds in a nail-biting 69-65 win over Belmont (1/19). She followed that up with an electric outing vs. Murray State (1/21) with a career-high 30 points on 53.8 percent field goal shooting and 55.6 percent three-point shooting. Berg added five boards and two assists as Drake downed the Racers in a fast-paced shootout, 107-98. Berg’s season scoring average jumped up to 17.4 ppg to go along with 4.9 rpg and 2.8 apg.

The Bulldogs’ two wins vaulted them into sole possession of first place in the MVC, and Des Moines’ Hometown Team could not have done that without Berg.

Drake will be back in action this weekend when they hit the road and visit rivals Bradley on Thursday, Jan. 25 and Illinois State on Saturday, Jan. 27.

The (8-6) Riverside Bulldogs basketball team has had a mixed year for the program with the third spot at the top of the Western Iowa Conference. Riverside started off the year 3-0 with wins against AHSTW, IKM-Manning, and Griswold. Senior Grady Jeppesen looked as sharp as ever and the Bulldogs were building up to be the top team in the WIC. Their next four games saw them go 1-3 in conference play and it was time for Riverside to take a step back and revaluate. Head Coach Nick Kroon decided he would have his team to focus on shooting with the lack of size on this year’s roster.  Coach Kroon explained that the Bulldog’s need to bring their best game every night considering how competitive the WIC has shaped up to be this year.

A key focal point for the Riverside offense has been the stellar play from Grady Jeppesen who’s averaging over 26 points a game and leading the team in assists at 46 and rebounds with 98. The progress and improvement for Jeppesen comes from the time spent in the weight room.

Second in points behind Grady Jeppesen is senior Mason McCready at 11.5 points per game. For his senior year McCready wanted to focus and taking better shots and having a larger role in the offense. McCready’s refinement is something Coach Kroon is well aware of.

Another player that has impressed Bulldog fans and the rest of his team is the only freshman starter for Riverside Cole Jeppesen. In critical situations Cole Jeppesen is normally assigned the most talented offensive player for the other team and his job is to lock them down. It is not an easy role, but one Jeppesen excels at.

The WIC is especially competitive this year for the Bulldogs and still coach Kroon believes his team can win every team they face. They just have to be aware of the margin of error and play at their best.

Riverside is gearing up for a road game Thursday against the (0-1) Iowa School For The Deaf.

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