Drake visits Belmont following Sheppard's 23-point game

Drake Bulldogs (16-6, 7-4 MVC) at Belmont Bruins (16-6, 9-2 MVC)

Nashville, Tennessee; Sunday, 3 p.m. EST

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Belmont -1.5; over/under is 138.5

BOTTOM LINE: Belmont hosts the Drake Bulldogs after Ben Sheppard scored 23 points in Belmont's 73-64 victory over the Evansville Purple Aces.

The Bruins have gone 8-1 at home. Belmont is second in college basketball shooting 40.3% from downtown, led by EJ Bellinger shooting 48.3% from 3-point range.

The Bulldogs are 7-4 in conference games. Drake is the MVC leader with 26.3 defensive rebounds per game led by Garrett Sturtz averaging 5.4.

The Bruins and Bulldogs meet Sunday for the first time in MVC play this season.

TOP PERFORMERS: Sheppard is averaging 18.7 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.5 steals for the Bruins. Drew Friberg is averaging 12.4 points over the last 10 games for Belmont.

Tucker DeVries is shooting 39.5% from beyond the arc with 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Bulldogs, while averaging 18.9 points and 5.8 rebounds. Roman Penn is averaging 10.3 points and 5.1 assists over the past 10 games for Drake.

LAST 10 GAMES: Bruins: 9-1, averaging 71.9 points, 30.2 rebounds, 16.2 assists, 7.0 steals and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 46.9% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.7 points per game.

Bulldogs: 7-3, averaging 76.3 points, 36.0 rebounds, 15.2 assists, 5.0 steals and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 47.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 60.6 points.

___

The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.